RUGBY - Six sides hunt for semi-final spots

After two tight clashes, 6 sides are hunting semifinal spots Two heart-stopping draws yesterday have suddenly sparked the battle for a spot in the Joe Morgan Memorial club rugby championship semifinals into an all-in melee between six of the 10 teams contesting this year's competition.
Front-runners Hora Hora and Marist hammered out an 19-all draw at Hora Hora yesterday, flanker Junior Gadolo scoring a late try to help Marist come back from a 19-3 deficit in a physical encounter.
At the same time, Mid Northern and Wellsford were wrestling for an 11-all stalemate at Wellsford in what was an intriguing match-up between two battle-weary outfits.
That game could easily have been noted down as a Mid Northern victory, but goal-kicking legend David Holwell hit the uprights with a late penalty shot.
The critical fallout is in the championship standings though, as both Mid Northern and Marist have been vying for top-dog ranking all year, with Hora Hora and Wellsford not far behind.
Now Hora Hora have leap-frogged to top spot, Hikurangi have surged into second place and Mid Northern fallen to fourth with Wellsford and Kamo snapping at their heels.
Hikurangi had to work hard to beat Mid Western 29-11 at Hikurangi yesterday and Kamo cruised past the Western Sharks 44-0 at Kamo, both taking maximum five points hauls for their efforts.
So now there is just five-point spread between first and sixth with just eight more games before the semifinalists are decided.
Yesterday's game ended a most profitable weekend for Hikurangi who dispensed with Marist with unnerving ease on Saturday then hung on against the rapidly improving Mid Western outfit yesterday.
It was a good weekend for Kamo as well - they piled on 73 unanswered points in two games. The return of prodigal son Justin Collins, the Super 14 star and current representative captain, proved to be a prime motivating point for the team.
But it was a dreadful weekend for the much-vaunted Marist side, who were hit hard on Saturday then fronted up against a Hora Hora side noted for their ruthless style yesterday.
Marist were simply unable to find their rhythm at any stage of the weekend, a disrupted build up on Saturday costing them dearly and a fired up Hora Hora side, primed by the efforts of young lock forward Mark Bennett, hitting them with all guns blazing.
Mid Northern are still battling a long list of injuries and will be happy to have travelled home from Wellsford last night with something to show for their endeavours.
The double-header weekend was always going to be a pivotal point of the competition. Now the key will be how the teams recover with another full round of games scheduled for Saturday.
The top teams will need to make wise use of their star players now, as representative players will soon be pulled from the club competition altogether to start Northland preparations.