Mid Northern defeat Hikurangi

Mid Northern knocked off the competition leaders Hikurangi with a 26-10 win at Hukerenui to move into third place on the PGG Wrightson Southern Districts Club Rugby competition.
The Friday night encounter was one of the best games Mid Northern have played during the season and if they can take their home form on the road, they must be a real chance for the title.
Mid Northern's pack led the way, getting on top of Hikurangi and gaining good metres by driving the ball up the middle and shutting down Hikurangi's attacking patterns with some bone-shaking first-up tackles.
A try in each half to Rudder Going and Quentin Cooper and 16 points from David Holwell was enough of a buffer to defend when Hikurangi came looking for points with their traditional strong finish.
The Hukerenui-based side lost all of their first round encounters on the road and if they can address that in the second round, they have the opportunity to earn themselves a home semifinal.
Kamo may be finally beginning to reach their potential after winning their second game in a row - for the first time this season - with a nail-biting 10-7 win over Old Boys.
The visitors to Old Boys shot out to an early lead after dominating the early forward exchanges with tries to hooker Jackie Tango and flanker Jared McKenzie.
Old Boys found their feet and there was no further scoring in the first spell. The second half saw Old Boys re-introduce their Northland players Mikaele Tu'u and Dean Budd into the pack and that helped them gain some dominance in the match. Tu'u crossed the line to get them back in the game, with Connor Matson converting, but no further points materialised and Kamo stepped it up to hold Old Boys out in the closing stages of the game.
Hora Hora beat an improving Wellsford 25-7 at Hora Hora Park to keep their title hopes intact and keep the top four clubs honest in the run-in to the playoffs.

 Centre Warren Dunn's two tries proved to be the difference between the two sides - both of which showed some great forward play during the match. The biggest surprise of the day came when Northland veteran Glen Taylor came on as a replacement with ten minutes to go.
 And the 146-game Northland lock made an impact,  scoring a bonus point try - although the method wasn't very surprising - it came from a rolling maul.