KEY POINTS:
Teachers Eastern and Pakuranga battled each other to a standstill in a 6-6 draw yesterday.
Pakuranga have gone from strength to strength this year and they went into the encounter as favourites. However, Teachers Eastern have earned respect recently and they had confidence they could cause an upset.
Heavy rain ruined any chance of entertaining rugby so spectators had to make do with an old-fashioned forward slog in the mud. The conditions made handling and kicking the ball a lottery and enterprising back play was usually punished by a loss of territory.
Pakuranga captain and lock Courtney Mackay drove his men forward and tackled all day. Dynamic hooker Nick Evans had yet another strong game proving that in the modern game the front row do not all have to be giants.
Teachers Eastern lock Mote Filinamafua was at the heart of their determined effort.
Last year's finalists Ponsonby and Waitemata clashed at Western Springs in what is always a keenly anticipated contest. Ponsonby repeated their final victory with a 23-8 win.
Veteran Ponsonby prop Tim Henwood had an outstanding match and made sure the intimidating Waitemata pack never got on top.
Second five Peter Leulusoo had another strong game and his experience will prove vital when Ponsonby lose several of their star players to rep duty.
Most of the results were very close with the harsh weather proving to be a leveller. University survived a scare from Te Papapa-Mt Wellington, scraping by with a 15-12 win. Suburbs managed to gain some much needed points with a 3-0 win over College Rifles.
North Harbour
The difference an injection of All Blacks can make to a club side was shown as Marist gained a 30-15 win over North Shore in North Harbour premier rugby yesterday.
Rudi Wulf played on the wing and Anthony Boric and Tony Woodcock came into the forwards and, with Shore shorn of a number of Harbour representative players, had major roles before a bumper Devonport crowd as Marist swept to a four tries-to-none victory.
The bonus point from the four tries meant that Marist jumped to a two-point table lead over last year's champions Takapuna in the qualifying round for the play-offs.
Shore took an early 6-0 lead through the boot of young Ben Botica, but Marist gradually took control, especially through Boric in the lineouts, and with two forward tries gained a 15-9 halftime lead.
Shore had the wind in the second spell, with Botica using it to land one long-range penalty, but Marist remained in charge by dominating possession and territory and two splendid solo dabs in the backs by halfback Aiden McDonald and first five-eighths Leon Emery sealed the win.
Takapuna are the other top-six unbeaten side, but battled on a greasy pitch to edge out an injury-hit Silverdale.
Only a late penalty, his fourth, by five-eighths Nick Elrick gave Takapuna a 12-11 win.
Massey paid the cost of some indifferent goal-kicking when, despite scoring three tries to two, they crashed to an 18-15 defeat to Glenfield in the other top-six match which, in difficult conditions, was a robust forward struggle.
Helensville and Northcote continued a dominance of the bottom-five series with 59-14 and 52-7 wins respectively over Kumeu and Mahurangi. Helensville led 47-0 at halftime, with inside back Shane Hadley, a grandson of 1935 All Black hooker Bill Hadley, scoring three tries.