"It was a tough one, we certainly had to bloody work hard to get that win. We tried to open it up early but to [Greerton's] credit they held it in tight and gave us a good go."
Greerton were the first to score 10 minutes into the first spell, thanks to the boot of first-five Blair Tristram, after Whaka's backs were pinged for being offside at the ruck. However, Whaka managed to claw it back three minutes later, thanks to their maestro, first-five Maurice Stone.
Stone was everywhere on attack and defence and was the main instigator of most of Whaka's opportunities. Another key player was their powerful halfback Chris Miller.
Although Whaka looked threatening in the first spell it was Greerton who scored the first try, against the run of play. Whaka were deep inside Greerton's 22 when the ball was passed behind a Whaka player. It was booted through and it became a game of kick and chase with Greerton's second-five Brendon McKeown eventually falling on it to score.
Stone would keep his side within reach with another penalty but the two sides threw away a number of good scoring opportunities thanks to some loose passing or poor handling.
The red and blacks managed to keep Greerton scoreless in the second spell after being down 6-10 at halftime.
Greerton Marist coach Kane Parker said last week's win against Opotiki had taken a lot out of the team.
"Our game from last week really took it out of the boys. We had a really good game against [Opotiki]. We know as coaches [we must] just try to keep this team level-headed but even in our warm-up, you could just tell the boys weren't there and they were just going through the motions in the first half."
The second half saw Whaka with the bulk of possession but again handling errors were costly and it was left up to Stone who nailed a penalty to bring it within one point.
Miller was deadly from the base of the scrum, constantly breaking tackles and troubling Greerton's defence around the fringes of the ruck. He was rewarded for his efforts with a great five-pointer - breaking through a couple of tackles.
Greerton fought hard on defence and when they did manage to get some ball, looked dangerous. But it was Whaka's day and the home side scored two more tries to Stone and fullback Rawiri Tapiata. Stone converted both and kicked another penalty to make the final score to 31-10.
Te Puke tasted the bitter pill of defeat at the hands of a fired up Tauranga Sports side in their round 11 clash of the PGG Wrightson Baywide premier rugby.
Playing in front of a vocal Tauranga Domain crowd, Te Puke went down 26-21.
It is the first time Te Puke have lost this season. Both sides have shown good form over the past couple of weeks with Tauranga having a 60-15 blowout over Whakarewarewa last week, while Te Puke were equally impressive with a 32-5 drubbing of Mt Maunganui.
It appears Rotoiti have used up one of their get-out-of-jail-free cards with a narrow 8-7 win over Rangataua at Emery Park, Rotoiti.
The lakesiders lead 3-0 at halftime thanks to a Kevin Guptil penalty.
But Rangataua scored first in the second half, with a try to Rongo Wi-Repa and Shane Rurinui converting.
However, Rotoiti's Joe Gotz scored a try on fulltime to give the home side the win.
Te Puna were too strong for Mount Maunganui at Maramatanga Park, winning 36-22. It wasn't a one-sided affair, with the Mount showing some good grunt up the front, although Te Puna were able to hold them out and probably outshone them in the backs scoring five tries to the Mount's four.
Opotiki also showed they are still hard to beat at home with a 52-5 win over Waikite.
