Mid Western and Hora Hora maintained perfect track records this season in the Southern Districts Premier Rugby Competition, with each team winning their Easter Weekend matches.
Playing at home, Mid Western kicked off against Mid Northern on Thursday night instead of Saturday - the scheduled game day, as clubs all decided
to contest their matches earlier.
Mid Northern snuck in a converted try in the opening 10 minutes, but the hosts quickly regained control of the match, and dominated play for the remainder of the match to win comfortably 21-7, with three penalties and tries from fullback Dan McCully and flanker Brent Murray.
Coach Simon Cauty credited his forward pack for their success on Thursday.
"Our forwards played really well - Brent [Murray] and hooker Michael Danks had great games ... while Mid Northern scored first, we didn't give them a sniff after that. Our defence was brilliant," he said.
The win keeps the side at the top of the table, alongside Hora Hora, a team which also remains unbeaten in the competition this season.
Cauty added his team's winning streak also had a lot to do with the improvements made by the Mid Western forward pack. "Our backline is strong, so we originally thought the forwards would be our weak area this season but they have really stepped up in the last two weeks," he said.
Meanwhile, Hora Hora had a convincing win at home, over Kamo on Friday.
Kamo manager Evan Phillips said there were no excuses for his team's 35-11 loss.
"We were at full strength but Hora Hora just played extremely well - we may have had a slight edge in the forwards but their backline were impressive," he said.
Hora Hora captain Warren Dunn had another outstanding game at centre, breaking through Kamo's defence, distributing the ball well and running in a couple of tries to help his side to their satisfying victory.
In other Southern Districts Premier Easter weekend matches, Western Sharks beat Marist 23-13, while Hikurangi had a 37-20 win over Old Boys and Wellsford thumped Otamatea 51-7.
