Kamo turn back the clock to find form

The return of two "old-timers" into Kamo's premier grade ranks helped them regain their winning ways against Marist at Kensington Park on Saturday.
Kamo co-coach Gus Collins managed to last the entire first round on the sideline before taking to the field as blind side flanker, while first five-eighth Bertus van Bureen returned for his first premier grade match for a couple of seasons, to help steer Kamo to a much needed but slightly unconvincing 23-15 victory.
It was Kamo's forward pack that gave them the edge in the match. Marist were quickly on the back foot in and around the breakdown area, allowing Kamo to make easy metres throughout the match. The Kamo pack gained dominance in the set-pieces as well as the game wore on, all but stifling Marist's attacking opportunities.
Collins said he enjoyed being back on the field rather than watching from the sideline - especially when they were winning.
"We've been working on a few things at training all year and a few of them came off today, so hopefully the team will get some confidence from this win," he said.
Wins have been few and far between for Kamo this year but Collins is taking a long-term view of the season.
"We're out of the running [for the playoffs] now but we really need to build for next year, to keep the squad together and keep them improving," he said.
A season-ending injury to young  first five Mike Cook meant that Van Bureen was rushed back into the senior side after a run last week with the Reserves.
Van Bureen carved off the metres kicking with the wind behind him in the first spell and proved difficult to put down when he ran with the ball in hand - his passing was accurate and he often used the cut-out pass to set free Kamo's speedy outside backs.
Marist skipper Cameron Eyre was disappointed with the performance of the Marist pack.
"Their forwards just monstered us today, taking it to us up front and we sat back and waited for them and paid the price for that," he said.
Upset winners over the Western Sharks last week, Marist were handed a lesson up front but the backs managed to play well enough, and thanks to an off day for the stand-in Kamo kicker Brodie Marron, they were able to stay in touch with Kamo throughout the day.
Branson Waaka put Marist ahead with an early penalty before hooker Jackie Tango caught the Marist defence napping with a blindside run after a lineout to wrest back the lead with a try.
Kamo warmed to their task and began to mount some serious pressure by keeping Marist trapped in their own quarter. A Van Bureen chip landed in no-man's land and the bounce was kind to a flying Hunia Kingi, who flicked a miracle pass inside to Jarod McKenzie to dot down.
The open side flanker picked up his second shortly afterward, courtesy of Kamo's impressive rolling maul, with five minutes left in the first spell to take the score to 15-3 at the break.
Marist seemed to have regrouped at the beginning of the second spell but still had to absorb a fair amount of pressure from the visitors.
Ten minutes into the spell Marist halfback Beau Dickens doubled around his first five-eighths Ihaka Kapa to create some hesitation in the Kamo defence and then fired a perfect cut-out ball to a charging Troy Neltzer, who crossed for Marist's first try and narrowed the gap to 8-15.
Any thoughts of a Marist comeback were ruined by another Kamo try, later claimed by the Kamo player-coach. It was the second to feature the rolling maul - rotating like a top three times - all the while discarding Marist players in its wake as the Kamo forwards gathered momentum on the way to the line.
 Marist kept on trying gamely in conditions made even tougher by a heavy shower of rain.
A dubious try to replacement loosie Brad Anderson narrowed the deficit to 15-20 and saw Kamo kicker Marron land his only successful kick of the day.