Club Rugby: Defence makes the difference for Waitakere

Auckland
Waitakere City's near watertight defence again contributed greatly to their 22-12 win over University in the Auckland premier one match-of-the-day at Waitakere Stadium yesterday.

The teams went into their second-to-last game in the first-round championship tied with Ponsonby at the top of the table on 29 points.

In their first seven matches before yesterday, Waitakere City had conceded only six tries. This time it was University's turn to try and break the defensive screen.

And try as they might, they failed, gaining their 12 points from four penalties while Waitakere City crossed for three tries, two of which were converted, plus a penalty.

Ponsonby, meanwhile, have edged ahead of Waitakere City on the points table thanks to their five tries and the accompanying bonus points after beating Marist 30-17 at Western Springs Stadium. Marist looked to be heading for an upset when leading Ponsonby 17-10 at halftime but the Ponies broke clear with two tries in the final 20 minutes.

At the other end of the points table, Roskill Districts lost to East Tamaki 27-3 and Pakuranga beat Te Papapa Onehunga 26-12. Otahuhu edged Grammar Carlton 20-19.

North Harbour
Burly prop Mike Noble returned from a disappointing time in the Super 14 with the Blues and made the most of gaining some game time at last by returning to his Helensville club side in North Harbour premier rugby yesterday, showing he had lost little of his scrummaging power.

With Noble enabling Helensville to dominate up front, the side maintained its unbeaten record this season with a 36-19 win over East Coast Bays.

Two of the other leading sides, Takapuna and Marist, had wins but not by the margins many expected and both Glenfield and Silverdale came close to causing upsets.

Takapuna struggled to break a sound Glenfield defence, and also surprised with some of their tactics in turning down a number of shots at goal, before sneaking an 8-6 victory.

Silverdale led Marist 8-5 at halftime and, with South African wing Neils Erasmus scoring two tries, looked to have the game won late into the second half, only to be foiled by a late Marist try.

North Shore, with former representative Willie Walker providing 12 of the points with his boot, beat Kumeu 37-11. Northcote were also pushed by Mahurangi before winning 25-10, with all of the points coming from tries.

Mahurangi prop Koen McGee brought up his 150th premier game for his club.

Counties-Manukau
With so many quality players squaring off against each other, the Karaka vs Pukekohe match at Karaka yesterday had the potential to be a classy game and so it proved, with Pukekohe emerging 23-22 winners.

Blair Feeney, who has been overseas, returned for Pukekohe, while Waka Setitaia was back from injury for Karaka.

Pukekohe fullback Rob Dennison crossed for the first of his two tries midway through the first spell.

In the second half, Karaka hit back through a good try to centre Siale Piutau, who beat three defenders to score under the posts.

Dennison then scored his second try out wide but Karaka responded with another Troy Nathan penalty to leave Pukekohe six points adrift with 10 minutes to spare. The visitors struck at the death and Feeney converted to give Pukekohe a one-point win.

In other matches, Manurewa defeated Ardmore Marist 14-9 and Patumahoe maintained their top position downing Waiuku 14-10.