Although Tauranga were the first to score, with a penalty in the first three minutes to first-five Geoff Berry, Whaka soon held the lead with a penalty and a drop goal from the boot of Maurice Stone (jnr).
Stone, who was returning from a shoulder injury, made a welcome return to the side who for the last couple of weeks have struggled with their kicking game.
Tauranga, who appeared to have a slight advantage at scrum time, drew level 33 minutes into the first half after Whaka appeared to be on the wrong side of referee Brett Johnson's whistle.
In the 38th minute, the red and blacks found themselves one man down when fullback Akira Mako was given 10 minutes in the bin for a deliberate slowing down of the play.
This put a major hole in Whaka's defensive screen and Tauranga took full advantage of it, scoring two unconverted tries on either side of the break.
By the time Mako returned, Whaka were behind 16-6, and when Tauranga kicked another penalty the match looked all-but-gone.
The visitors scored the first of their two unconverted tries to give a glimmer of hope, but Johnson's whistle was blowing nothing but blue and gold and continuing defending left Whaka ragged.
Tauranga scored two more converted tries and a penalty to end the match 36-16.
In other matches in the round, Paroa grabbed their first win in the premier division beating Greerton Marist 24-21, Te Puke Sports beat Te Puna 22-19, Mount Maunganui beat Rangataua 25-23 and Rotoiti were too strong for Opotiki, narrowly winning 24-22.
Scorers: Tauranga Sports 36 (Mitch Greenaway 2, Nick Thomson, Gareth Brown tries; Geoff Berry 3 pen, Paul Morris 2 con, pen) Whakarewarewa 16 (Chris van der Vlugt, Chanse Perham tries; Maurice Stone 1 pen, 1 drop goal). Halftime: 11-6
