Ōtorohanga were too strong at home, winning 73-10 and holding on to the shield for another week.
The big result of the weekend came from Collins Road where Melville got one up over their old coach, winning 12-10 at home to go three wins on the bounce and now sitting fifth on the ladder.
In a turn-back-the-clock-like fixture, Melville’s 12 points all came from the boot of Englishman Cameron Scott kicking four from four while Old Boys couldn’t convert either of their two tries.
Fraser Tech hosted the University of Waikato Rugby Club at Mill Street Park, going down 50-26.
The students have been finding some good form over recent weeks and now sit in fourth place on the ladder with three wins and three losses – two of those losses were less than seven points.
Josh Brunger out on the right edge had a field day dotting down for four tries while first five-eighth Jax Morgan converted five from eight off the tee.
The pick of the point scorers for Fraser Tech came from lock Norman Wise who picked up a couple of tries.
Top-of-table Hamilton Marist proved too strong yet again, this time against Morrinsville Sports, winning 67-5 at Marist Park.
Mason Tupaea, Newton Tudreu and Tai Cribb all dotted down for two tries each in their 10-try route over the Morrinsville men.
Hautapu were comprehensive in their 41-10 win over Te Awamutu Sports at Albert Park.
Waitomo Group women’s premiership and championship
The featured livestream game of the weekend was from Collins Road where the Melville women hosted Hamilton Old Boys’ Huskiez.
In a back-and-forth battle where both sides traded the lead a couple of times, it was the Huskiez who ended the 80 minutes 27-24 in front.
Following their week one defeat to Melville, the Huskiez have their season well and truly back on track and now sit joint top of the table with Melville on 20 competition points.
Ōtorohanga hosted Kihikihi at Island Reserve picking up a comprehensive six-try victory winning 32-0 over the visitors.
A hat-trick to left winger Katie Corbett highlighted the afternoon for the Ōtorohanga women kicking off a big day of home victories.
In the championship, Suburbs travelled out to United Matamata Sports winning 41-0 with right winger Araraina Takuira-Mita scoring four of her side’s seven tries.
Hauraki hosted Taupiri in the Valley winning 38-21 while Hautapu hosted Waitete at Cambridge Memorial Park with a 29-all draw.
Division One
Suburbs remain top of the table and are the only unbeaten side in division one following their 27-20 win over second placed Hinuera in what was their first defeat of the season.
It was a tight game with both sides scoring two tries, two conversions and two penalty kicks.
Ultimately the difference came from a penalty try to the home side to see them take the seven-point victory.
Wins went to fellow top five sides Putāruru and Leamington, while Tokoroa-based Southern United had the bye weekend.
Putāruru won 81-0 over Frankton in Hamilton and Leamington won 59-3 over Kereone in Morrinsville.
Te Rapa hosted Ōhaupō in a typical division one match up with the travelling Ōhaupō side winning 31-25 to sit just outside the top five.
In the final match up, Taupiri got up 33-22 over Pirongia at home running in five tries to four to record their second win of the season and sit level with Pirongia on 11 competition points.
Colts
In the Colts competition, Pirongia upset the top-of-the-table Hamilton Marist 29-26 in front of a strong home crowd.
The under-21 side outscored Hamilton Marist five tries to four in what was their first defeat since July 2023.
With that result, fellow top-of-the-table team Hautapu Sports picked up a good win on the road to Thames Valley United in Paeroa.
It was a quality and important win for the young Cambridge men – keeping them alongside Hamilton Marist at the top of the table, and a good win in what was only Thames Valley’s second loss of the year.
Hamilton Old Boys and Hinuera kicked off the weekend’s club rugby action on Friday evening under lights with the home side winning 29-8, scoring four tries to one.
Hamilton Old Boys now sit fourth on the ladder just above Hinuera in fifth.
In other matches – Suburbs hosted United Matamata Sports at Flagstaff Park winning 22-12, University hosted Leamington winning 22-16 at the University and Morrinsville picked up a big win 55-5 over Fraser Tech in town.
Under-85kg
Kio Kio United got their first win of the season when they hosted Leamington near Ōtorohanga.
In a tight match, it was the home side who got up 15-12 to record what was their first win in the Waikato under-85kg competition after a challenging season in 2023.
At the top of the table, Morrinsville Sports ran in six tries over Melville winning 38-17.
While Fraser Tech arguably recorded a big upset win over Hamilton Marist at Elliott Park winning 27-7 to jump the Marist men into second place on the competition ladder.
