Te Rarawa tries: Aaron Graham, Ricky Masters, with Danny Covich kicking 2 conversions and earning the back POTD award for his efforts at 1st-five. Also notable were loosies Rob Herewini and Yates Gordon, awarded forward and overall POTDs respectively.
Kaitaia 17 Aupouri 5 (ht 7-0): Kaitaia prevailing at Arnold Rae Park although coach Joe Pomare welcomed the display of resistance put up by the visitors.
"They did good! It was a good game. It was hard, it was hard. They were flippin' good," said Pomare, adding that the homeside standouts were locks Ash Houghton and Hohepa Everitt, and 1st-five Tiano Arona, along with Mane Jellick.
Aupouri spokesman Whare Christie noted the match was a really tough, solid encounter with most of the action contested in the forwards.
"Kaitaia put it all on, they needed the win. Our boys held them for a good 60 minutes then they came up with a try and a penalty in the last quarter," Christie noted, before wishing Kaitaia all the best in their journey to the top four. Aupouri try by Jeff Popata (coming shortly after halftime made the score 7-5), while standout was hooker Ian Spicer but the "whole team" sharing the overall POTD award.
Eastern 68 Ngati Kuri 12: A comfortable win for the last season's grand finalists at Taipa. Eastern's Eric Williams noted the hosts led throughout while denying the visitors a chance to get close.
"Credit to Ngati Kuri for travelling all the way down in that rubbish weather, to put a team on the paddock. It's hard work but they do it every week. For us, it was one of those games, we could have gone in lightly taken them a bit lightly but the boys stuck to their guns."
Eastern standout on Saturday was Mitchell Jurlina at fullback. The side now goes into play Rarawa at Ahipara this Saturday, where some believe a win will earn Eastern second place and a home berth in the play-offs (although the points standings as they stack up on the NRU website - which have been in considerable confusion throughout the season - show Eastern can not catch Rarawa).
Eastern will still want to win to prevent any chance of finishing fourth and thus facing Awanui in the semis.
"The boys are quite keen, starting to rise to the challenge," said Williams.
Ever upbeat Ngati Kuri manager Jaclyn Masters described this as a "beaut day on the east coast" with Eastern putting up the typical tough battle.
The visitors were happy to have signed up two ex-league boys, Jeremy Tecklenburg and Sandy Hepi, who both scored tries with Jordan Brown converting one. Standouts included Hepi in the forwards and Shane-Lee Wright in the backs, the latter playing a very strong game and defensively was the best tackler on the day, while Abbey Brown was also notable with his typical strong runs.
Bye: Motukohu and a bonus five points, but still devastated with the news Kaitaia beat Aupouri, the North Hokianga club needing Kaitaia to have lost to have a chance of making the top-four play-offs.
STANDINGS (unconfirmed): Awanui (750/ 126) 65 points, Te Rarawa (447/228) 46, Eastern (416/235) 39, Kaitaia (340/ 245) 38; Motukohu (184/327) 31, Aupouri (215/396) 14, Ngati Kuri (243/623) 13.
