Rugby: Marist celebrate victory over Kahukura

St Michael's player Kelvin Hatcher (right) gets away from a Kahukura defender on his way to scoring a try on Saturday. Photo / Ben Fraser

Marist St Michael's have celebrated their best win of the season after toppling fellow Rotorua side Kahukura 14-10.

The two clubs met in wet conditions on Saturday at Marist Park during their Baywide Division One encounter.

Kahukura were sitting in second position on the ladder going into the match, but came up against a resilient Marist team who were placed four spots below them.

Marist coach Barry Uerata was thrilled with his team's performance.

"It's been a long time coming. It has been two or three years since the last time we bet Kahu.

"We got flogged by Te Teko the week before and we had to prove something," he said.

"That is the best win we have had this season."

He said they had no training in the week leading up to the match because the grounds had been closed, but met early on Saturday to work on their scrum.

He said they were dominated in the scrum the week before and knew they needed to do better around set pieces.

"So we tidied up there and it was also our captain's blazer game [on Saturday]."

Marist captain and lock, Mike Lewis, played well on Saturday to bring up his 50 caps for the club.

Marist led 7-3 at halftime before pushing on to secure the important win. Uerata said they had some tough games ahead but were aiming for a spot in the top four this season.