TOUGH DAY: There were few openings for Kaierau first-five Te Rau Wirihana in his team's 41-14 loss to Pirates on Spriggens Park on Saturday. Photo/Lewis Gardner
Integrity Motors Pirates turned it on against old rivals Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau to keep themselves in prime position to earn the remaining home semifinal spot after a 41-14 win at Spriggens Park on Saturday.
Avenging their upset loss in Round 1 on May 10, Pirates scored six tries with productive winger Clive Stowers now likely to finish the regular season on top of the tryscoring list as his hat-trick kept him tied on 13 with Waverley Harvesting Border's Sikeli Ulukuta, who also scored three tries up the road at Dallison Park.
Pirates and Border's bonus point wins opened up a further gap on Taihape, who just got home 14-10 against Utiku Old Boys in the Memorial Park derby.
Always a tough match no matter how far apart the neighbouring clubs sit on the table, Taihape were also without their maestro first-five Tom Wells, with the Whale brothers Dane and Luke taking over the kicking duties.
The current table means the most likely line-up for the semifinals, after the final round-robin games this Saturday, is McCarthy's Ruapehu will face Taihape at Ohakune, while Pirates will claim the second home semifinal spot to play Border at Spriggens Park.
The only outcome that would rearrange this, other than a Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist upset of Pirates, would be if Taihape could beat Ruapehu in Ohakune this weekend while gaining a four-try bonus and a winning margin over 13 points.
Having seen their own championship semifinal ambitions fizzle in the last fortnight, Harvey Round Motors Ratana still earned Rangitikei sub-union bragging rights for 2014 despite customarily fading in the second half hanging on to a 24-20 win at the Paa over Speirs Food Marton.
Ratana's captain prop Vaan Rauhina scored two tries in a strong derby match, moving himself to third on the season's MVP points table, although that honour will go to Border's halfback Lindsay Horrocks unless his Ruapehu rival William Short turns in a big performance against Taihape this Saturday.
In the Senior championship, Border saw their hopes of breaking into the Top 4 nose-dive as despite good form in the last fortnight, they were well beaten 36-0 at Dallison Park by Marist Celtic.
However, a hapless Trans Pacific Pirates could only dream of a scoreline like that against them after Power Farming (PN) Hunterville came within one try of racking up a humiliating century of points, destroying the visitors 96-7 in their Stihl Shop Wanganui Challenge Shield defence.
Hunterville rebounded from the previous weekend's draw with Border and are looking right in line to claim a sixth-straight title.
The semifinalists for the Senior consolation had already long since sorted themselves out, with Counties and Marton still most likely to fight out the major honours in the grade after picking up wins over Kaierau (37-10) and Ratana (32-17) respectively.
Results, July 12
Tasman Tanning Premier, Week 17
Integrity Motors Pirates 41 (Clive Stowers 3, Johnny Mow, Samu Etuati, Kameli Kuruyabaki tries, penalty try, Manulua Lafi 3 con) bt Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau 14 (Jordan Farrington 2 tries, Ace Malo 2 con). HT: 22-7.
Harvey Round Motors Ratana 24 (Vaan Rauhina 2, Kamaka Manuel, Caleb Maraku tries, Kane Tamou con, Maraku con) bt Speirs Food Marton 20 (Isaac Johnson, Meni Faasau tries, Jake Karaynidis 2 pen, 2 con). HT: 17-0.
Grand Hotel Challenge Shield Waverley Harvesting Border 65 (Sikeli Ulukuta 3, Ben Aiken 2, Cole Baldwin, John Laurie, Ray Stark, Lindsay Horrocks, Sailoso Naqiso tries, Ulukuta pen, 5 con, Jack Lupton con) bt Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist 14 (Matt Neilson, Ian Hawkes tries, Grayson Tihema 2 con). HT: 34-0.
Taihape 14 (Dane Whale try, 2 pen, Luke Whale pen) bt Utiku OB 10 (Semi Rabradra try, Taylor Transom pen, con). HT: 8-3.
Bye McCarthy's Ruapehu.
Grand Irish Bar Most Valuable Player points.
At Spriggens Park: Rob Lavin (Kaierau hooker) 3 points, Faalafi Vave (Pirates flanker) 2, Clive Stowers (Pirates winger) 1.
At Ratana: Vaan Rauhina (Ratana prop) 3, Rau Uini (Marton prop) 2, Isaac Greer (Marton hooker) 1.
At Waverley: Kieran Hussey (Border flanker) 3, Ray Stark (Border No 8), Lindsay Horrocks (Border halfback) and Ian Hawkes (Marist flanker) 1 point each.
At Taihape: Dane Whale (Taihape fullback) 3, Malakai Volau (Utiku OB flanker), Semi Rabradra (Utiku OB winger) and Ritchie Iorns (Taihape prop) 1 point each.
MVP Leaders: Lindsay Horrocks (Border) 19 points, William Short (Ruapehu) 17, Vaan Rauhina (Ratana) 13, Andrew Evans (Ruapehu), Ryan Gill (Marist), Ray Stark (Border) and Manulua Lafi (Pirates) 12, Clive Stowers (Pirates) 11, Sikeli Ulukuta (Border) and Marcus Tottman (Taihape) 10, Darren Munro (Kaierau) 9, Dane Whale (Taihape) and Jamie Hughes (Ratana) 8, Simon Hillis (Pirates), Hoani Rameka (Utiku OB), Isaac Greer (Marton), Ephraim Reynolds (Kaierau) and Nick Cranston (Ruapehu) 7, Chris Thomsen and Chris Rayner (Marton), Zyon Hekenui (Ruapehu), Brett Nicholls (Taihape), Simon Dibben and Rory Gudsell (Marist) 6, Jaye Flaws (Taihape), Michael Nabuliwaqa (Utiku OB), Logan Vaughan (Ruapehu), Josh Edwards and Rob Lavin (Kaierau) and Junior Tume (Pirates) 5.
Senior championship, Week 17.
At Spriggens Park: Ruapehu bt Tech 17-6. HT: 3-0 Tech.
At Dallison Park, Waverley: Marist Celtic bt Border 36-0.
At Hunterville (Stihl Shop Wanganui Challenge Shield): Power Farming (PN) Hunterville bt Trans Pacific Pirates 96-7. HT: 54-0.
Senior consolation, Week 17.
At Kaierau Country Club: Counties bt Kaierau 37-10. HT: 15-0.
At Ratana Paa: Downs Group Marton bt Ratana 32-17. HT: 14-12 Ratana.
At Memorial Park: Taihape bt Utiku OB 28-3. HT: 11-3.
Bye: Marist Buffalo's.