A light week of training may have helped Hora Hora hurtle out of the blocks and savage an out-of-sorts Otamatea Hawks in a first half onslaught.
They were ahead 34-0 at half-time to run out 63-7 winners on Saturday, to remain perched in the top four of the Bayleys Real Estate Southern Districts club rugby competition.
The victory was a welcome one for coach Mark Wati, who had worried his side was underdone ahead of what he expected would be a challenging encounter.
"We were able to train under cover up at the Riding for Disabled [RDA] shed at Barge Park on Tuesday but on Thursday we only managed a team talk in the shed ... so it was still a very good performance by everyone who played today," he said.
The forwards were more than a match for the Hawks' highly rated pack, with captain Allan Nesbit leading by example, scoring a hat-trick to add to impressive braces in both of his two previous outings.
But it is the backline who have made the most progress for Hora Hora this year. With Warren Dunn now back in the starting line-up and Troy Woodman also back from injury, Wati has tough selection choices when Jared Wendt comes back from injury in a week or two.
"That puts pressure on me but I'd rather have it that way than the other way around, like in recent seasons where you have a few injuries and then struggle for the rest of the year," Wati said.
Dunn had a field day against Otamatea, making plenty of yards on the break, with second five-eighths Vili Tahitua equally dominant in both defence and attack. The addition of first five-eighths Ume Fosita has made the backline as potent as it has been in recent seasons.
"Otamatea were a lot stronger than when we played them down there. They've got a few new boys in there, including a new halfback and first five, and I think they were coming up here to try and tip us over but it didn't turn out that way," the happy coach said.
Hawks coach Gary Kingi said his team had one of those off-days in sport that are hard to explain.
"We've been travelling well in the last couple of weeks but today nothing went right for us. It was very disappointing," he said.
Otamatea's defence was particularly poor and Kingi let them know at half-time. The Hawks listened and were good in the third quarter, finally scoring after Travis Larsen made a break close to the ruck to set up their consolation try.
The win was important for Hora Hora, with fifth-placed Kamo and sixth-placed Wellsford both losing to give the top four teams some breathing space.
Mid Northern beat Wellsford 29-24 to maintain their lead in the competition with second-placed Old Boys Marist, taking care of Kamo 27-18. Mid Western are third after a convincing 42-5 win at Hikurangi.