League: Tigers have too much for Hokianga

The Moerewa Tigers (right) with their arch rivals the Hokianga Pioneers

A dominant second-half performance by premiership leader's the Moerewa Tigers extinguished any chance of a comeback from the Hokianga Pioneers as the rampant Tigers outfit ran in numerous tries to win 38-12.

Though it was a comfortable win for the Tigers, coach Dave Bristow was hoping for a more competitive outing from the visiting Hokianga opposition.

"It was a really tough game - a really hard, physical game.

"We were expecting a tough game 'cause Hokianga's a tough side to play," Bristow said.

"When you're top of the roost everybody wants to knock you off [but] I was quite happy with the boys. They stuck to our game plan, played 80 minutes and it was really good."

At halftime the score sat at 22-12 to the Tigers and, although Hokianga brought their physical brand of league to Moerewa on Saturday, the Tigers proved why they are one of the best in the competition.

"We've been dormant so long. Now we're trying to get the growl back in the Tigers," Bristow said.

"We've been pretty quiet for the last three-four years so we're trying to get that back into them and it's working really well.

"I think it's just consistency week in and week out. There's nothing much in the competition at the moment.

"We've had two losses but we've learnt from that."

With Saturday's win in the bag, Bristow admits the close nature of this year's premiership is keeping things interesting and though the Tigers have displayed consistency, several other side's are banging on the door for first place.

"Home advantage is key for every game [but] even away games are hard too," Bristow said.

"That's the hardest thing in this comp is trying to win your away games."