RUGBY - Pita panic melts as Hora Hora thrashed

On Thursday night Darrell Pita was panicking, By Saturday evening he couldn't stop smiling.
One of the coaching staff at Mid Northern rugby headquarters, Pita was left in sole charge for the team's final run on Thursday night as they prepared to meet Hora Hora in a crucial top-of-the-table clash.
The thing was, he wasn't left in charge of much at all.
Injury and unavailability meant he had a forward pack and two backs at training while contemplating the importance of the game to Mid Northern's defence of the Joe Morgan Memorial club rugby title this season.
In the end he needn't have worried.
Mid Northern, thanks to the efforts of veterans Brad Miller and Vaughan Going and the sheer class of the inimitable David Holwell, thrashed Hora Hora 41-17 to march back to the top of the competition ladder.
Now Mid Northern are set to surge back as the countdown to the play-offs starts in earnest, safe in the knowledge that a clique of experienced backline stalwarts will remain even when the Northland representative players are withdrawn from club duty in three week's time.
But it is still going to be one of the most hotly contested battles in recent club rugby history just to determine the final four, especially as two under-rated teams from Mid Western and the Western Sharks are lingering with intent.
On Saturday it was Wellsford who surged up the rankings to join Mid Northern at the top of the table with a 95-0 win over Whangarei Old Boys, but the Sharks who sent the bush telegraph into overdrive when they upset Marist 17-14.
Kamo struggled to sneak past a dogged Mid Western outfit 20-10 and Hikurangi accounted for Waipu 31-9 in other games.
But it was the sheer style with which Mid Northern swept past Hora Hora that has suddenly put everyone else on alert.
Miller, at second five eighths, was a class act for Mid Northern, scoring a scintillating try in the first half that left several tacklers grabbing at thin air as he raced nearly 40m to the tryline.
Holwell hardly missed a beat as he rode behind a dominant Mid Northern forward pack spiked by the form of No.8 Frank Roberts and the energy of openside flanker Nathan Smith.
It was quite a performance, and a victory all the meritorious as Hora Hora produced one of the most rugged defensive performances of the year, led by lightweight lock Riley Dunn and the eyecatching form of loosie Rukuwai Waata.
But Hora Hora simply had no answer to a series of clever backline moves from Mid Northern, even when they had the wind at their backs in the second spell.
Hooker Craig Williamson was one of the heroes as the Sharks ambushed Marist, his try-scoring habit continuing unabated as he got two on Saturday to help his team get the unlikely win.
But it was quite a battle. Marist was guilty of repeat infringements and unable to repel the sheer energy of the Sharks.
Eric Abraham got a double against Waipu as Hikurangi galloped to a handsome win and the game was so onesided between Wellsford and Whangarei Old Boys that it became a processions of points.
But at Kamo things were quite different. Mid Western's bolstered forward pack proved to be quite a handful for Kamo's much celebrated forwards. In difficult conditions Mid Western had the firepower but were again unable to convert consistent pressure into points when it mattered.
Kamo did manage to score three tries, but made hard work of the game and may yet rue the fact that they failed to get a fourth touchdown and bank a much-needed bonus point to help their bid for a semifinal spot.
Next week: Marist v Mid Western; Western Sharks v Mid Northern; Kamo v Waipu; Hora Hora v Wellsford; Hikurangi v Whangarei Old Boys.