Rugby: Tauranga pack is on another level

Nick Evemy on the charge for Tauranga Sports against Te Puna on Saturday.

Tauranga Sports proved again they are the team to beat in this year's Bayfair Baywide Premier competition after another runaway victory on Saturday.

The consummate 42-11 victory over previously unbeaten Te Puna at Maramatanga Park was built on a strong set piece from the excellent pack with loose forwards Jesse Acton, Carl Axtens and Dan Crowther dominating the turnovers.

Tauranga scored seven tries to one and never looked in trouble after two early tries to No8 Acton and left wing Paula Narawa, which caught out Te Puna's defence.

Te Puna sorely missed injured captain and halfback Te Aihe Toma who injured his neck playing for Chiefs Development on Thursday evening. He will have scans this week to clarify the extent of the injury. Te Puna trailed 15-6 at the break and when promising fullback Keegan Long scored to close the gap to 20-11 they fancied an upset. But Tauranga scored three more tries to put the result beyond doubt. Te Puna's first year head coach Dan Quate admits his players saw the level they needed to be at to be genuine title contenders.

"We just couldn't get anything going today but that was down to them playing well so I won't take anything away from their performance," he said. "We have known for a while our set piece needs a bit of work and that was just emphasised again. That will be a big work-on over the coming weeks."

In the other Premier games Western Bay sides all won away from home. Te Puke Sports prevailed 13-6 over Rotoiti, while Greerton Marist pushed Whakarewarewa all the way before losing 20-8. Rangataua Sports enjoyed their first win of the season in beating Waikite 45-21 and Mount Maunganui Sports thumped Opotiki 76-10.

Bayfair Baywide Premier

* Tauranga Sports 42 (Jesse Acton 2, Paula Narawa, Jeff Thwaites, Hamish Gosling, Nick Evemy, Philip Togatogarua tries; Evemy 2 cons, pen) Te Puna 11 (Keegan Long try; Richard Apanui pen, drop goal) HT 15-6

* Whakarewarewa 20 (Te Rangi Fraser 2 tries; Ryubyn Vaipo 2 pen, 2 con)

* Greerton Marist 8 (Cody McGovern try; Tim O'Malley pen) HT 0-0

* Te Puke Sports 13 (Eru Wanu-Smith try; Dan Hollinshead con, 2 pen)

* Rotoiti 6 (Whakataki Cunningham 2 pen) HT 10-3

* Mount Maunganui 71 (Mason Walker 3, Solomon Sakalia, Aaron Carroll, Vyron Smith, Ben Tyler, Pera Gibbs, Matt Golding, Matt Axtens, Marnus Handley tries; Pera Gibbs 8 cons)

* Opotiki 10 (Luke Morris try; Ben Hawera pen, con) HT 21-10

* Rangataua 45 (Shay Stevens 2, Akira Mako 2, Carlin Tata, Tute Grant, Matua Parkinson tries; Grant 5 con)

* Waikite 21 HT 31-0

* Whakatane Marist 32

* Paroa 22 HT 10-17

* Points table: Tauranga Sports 15, Whakarewarewa 14, Te Puke Sports 13, Mount Maunganui 10, Whakatane Marist 10, Te Puna 9, Rotoiti 6, Rangataua 6, Paroa 5, Greerton Marist 1, Waikite 0, Opotiki 0.