Rugby: Wellsford regain winning form

Wellsford got their season back on track after a 40-12 win over Hora Hora.

A convincing 40-12 win over Hora Hora has the defending Bayleys Southern Districts premier champions, Wellsford, back in the black after just two rounds of play.

However, they'll be looking forward to the return of several Mitre 10 Cup players this coming weekend to entrench themselves as one of the competition's frontrunners for 2016.

Narrowly losing 43-41 to Mid Northern in round one - a highly entertaining match which went down to the wire - Wellsford co-coach Brad Te Haara said this weekend's round three match-up will be the biggest test yet, as they prepare to take on the growingly formidable Old Boys Marist outfit.

"It was a game of non-defence," Te Haara said of the Mid Northern showdown.

"It would have been a good one for TV, but not for the coaches.

"They were a good team last year," he added of Old Boys Marist's growing threat.

"I guess they were hindered by injury early last year, but they made their way back.

"This year they're fit and their recruitment's been great - they're probably the team to beat. I think everyone in the comp has identified that OBM's the team to beat."

Up convincingly at halftime against Hora Hora on Saturday, Te Haara said the tempo of the game was very stop-start.

"It was just quite hard to get anything going in terms of phase play.

"We shut the gate on Hora Hora, but the game was called off with 10 minutes to go - one of the boys got a neck injury."

With an eye to this weekend, Wellsford will be boosted by the return of six key men, including Taniwha players Tyler Landsdowne, Matt Wright, Sean Sweetman, as well as up-and-coming loose forward Connor Lawson.

New halfback Mark Talaese has also filled a hole in the line-up.

"He had an outstanding game, he picked up a try or two," Te Haara said, as did fullback Cherry Baldwin whom Te Haara said made "good tactical decisions and ball runs".

"We're nearly in full strength player-wise," he added. "We just need to put it together as a team, and what better test [than] against the in-form team at the moment. It should be interesting.

"If we get everyone at training this week, we give ourselves half a chance."

In other gamesover the weekend, Old Boys Marist took down Mid Northern 25-10, the Western Sharks enjoyed a stunning 19-16 victory over Mid Western, Waipu were unlucky as Hikurangi beat them 20-18, and Kamo picked up a superb 29-19 win over Otamatea.

In the Southern Districts Reserves, Mid Northern pulled off a stonking 44-3 win over Old Boys Marist, Mid Western lost 21-14 to the Western Sharks, Waipu got one over Hikurangi with a 24-12 win and Otamatea beat Kamo 24-18.