Club rugby: Clubs welcome back All Blacks for rare appearances

It was a rare All Black day in club rugby in Auckland and North Harbour yesterday as some of Graham Henry's rested, rotated and reconditioned rugby players got some useful miles under their belts.

In Auckland, Keven Mealamu (Otahuhu), Doug Howlett and Isaia Toeava (both Marist) turned out, while Tony Woodcock (North Harbour Marist) and Greg Rawlinson (Silverdale) made an appearance in club colours over the Harbour Bridge.

However, an injection of all Blacks notwithstanding, Marist still went down to Pakuranga in their clash, with Pakuranga now third in the championship standings.

North Harbour
All Black prop Woodcock turned out but was upstaged by some of his less illustrious team-mates as Marist went on a scoring spree against Kumeu. While Woodcock had a quiet day, youthful backs Nick Blincoe and Alex Florian starred with three tries each in Marist's comprehensive 55-3 victory.

Rawlinson returned to the Silverdale side and helped it to a narrow 8-6 win over neighbours Mahurangi.

The big upset of the day came at Helensville when the home side, who took out the first round championship and have led for much of the season, were upset by lowly Glenfield 16-10. Affected by injuries and without star prop Mike Noble, Helensville looked to have survived with a second spell 10-9 lead but were then denied by a late Glenfield try.

Northcote welcomed back Junior All Black No 8 Nick Willians against Takapuna but his presence was not enough to prevent a 29-22 defeat, first five Jon Elrick scoring 19 of Takapuna's points.

In the other match, Massey started well, with Pisi brothers George, Tusi and Ken prominent, but then faded to win a scrappy clash 29-13.

Auckland
University have edged ahead of Ponsonby in the Auckland premier one second round championship, thanks to a bonus point from their seven-try 46-35 win over Suburbs at Colin Maiden Park.

But Ponsonby had the satisfaction of retaining the Fred Allen Challenge Cup by comfortably accounting for Waitemata 36-15 at Western Springs Stadium. They fell one try short of the four necessary for the valuable bonus point, however, with first five Brett Williams again accounting for the majority of Ponsonby's points, kicking all three conversions and five penalties.

University had two of their Blues Super 14 players, fullback Brent Ward and flanker Daniel Braid, playing yesterday as Auckland coach Pat Lam was keen for many of Auckland's Super 14 players, who haven't had much game time recently, to get in some much needed match fitness.

Otahuhu was another club to gain from the return of two marquee players, All Blackhooker Mealamu and Brad Mika, both of whom contributed greatly to Otahuhu's forward dominance over Waitakere City at Waitakere Stadium. Otahuhu led 16-8 at halftime but Waitakere City stormed back to hit the front five minutes from fulltime before a late penalty brought Otahuhu home 26-25 for a first championship win.

East Tamaki again proved a graveyard for visiting teams as Grammar Carlton were convincingly beaten 26-7 by the host club in the biggest upset of the day.

However, Pakuranga has been the surprise package of this second round. Yesterday they beat Marist 13-10 on their home ground at Bell Park and have now moved to third behind University and Ponsonby on the table.