Greytown showed all the resolve of a budding champion side when they scored a 22-3 win over Pioneer in their Wairarapa-Bush Tui Cup premier division rugby match at Greytown on Saturday.
Going into the game as competition leaders but still needing a victory to guarantee themselves a spot in next weekend's semifinals, Greytown were always going to meet stern resistance from Pioneer, themselves requiring a win to make it into the top four.
And with Pioneer leading 3-0 at halftime after an evenly contested opening 40 minutes, the army of Greytown supporters had good reason to be nervous.
It was not that their team was performing poorly, simply that Pioneer always looked dangerous in attack and but for missing a couple of penalty attempts from close range, they could well have had a comfortable advantage.
However, as it happened, all the points in the second half were scored by Greytown, including four tries, two of which came in the closing stages, as Pioneer had no option but to throw caution to the wind.
Old hands Norm Henricksen and Kurt Simmonds were at the heart of a solid all-round performance by the Greytown pack.
Henricksen, who was talked into coming out of retirement this season because of a lack of middle rowers, starred in the lineouts and general play, while Simmonds was often the first cab off the rank in the short passing rushes and rolling mauls.
There was also a lot to like about the swift service and intelligent decision-making of Joseph Sio at halfback and the strong running of the Isaac brothers, Tavita and Tapaga.
Typically, Pioneer gave it everything, with Charlie Naera and Mike Harmon spearheading the forwards and Tipene Haira and Lee Ewe likewise in the backs.
Particularly impressive were the huge gains made by Haira with his clearing kicks, especially in the first half.
The win gave Greytown a home semifinal and the same distinction was also earned by Martinborough when they disposed of Gladstone 30-11 in their match at Martinborough.
Having suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Pioneer the previous weekend, Martinborough were looking for a vastly improved effort and they got exactly what they wanted, running in four tries to Gladstone's one.
For Gladstone, the defending Tui Cup champions, it was a disappointing result but that disappointment would have dissipated when the results of the other premier division games came through and they discovered they had still made it into the semis.
East Coast also booked a semifinal berth when they beat Bush Sports 54-26 in a free-flowing encounter at Whareama which produced 12 tries, eight of them to the home team.
Nick Olson scored a hat-trick for East Coast and coupled with some accurate goal kicking, he finished the game with a personal tally of 26 points.
The other premier division game saw Eketahuna chasing a top four spot against Carterton at Carterton but the need to come away with maximum points proved beyond them, last year's beaten Tui Cup finalists Carterton winning 16-12.
Scoring:
Greytown 22 (P.J. Freeman, G. van Dalen, Tavita Isaac, Tapaga Isaac tries; R. Lett conversion); Pioneer 3 (T. Haira penalty).
Martinborough 30 (T. Bramley, T. Kershaw, E. Telford, C. Whittaker tries; C. Whittaker 2 conversions, 2 penalties), Gladstone 11 (S. Loader try, C. Hayton 2 penalties).
East Coast 54 (W. Grace, J. Fraser, J. Meredith, J. McGilvary 2, N. Olson 3 tries; N. Olson 4 conversions, 1 penalty), Bush Sports 26 (J. Tipene, C. Bennett, C. Creek 2 tries; D. Bennett 3 conversions).
Carterton 16 (L. McFadzean try, D. Brown 1 conversion, 3 penalties), Eketahuna 12 (D. Udy, R. Tamani tries, G. Cremen conversion).