The return of Rene Ranger helped inspire Wellsford to upend Mid Northern 42-35 and retain the lead in the Southern Districts Premier rugby competition.
While Ranger may have been disappointed he wasn't picked to don a black jersey against the Irish at Eden Park on Saturday evening, he made upfor it by helping for his club team knock over the competition's form team during the Super 15 break.
Coach Scott Brady said it was good to have Ranger on the wing but he believed it was the forwards who really earned the bonus-point win.
"I rate our forward pack as one of the best in the competition and we showed that on Saturday by dominating the set-piece and the scrums in particular," he said.
Mid Northern dominated much of the first spell with Wellsford managing to stay in touch with a late try to trail 21-14 at the break. A leg injury to Mid Northern playmaker David Holwell saw him forced from the field and Wellsford took advantage of his absence - and an extra player after a Mid Northern player was sinbinned - to surge into the lead from a series of forward drives.
Mid Northern missed the leadership of Jason Hammond in the pack, but were also missing Dylan Horne, Will Whetton and Mark McCluggage and will be anticipating a rematch later in the season.
In Whangarei, Old Boys came good in the second half to score four tries and dismiss Otamatea's challenge.
Old Boys started well and took an early lead before the Hawks surged back into contention, dominating the second quarter to trail by just two points at the break.
Coach Boyd Matson had a few choice words of advice for the team at half-time and it seemed to pay off with the forwards once again taking control.
"They were going wide too early so I told them to be more direct up front and once they did that, they began to make progress and we began to score the points," Matson said.
Old Boys' backs Troy Gilbert and Dan Wells scored doubles.
Hora Hora soaked up a ton of pressure from Marist in the final quarter to pip their hosts 21-19 at Kensington Park. The win keeps alive their faint playoff hopes, while denting Marist's, with the home side dropping into fifth place behind Kamo. Kamo snapped their two-match losing streak with a 22-19 win away from home at Hikurangi. Kamo were trailing 19-8 going into the final quarter but a try to Cam Goodhue and then another right on the hooter to Matt Wallace gave them a boost with five games to go before the playoffs.
Mid Western remain in second place with a bonus point 33-10 win over the Western Sharks.
