Western Bay of Plenty has shown its dominance, sweeping all five Baywide grand finals matches.
Tauranga Sport continued their regular season dominance by lifting the Baywide premier crown for the eighth time, beating Mt Maunganui 21-15 at Bay Park at the weekend.
Mount Maunganui shot out to an early lead,courtesy of Matt Axtens' crashing over for the first try of the game and a penalty and conversion from Mount kicker Matt Golding. However Aifai Esera got Tauranga Sports back into the match, with two sterling tries which gave Tauranga Sports a 12-10 lead at the half-time break.
The second half belonged to the two sides' kickers, with Paul Morris slotting three penalties for Tauranga Sports. Matt Golding added a further penalty goal for the Mount, with Adam McGarvey also slotting a long-range penalty. The 21-16 Tauranga Sports victory reflected a hard-fought match where both teams played outstanding rugby befitting a championship decider.
Rangiuru gained revenge for last year's heartbreaking division one finals loss to Paroa, defeating Poroporo in this year's final. However they had to come from behind, trailing 13-18 at the break. The Te Puke team added 13 points while holding Poroporo scoreless in the second spell.
Rangiuru's points came from tries awarded to Terry Wilson, Sasu Wihapi and Jordan Kendall with Ngatai Kingi kicking three penalties and a conversion. Robert Maxwell touched down both Poroporo' tries while Rob Tai added two penalty goals and a conversion.
Arataki earned promotion back to division one next season, when they defeated Kawerau in the division two championship. In last year's, Arataki fell at the last hurdle when they were beaten by Katikati, however they erased painful memories when they got past the Eastern Bay side 20-nil to claim the silverware.
The Colts title fight, between fellow Western Bay age group sides Mt Maunganui and Tauranga Sports went down to the wire, before Mount Maunganui grabbed a late converted try to take out the encounter 35-28. The Mount victory means the McIntosh Shield will spend the summer break in the Mount Clubrooms along with the Western Bay championship trophy.
