Rugby: Kamo leave it late

Two late solo tries to Kamo secured their win over Hora Hora despite losing both locks early in the first half.

Roy Griffin and Josh Browne made the most of Hora Hora mistakes late in the second half to swing the 39-29 scoreline in their favour.

Kamo coach John Miller said the 10-point margin did not reflect how tight the game really was.

"It was a bit ugly," said Miller. "[But] we'll take the win. The scoreline see-sawed for most of the game ... it was just the type of game it was."

He said his side were outmuscled a bit in the forwards after losing Bryce Williams (head knock) and Reuben Wright (dislocated shoulder) early on.

"It upset our game plan a little bit but we do train for it, and we do integrate with our B team well, so it didn't upset us too much [overall]. We've got pretty good depth so the guys that came on slotted in well.

"Hora Hora certainly took to us in the forwards, they had a well drilled forward pack which picked and go-ed well."

Miller said Williams' head knock was not considered serious and was substituted as a precaution.

Hora Hora coach Mark Wati said the loss was not pleasing for his side, especially after having such a dominance over Kamo's forwards.

"Our forwards took it basically to Kamo," Wati said. "Last week they [Hora Hora's forwards] didn't clean out very well, but we'd done a lot of work on our rucks at training and you could see that [on Saturday].

Wati and Miller credited Hora Hora's centres, Warren Dunn and Vili Tahitu'a, for causing havoc with ball in hand.

Wati said Tahitu'a has had a positive impact for Hora Hora since making the move north from Auckland in just his second match for the club.

"As we get further into the season they'll [Tahitu'a and Dunn] start to figure out each other's lines and be a real force."

In other premier club matches, Old Boys' Marist continued their strong start to the season with a 33-10 win over the Western Sharks; Mid Northern made easy work of Otamatea, winning by 53-17; Mid Western overcame losing Ben Berridge to a suspected broken leg to beat Waipu 36-12; and Hikurangi pipped Wellsford 31-30.

In the reserve grade, Sharks beat Old Boys' Marist 12-10; Mid Northern accounted for Otamatea 22-8; Mid Western cruised past Waipu 25-7; Wellsford overcame Hikurangi 59-20; and Kamo took out Hora Hora 41-0.