Rotoiti are always strongest at home and minutes later they hit back with a scintillating counter-attack.
Greerton were on the attack again, deep inside Rotoiti territory, but the ball went to ground.
Rotoiti winger Pryor Collier got a boot to the ball and raced away after it, gathering the ball on the bounce.
He was chased down but offloaded to second five Whakataki Cunningham, who found flanker Eric Fido on the outside. Fido raced away to score and reduce the deficit to 7-5.
It was a back and forth encounter but both sides were let down at times by their own handling and discipline.
Greerton had the better of the possession and territory and after 25 minutes they were in again.
This time, after several phases in the Rotoiti 22m, they got the ball to second five Jone Lagibola, a big unit of a man who wreaked havoc with the Rotoiti defence all day, and he bounced out of a tackle to score. Greerton converted and led 14-5.
Half an hour into the game, which had been played with great passion to that point, an ugly brawl broke out after a no arms tackle by a Greerton player.
Multiple players from both sides threw punches but it was Greerton flanker Mua who paid the price and was red carded after he leapt over the top of the brawling players to throw a flying punch, singling himself out to the referee.
Being down to 14 men did not slow the away side down, in fact they were the next team to score.
Shortly before halftime, Lagibola again proved near-impossible to tackle when he smashed his way through two would-be tacklers to score his second. Greerton led 19-5 at halftime.
Early in the second half Greerton kicked a penalty from right in front to extend their lead to 22-5.
Rotoiti gave themselves a sniff of a comeback when No 8 Josh Taylor bustled his way over the tryline. The try was converted and the deficit cut to 22-12.
Unfortunately for the home side, it was all Greerton after that.
They hit back minutes later through winger Kody McGovern who scored a try on the right wing after a big shift from the left-hand side to make it 27-5.
In the final 10 minutes Greerton had some fun, throwing offloads at will - a game of hot potato during which their supporters and bench players cheered every successful pass.
With about eight minutes left to play, McGovern scored the try of the day. He slipped out of a tackle near halfway, bumped off a second defender and took off, showing blistering pace to race away and score under the posts. The try was converted and the 34-12 win cemented for Greerton.
McGovern continued to be in the thick of things, however, yellow carded with a few minutes left to play for not having a mouth guard in. A bizarre end to a game which had a bit of everything.
Baywide results
Premier:
Te Puna 52 Arataki 7, Rangiuru 31 Tauranga Sports 34, Rotoiti 12 Greerton Marist 34, Whakarewarewa 30 Rangataua 28, Ōpōtiki 0 Te Puke 57, Mount Maunganui 17 Te Teko 7.
Premier Development:
Te Puna 76 Arataki 7, Rangiuru 15 Tauranga Sports 41, Rotoiti 7 Greerton Marist 52, Whakarewarewa 14 Rangataua 36, Ōpōtiki 0 Te Puke 59, Mount Maunganui 22 Te Teko 18.
Division 1:
Ngongotahā def Pāpāmoa by default, Reporoa 17 Marist St Michael's 52, Waikite 19 Murupara 7, Kahukura 27 Paroa 20, Judea 12 Ruatoki 40, Poroporo 28 Whakatāne Marist 39.
Western Bay Senior Reserves:
Judea 5 Te Puna 70, Greerton 10 Eastern Districts 59, Katikati 87 Tauranga Sports 0, Matakana Island the bye.
Central Bay Senior Reserves:
Waikite 40 Eastern Pirates 10, Ngongotahā 39 Marist St Michael's 6, Reporoa 15 Taupō 38.
Eastern Bay Senior Reserves:
Waimana 77 Matata 12, Galatea/Waiohau Ruatoki (result not yet received), Edgecumbe the bye.
