Rugby: Powerful Broughton shows class

At the start of the season, Te Puke Sports rugby prop Maurice "Mo" Broughton was known by his team mates as "10-minute Mo".

But now the hulking forward is being called "80-minute Mo".

Broughton was instrument in his side's 37-20 win over Whakarewarewa at the weekend.

Last year's champions remain undefeated so far this season and with the win, secured first-round bragging rights in the PGG Wrightson Baywide Rugby.

Tipping the scales at 150kg and 1.82m tall, Broughton was giving his Whaka opponent Peter "Boxer" Smith a lesson at scrum time. But the 33-year-old was modest about the work done in the deep, dark recesses of the scrummaging world.

"It's always pretty hard especially against these guys. You never know what's going to happen. One day you might win, the next day they may have it all over you, but usually it's pretty even."

But it wasn't only his scrummaging which got his team mates all excited - it was a 15m break Broughton made, showing off his electrifying pace and a stutter step most backs would be proud of.

"It finally happened, one minute there were three guys in front of me the next minute there's nothing. I was wondering what the hell was going on."

Even his coach Craig Jeffries was singing the praises of the gargantuan prop.

"He struggled to get to training at the start of the year, so we left him on the bench and we gave him a hard time [calling him] 10-minute Mo. But now he's know as 80 minute Mo. He's a good bugger, a genuine dude and just so powerful. In the final last year, he basically turned the game. Now he's starting to really find his form."

Playing in front of a parochial Whaka crowd at Puarenga Park, the visitors struggled to find any consistency in their backline play but out muscled Whaka in the lineout and at scrum time.

With both sides riddled with injury the first five minutes of the game looked like a season opener with the ball more resembling a cake of soap in a shower.

Jeffries said it was understandable the team's handling woes, considering he had to field four halfbacks; Andy Lee, Rumeka Pohapi, Jamie Nutbrown and Ryan Wilson in his starting XV.

"There's about five [regulars] out of our backline. So we're lucky to have numbers to fill the gaps."

It took Te Puke's inform first-five, Nick McCashin to post the first points of the game after Whaka were penalised in the seventh minute for lifting a man past the horizontal, during the tackle.

Te Puke, with a strong southwesterly behind them, were soon back on attack and had Whaka pinned inside their half for the next 10 minutes. But whenever the visitors looked dangerous, Whaka would stamp out any from of attack with aggressive defence.

However, Te Puke's first try came from a Whaka throw at the lineout. The ball was over thrown snapped up by openside flanker Luke Perrott, who promptly passed it out to an eager Beau King. The hulking lock smashed the ball up the middle of the backline sucking in the defence to leave fullback Sipa Moimoi open on the flank for a casual run in to the left-hand corner. McCashin converted the try for his team to take the lead 10-0.

Whaka were never going to lay down and submit to a team who have dominated the competition so far this year and the home side soon bounced back with a drop goal to first-five Maurice Stone. But they were soon to lose the service of their openside flanker Liam Coleman who had a compound fracture of his left hand.

Coleman was eventually taken to Waikato Hospital for plastic surgery to the hand and is in a stable condition. Whaka fullback Rawiri Tapiata scored the first of his and his team's two tries after he latched on to a well-worked move down the left flank to score under the post. Stone converted the try to level the score at 10-10. It was the only time Whaka looked to threaten Te Puke's lead and the visitors were soon back out in front when McCashin muscled over just before the break. The former Steamer converted his own try and had his side leading 17-10 at halftime.

Whaka needed to start strongly in the second spell and hit the breakdown with more vigour than their opponents but the lineout was a nightmare for Whaka who struggled to get any quality ball.

Coach Kevin Lee said his forwards would need to step it up moving forward into the second round but he was still happy with the heart the team showed throughout the match.

Despite Whaka's effort it was Te Puke who were first to put points on the board, thanks to the boot of McCashin who kicked two penalties before Stone could respond with his own penalty to bring the score to 23-13.

Whaka had the chance to nail another penalty in an identical spot but elected to kick for touch, with the team struggling to retain their own lineout it was no surprise when Te Puke snaffled the possession and send the ball out of their red zone.

As the game wore on, Te Puke's big forwards started to take their toll on the small Whaka pack.

The visitors piled on two more tries to Jamie Nutbrown and Michael Hinaki ,both converted by McCashin before Whaka scored a consolation try to Tapiata. Stone converted the try to end the game 37-20.

In other matches around the region, Tauranga Sport managed to overcome a determine Rotoiti side at Emery Park 21-15, Te Puna continued their march up the table with a convincing 41-17 win over Waikite at Marama Park, Opotiki came out on top in a close tussle with mount Maunganui 15-6 and Rangataua grabbed their first win of the season in a nail-bitter, 35-27 over Greerton Marist.

In Division one, Paroa's 35-10 win over Poroporo keeps them at the top of the table, along with Rangiuru who narrowly beat Ngongotaha 22-18, Te Teko came away with a close 16-13 win over Marist St Michaels, Kahukura were too strong for Ruatoki 41-15 and Whakatane Marist beat Reporoa 36-24.

In the colts, Mount Maunganui showed they were the team to beat when they thrashed Kahukura 122-5, Te Puke Sports were equally impressive with a 114-0 drubbing of Rotoiti, Waikite beat Whakarewarewa 22-19, Rangataua narrowly beat Marist St Michaels 8-3 and Tauranga Sports took out a close contest with Greerton Marist 33-32.