Marist No.8 Taione Ratu dives over for the first of his two tries in the Premier victory over Kaierau at the 100th anniversary celebrations at Spriggens Park.
The festivities of the occasion outweighed the quality of the rugby, but Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist did the business for over 720 special guests with a 35-14 win over Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau in their centennial weekend match on Saturday.
Securing the club an extremely rare clean sweep as both Senior teams also picked up wins on Marist's 100th anniversary, the Tasman Tanning Premier side scored six tries to two but will go away with plenty to work on as they could have put up 50 points.
Lost ball after initial breaks and some discipline issues will need to be addressed by coach Jason Hamlin's team, as they conceded a penalty try and had two professional foul sinbinnings.
Nonetheless, Marist rotated off their outstanding forwards in No8 Taione Ratu and hooker Richard Campbell early in the second half and pretty much treated the final quarter like a training session with lots of changes and little fear of Kaierau threatening them.
The Country Club team continues to struggle for any kind of fluency and simply cannot find their shape as a true team, with is due in part to the fact the young side doesn't have the experienced heads that Marist possess.
They did score a late try after sustained buildup and a mounting penalty count from referee Kawana Tihema, with most of the final quarter spent inside Marist's half, but this was more a reflection of the home side switching off and probably already thinking about joining the marquees outside their Spriggens Park clubrooms.
"[I] got frustrated, to be honest," said Hamlin.
"We got the game, got the bonus point, but it just makes for a frustrating game.
"Some of the interplay in the first half was brilliant."
Nonetheless, Hamlin was proud the club had a good day with three victories and had a wonderful hosting set up for the supporters, many of whom had travelled quite a distance to come home.
Kaierau coach Denis Edwards would have been satisfied with 30-14, which would signify a second half effort they could build on, but Marist wanted the final say after Kaierau's try and camped in their 22m until scoring on fulltime.
"We just panicked in the last five minutes," Edwards said.
"Just not quite there. Same old, same old.
"Our scrum held, [but] our delivery at the back needed some work on."
Kaierau were not getting the best out of the kicking duel with Marist able to call on Ratu and winner Cameron Crowley to run the ball back at them, keeping the weight of territory even with both sides making errors.
A strong run by halfback Matt Koubaridis opened up another attack as Campbell and props Marek Willis and Viki Tofa all had a crack, before lock Sam Madams popped the ruck ball up to Ratu who dived through grasping hands to score.
Fullback Mitchell Millar added a penalty, and then he was on the end of the chain to score in the corner after the backline spread the ball following on from Campbell busting the line.
Flanker Ryan Gill twisted through tackles and then fellow flanker Dale Pene linked with Campbell and first-five Sean Brown in an excellent passing exchange to clear the defenders, with Millar carrying it on.
Campbell claimed a try at the line, which wasn't called, so Marist spread back towards the goalposts, where Ratu twisted his way to the line to just brush the paint, with play initially carrying on again until Tihema called it back to award the try.
Marist then gave Kaierau some faint hope as the visitors spread to talented winger Lafaelele Malo, who went himself and put a well-weighted grubber into the in-goal, looking certain to win the race until Millar brought him down early.
Tihema made the right call of a yellow card and automatic seven-pointer.
Marist's forwards were right back to their work after halftime as Ratu broke through the line twice, on the second time making the offload to a motoring Campbell to score in the corner.
Both puffing players were then immediately subbed, and it would be 17 minutes before either team looked like scoring again, as from a 22m scrum, Koubaridis ran and timed his pass to Millar perfectly to catch Kaierau short and put winger Simon Dibben over untouched for 30-7.
The subs kept coming and so did Marist's professional fouls as Tihema awarded 6-7 straight penalties and finally binned reserve Nathan Puketapu as Kaierau hunted for consolation.
Sole veteran Ace Malo took a quick tap and was just stopped at the chalk, with the ball put back for flanker Fiatau Fa'alili to be driving over beside the posts with just over two minutes left.
Kaierau tried to spread it after the kickoff but once again promptly lost control, and Marist worked forward off a couple of penalties for winger Cameron Crowley to score a good try by stepping and fending tacklers on an angled run beside the posts.
Marist 35 (T Ratu 2, M Millar, R Campbell, S Dibben, C Cameron tries; Millar pen, con) bt Kaierau 14 (F Fa'alili try, penalty try; S Scott con). HT: 20-7.