Otumoetai Eels premiers slithered their way to a winning 54-28 but messy encounter over Pikiao Warriors who seemed disinterested after realising their playoffs chances were slim before the game, handing the Eels a win mostly lacking in finesse and structure.
After building a 38-4 halftime lead, the writing was on the wall for a huge score but to Pikiao's credit they never gave up and scored three soft but well deserved tries in the last 20 minutes to expose the Eels defence after they led 54-10.
With the Eels travelling to Taniwharau, it showed they have the nous to put points on the board but by leaking easy points they have a lot of work to do during the week to close up the defensive frailties where they have been averaging 26 points conceded per game.
For the Eels, hooker Tane Leef and second row Hamish Newlands were huge on defence with wing Mark Ballantyne courageous out wide.
Props Meihana Herbert and Rocky Ahuriri were the pick of the Pikiao Warriors with their huge runs up the middle creating the forward momentum for the tries near the end of the game.
