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Rangitoto won their fifth game out of six in the North Harbour 1A with a gritty 21-17 home victory over Takapuna Grammar.
Rangitoto built on a 13-7 lead to retain second spot, three points behind leaders Westlake, and in the process retained the Woodhouse Shield.
Rangitoto centre Ahmiel Botes opened the account. Takapuna Grammar left wing Jake Coleman was swift to reply in the corner. But Rangitoto had the better scrum and then Calvin Tipene scored off a well-worked lineout move.
In the second spell, Takapuna Grammar No7 and skipper Donald Coleman, who was adjudged player of the match, was a constant thorn in the Rangitoto side. Second five James Little scored one and was denied another. Earlier, Eru Hudson had kept Rangitoto's nose in front.
On Friday night at Eden Park, defending champions Westlake cut loose to run away from Orewa 50-3. No fewer than seven of the eight tries were scored by the forwards with braces to opensider Josh Dahlberg and tighthead prop Stephen O'Connor. Lock Kanui Walker was one of several standouts, scoring a fine try and ruling the airways. The best team try went to No8 Izaak Scheib.
In the other North Harbour premier fixture, Rosmini beat Massey for the second time this season, 13-3.
An epic traditional encounter highlighted round six of the Auckland 1A competition. Auckland Grammar scored three tries to one to beat King's 15-13, and retain the Cooper-Greenbank Cup before around 7000 spectators at Grammar's top field. King's looked to have the game won at 13-10 with time almost up. But their scrum failed when nuggety Auckland Grammar halfback Melino Fineanganofo mugged his opponent and bulldozed over to the jubilation of home fans.
MAGS re-introduced their capping day for those who have played more than 10 First XV games, and wing Caleb Clarke picked up the man of the match going for his hat-trick in the 46-0 win over Tangaroa. MAGS are fifth, just behind King's, who have now suffered two last minute losses this year.
Sacred Heart relied on tries to their wings, Lemeki Namoa and Hoskins Sotutu, to scrape past De La Salle 12-7.
Kelston finally registered their first win, 27-0 over Otahuhu, second five TJ Vaega scoring a double. St Peter's beat Aorere 17-8, while St Kentigern accounted for Dilworth 36-8.
In Counties Manukau First XV rugby, Manurewa warmed up for Saturday's televised clash with Wesley by defeating Alfriston 34-3. Nanga Iloa shone in his transition from flanker to first five. Wesley Second XV beat Rosehill 29-8. Pukekohe have served their two-match ban and will be back in action on Saturday at Rosehill.
Defending CRL champions Kelston got their championship campaign off to an ideal start last Wednesday, beating Southern Cross 36-28.
The match had plenty of momentum shifts, but Kelston led all the way from the three minute mark after a strong carry and offload from captain Utah Ioka set Whitiora Davis up for the opening try. Further efforts from Delaney Chaney-Puata and Davis took Kelston out to a 16-0 lead. Once they finally got some possession, Southern Cross showed they too had points in them, with tries to Fuiva Takitaki and Amini Latu in quick succession making it 16-12, standoff Jan Sepuloni adding the extras on both occasions. Kelston finished the first half with a try to Emosi Alamoti, giving them a 20-12 lead.
On their opening set of the second period, Southern Cross again lowered the deficit as Takitaki grabbed his second, but further tries to Austin Masiutama and a double to centre Sefo Pauli blew the score out to 36-16 in the hosts' favour. A late Southern Cross surge saw Siave Togolu and Sepuloni dot down to give Kelston a fright, but ultimately it did little.
Coach Phil Gordon said the win was a good result for his side.
"I think initially things were working and were happening as they should, but then the boys thought it was just going to keep happening and that we didn't have to work for it," Gordon said. "That's a good lesson for us and no team in this pool is going to give up."
Manurewa sprung the upset of the season by beating perennial heavyweights St Paul's 28-24.
After a dominant first period which saw the southerners leading 22-0 at the break, St Paul's mounted a spirited comeback, outscoring their opponents 24-6, but fell short in the end.
MAGS got over the top of Otahuhu 34-18 in the other championship round clash.
In the Plate, Westlake BHS, who could consider themselves unlucky not to have advanced to the championship, made easy work of Sir Edmund Hillary with a 42-10 win. Papatoetoe beat Avondale 22-12, while Aorere won 18-8 against Western Springs.
In the third-tier Bowl competition, James Cook rallied late to beat Massey 22-18 and Tamaki defeated Papakura 26-14.
