Champions Ratana got a win against Marton on Saturday - but at a severe cost.
Their vice-captain and most creative attacker Jamie Hughes suffered a badly broken leg midway through the second half of the premier championship fixture.
Hughes went down in a tackle and play was held up for 30 minutes while an ambulance was called and he was taken off to hospital in Palmerston North.
"It's a big shock for the team - he is so important to us," said Ratana coach Cornel Mason who was planning to catch up with Hughes in hospital yesterday.
"I had him at first five-eighth again and he was looking very sharp," added Mason, who is expecting to lose Hughes for the rest of the season.
"It was anyone's game at that stage but, fortunately, we managed to re-focus after losing Jamie."
In fact, Marton led 17-15 but two tries in the 18 minutes remaining saw Ratana avoid an upset with a 27-22 verdict.
Marton coach Bob Fittler picked out the performance of winger Moli Sagapolite, who scored an excellent try, while Jake Karaynidis again had his kicking boots on with four penalties. In contrast, Ratana's kicking woes continued - they scored five tries but improved only one of them.
Meanwhile at Ohakune, Ruapehu have called off the search for a new coach.
And why not? Under the players' committee headed by experienced Wanganui rep player Andrew Evans they've chalked up seven straight wins.
Following Brendon Kavanagh's decision to step down, Evans is picking the team and handling the coaching with support from senior players, of whom there are a good number in the Ruapehu squad.
Their latest win was a 30-27 come-from-behind success against Marist - one of three such victories in a day of tight matches in the premier competition.
"We played the wrong tactics in the first half," said Evans whose team were 20-8 down at the break.
"We were kicking for territory, but they've got a back three in Matt Nielson, Simon Dibben and Sam Scown who will run it back at you."
Marist coach Greg Proctor was pleased with the mighty effort put in by his team but rued some silly errors - a poor 22m drop-out at the start of the second half put Rua back in it - and some wrong options.
Kaierau's Ace Malo trumped a Pirates team full of former Kaierau players with a try five minutes from time to tie up the contest at Spriggens Park 21-all. He then landed the conversion to earn a hard-fought win for the maroon shirts.
The Wanganui rep fullback ended up with an 18-point haul, kicking three penalties and improving Darren Munro's try.
"The boys never gave up," said Kaierau coach Keith Savell, whose team squeezed past Ratana 13-12 last week.
"We've been on the wrong end of a couple of close matches, so it's good to have a couple of close ones go our way."
Pirates' third straight loss highlighted some problems for coach Philip Morris, whose side were ahead 21-16 when Malo struck. "We've been ahead going into the last 10 minutes of the last three games, so that's an issue for us. We had enough ball and created enough pressure to have won, but there was a lack of precision at crucial times."
Another issue for Pirates is the number of penalties they are giving away, something Malo was able to capitalise on.