Results in the latest round of Tui Cup rugby went fairly much as expected on Saturday.
Ten tries were scored at Memorial Park where Marist entertained Carterton but the visitors were unable to follow up last weekend's victory over Greytown, going down 38-26 to Marist. The early loss of James Goodger to injury didn't deter the Marist effort and their pack, with loosies Rhys Severn, Liam Devine and Kieran O'Brien prominent, proved a real handful for the Carterton defence in the first half. Carterton also allowed full back Malatai Malatai too much space to run the ball back at them, resulting in Marist taking a deserved lead in to the break.
Carterton came more in to their own in the second half but handling errors and an inability to cross the line after a period of sustained pressure saw the Carterton challenge fade. Malatai Malatai, Shannon Rimene (3) and SeuituliTafa (2) scored tries for Marist with James Goodger and Shaun Pollard adding two conversions each. Carterton managed four tries, one each to Corey Casey, Ollie Terblanche, Johnny McFadzean and Daniel Nicho with first-five Andy Humberstone adding three conversions.
Elsewhere, Eketahuna downed visitors Gladstone 15-. Paul Carter and Hamish Walker crossed the chalk for Eketahuna with Tom Meuli adding one conversion and a a penalty. Gladstone's points came from a try by Cameron Hayton and an Andrew Fell penalty.
Greytown returned to winning ways after last week's reversal, defeating visitors East Coast 29-16. Raymond Oakly scored two tries and 3 conversions for the home side with a try apiece to Seanoa Isaac and Tapaga Isaac. Nick Olson was the Coast's sole scorer, converting his own try and adding three penalties.
