Rain-soaked premiers unbeaten but unimpressive

Mid Western and Hora Hora remain the only unbeaten teams in premier grade club rugby this season, but any satisfaction for either camp after Saturday's game was shallow at best.
Neither side grabbed the initiative during the rain-affected match at Maungakaramea, and they got what they deserved - a 16-all draw.
The match promised plenty but the game was effectively ruined when the heavens opened just before kick-off. Neither team was able to play sensible wet weather rugby.
Plenty of players made good bursts, but could manage only ineffective offloads that eluded their teammates. Mid Western skipper Adam Clarke was as frustrated as the Hora Hora club stalwarts who braved the deluge to watch the match.
"What let us down the most was our 50-50 passes. We're a team that can attack from anywhere and I think we showed that, but three or four times during the match we did the hard work and then we took the wrong option and turned the ball over," Clarke said.
Poor discipline, especially in the ruck area, saw referee Duane Wells resembling a signalman as he dispensed regular penalties.
Both sides showed brief flashes of ability. The home side started well enough, with Ash Moeke willing to play the percentages and pin Hora Hora in their own half.
Moeke kicked two long-range penalties, and Jack McPhee responded to make the score 6-3. Then Ben Berridge was sin binned for a dangerous tackle. He was unlucky, with the tackle seeming worse than it was, but his absence turned out to be a turning point as Hora Hora capitalised to deliver the kind of rugby they are famous for.
They threw themselves at the advantage line around the fringes of the ruck and eventually hooker Alan Nesbit forced his way over the line to make the lead 10-6 after the conversion. A penalty for both sides gave the visitors a 13-9 lead.
The weather improved after half-time, but the game didn't. Hora Hora defended well when Mid Western managed to get their backs going, and a narrow miss from a McPhee drop-goal with 10 minutes to go showed how eager they were to close the game out.
Alas for them it was another error, capitalised on by No 8 James Merry, that got Mid Western back on top. A Mid Western clearing kick was fielded midfield by Leon Baigent who replied with a high bomb However, he and another Hora Hora player failed to tackle the lanky loosie, who took off upfield, fending off another tackle on the way before drawing the cover and feeding the ball to Saxon Samuels, who scored untouched under the posts.
Hora Hora weren't done, and McPhee slotted another 40m penalty to draw level. Moeke then missed another penalty before McPhee lined up another long kick to win the match, but it dropped just under the crossbar to finish the game.
Hora Hora captain Warren Dunn said they were probably lucky to have completed the match on level terms.
"The ball was greasy and the conditions weren't that great ... but I think both teams were waiting for the other team to start playing instead of following the game plan themselves, it was just one of those days," he said.