Manurewa B, who were promoted to the Premier Bowl after winning the Senior A competition in the grading rounds, had a big win over Lynfield 30-8.
This afternoon's live streamed game is between St Paul's and Otahuhu. Tune in from 4pm on www.aucklandleague.co.nz.
Auckland Grammar maintained third position in the Senior A premier league after a resounding 7-0 win over King's.
After absorbing early pressure, Auckland Grammar made the early breakthrough, with Sam Twigg slotting it past the keeper off a long pass from Mackenzie Waite. They added three more goals before halftime. They passed the football with greater accuracy in the second half and were rewarded with three more before fulltime to retain the Morris-Kelley Cup. Goalscorers were Twigg (2), William Hunt (2), Akawass Twigg, Patrick Hay and Matthew Bouzaid.
Sacred Heart won their Alex Harvey Cup defence 6-0 over Rangitoto, with a first hat-trick from Dylan Bull the highlight. They led 5-0 at the break and eased home to take a two-point lead after six rounds. Macleans travelled the short distance up the Pakuranga Highway for a local clash against previous leaders St Kentigern, who were unbeaten after the first four rounds. Macleans went into the lead after 27 minutes via Papuan Ferdinan Ayomi with a neat dribble and lovely shot. St Kent's scrambled an equaliser two minutes before the final whistle to earn a 1-1 draw. That was Ayomi's second goal for the team, his first coming in the midweek KO Cup clash at Westlake BHS, which Macleans won 3-1 to go into the semifinal draw.
MAGS defeated Westlake 3-0 to hold fourth position, goals coming from Anton Moore, Segun Rotimi and Jordan Lamb.
Auckland Grammar are the Auckland First XI boys champions after lowering King's 2-1 in last week's final.
King's had won 3-2 in pool play, and scored early through Daniel Easton from a penalty corner, but failed to convert territory and possession. Auckland Grammar captain Finlay O'Connor scored from a penalty corner, his shot deflecting off a King's stick.
A brilliant second half strike by Grammar's Johnny Bates broke the deadlock and ushered in a good few days for Auckland Grammar in their sporting rivalry with King's.
Oliver Paterson won his 100th cap for the King's First XI.
In an exciting final of the Auckland First XI girls' championship, Diocesan and St Kentigern shared the title after a 1-1 scoreline, both goals scored in the first 15 minutes. There was no provision for a penalty shootout. This was St Kentigern's first premier girls' hockey final.
The super city competition, for the top eight in Auckland and North Harbour, begins tonight for the boys and tomorrow night for the girls.
Westlake BHS First XI won the North Harbour boys title, beating their Second XI 12-1 in the final. The First XI built on a 4-0 halftime lead to run away with the match, Max Simon scoring four goals and two to JP Rossouw. After the match, future Black Sticks player, Westlaker Sanjay Lala, handed over the North Harbour trophy to First XI captain Mitchell Ottow.
MAGS and Tauranga Girls' were the big winners out of last week's Northern Area secondary schools championships held at West Wave in Henderson.
Three hundred and forty-five students competed in 36 teams from 18 schools, 11 from the Auckland region and seven from Bay of Plenty. There were 160 games over the three day event.
In the senior open ranks, MAGS beat Mahurangi 4-3 in the final, though only after four minutes of sudden death. In another close game, Glendowie beat Tauranga Boys' 8-2 after eight minutes of sudden death.
The surprise team in the competition, Tauranga Girls', won the senior girls grade, going through unbeaten after winning the final 4-2 against EGGS.
Trident High of Whakatane beat Howick in a 3-2 sudden death final to take third place.
EGGS won the junior girls, beating Diocesan 4-2 in the decider, while in the junior open final, Glendowie beat Tauranga Boys' 11-1.
The top teams from each grade qualified to participate in the New Zealand SS championships to be held in September in Auckland.
Westlake BHS held off St Kentigern 85-82 in the first match of the second round of Auckland premier schools action.
Having just got back from winning the U18 3x3 world championships in Hungary a couple of days beforehand, Matt Freeman managed to hit some big shots for 21 points and pulled down 17 rebounds for Westlake. Joel Coffey also came up big on the boards, gathering 13 to go with his 12 points. Greg Vukets contributed 14 points and Alex Wheeler added 16 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds.
St Kentigern took the early lead but Westlake slowly hauled themselves back into the contest and at the death converted from the foul line via Vukets and Logan Hunt.
Westlake remain in a tight battle at the top of the standings with leaders Auckland Grammar and also Rangitoto.
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