KEY POINTS:
North Harbour
Takapuna cruised into the North Harbour premier rugby semi-finals next Saturday with an easy 51-5 quarter-final win over eighth qualifier, East Coast Bays, yesterday but were left with at least two worries.
Two of their best players, halfback Johnny Volckman and loose forward Chad Dellow, were injured just before fulltime: Volckman twisting an ankle as he scored the second of this two tries and Dellow injuring his collar-bone.
Apart from those injuries, Takapuna were again in impressive form, outclassing Bays in all aspects and being clearly the better side. Bays were handicapped by the late loss of captain Roger Dustow to the Harbour representative side but had no excuses, with their only points a first-spell try by second five eighths Brett Cameron from an interception.
Takapuna's opponent will be Northcote, which outscored Silverdale four tries to one in their quarter-final to win 24-19. Boosting the Northcote pack, after being released from the representative squad, were Richard Mayhew and Doug Fletcher.
Massey and Marist will clash in the other semi-final, though Massey never gained the upper hand in their match against Helensville and secured the result 15-8 when, with the game appearing to have to go to extra time, three quarter Junior Teleni scored a late try.
Marist had a comfortable win over North Shore building on a halftime lead of 17-5 to outscore Shore four tries to one in winning 27-8. After the withdrawal of Kumeu from the competition, Mahurangi won the bowl final by beating Glenfield 22-20.
Auckland
Ponsonby and All Black lock Ali Williams emerged unscathed in his first match since breaking his jaw against France on June 2, while Marist shaped as Ponsonby's possible final opponents after winning a thrilling match against Waitemata 18-13 with a try on full-time.
Playing with the wind in the first half, Marist controlled the game well with first five Steve Shapland again having a strong match. Evergreen wing Pasila Wilson was his usual tidy self at the back and showed he has lost none of his pace.
While it was Marist all the way until midway through the second half, Waitemata then rattled on 13 unanswered points.
With time almost up, Waitemata first five Mana Ashford coolly dropped a goal to take the lead for the first time. However, Marist showed fighting spirit and earned a home semi-final by forcing a penalty.
Surprisingly, they declined a shot at goal and opted for the scrum. The ball was cleared to second five Paula Hala who scored under the posts for his second try to win and the pair will meet again next weekend.
Waitakere City earned a spot in the top four with a bonus point victory over Pakuranga 25-15. In a fine team performance, loose forward James Asekona had a strong game and fullback Francis Mauele crossed the line twice. Waitakere City will face Ponsonby in this week's semifinal. Ponsonby are still unbeaten this season after beating University 32-19. Once again they had too much firepower for their opposition.
Grammar Carlton, although beating East Tamaki 53-0, finished outside the top four, after losing their last match with Waitakere City. Number eight Soape Kaualiku had a storming match and scored two tries. Fullback Hayden Lingard had another excellent match and also finished with a brace of tries.
Counties
Karaka, the form horse in premier Counties Manukau rugby, have won through to their first grand final.
However, they were made to work overtime to sneak past a fired-up Waiuku, winning 18-15 in the Counties Power competition semi-finals yesterday. Tupe Fanolua, who scored all their points, banged over the winning dropped goal minutes before the end.
Next Saturday Karaka will meet Pukekohe in the final after the latter were too strong for Ardmore Marist, winning 30-10 on home turf where they dominated possession and territory for the first hour of the game.
Karaka who went through the first round unbeaten, dropping just one match in two rounds of championship play, found themselves in uncharted territory when Waiuku scored two tries in the opening 20 minutes to lead 15-6 at halftime.
The visitors were still in front 15-9 after 60 minutes but they infringed repeatedly with Karaka calling on Fanolua time and again, with five penalties from five attempts to lock the game at 15-15. Karaka pushed back on attack with Fanolua kicking his dropped goal to give them the lead for the first time at 18-15.
Pukekohe, beaten in the semifinals last year, might have thought it was another nightmare when Ardmore Marist scored early.
The home side fought back to grab most of the possession and territory to lead 13-5 at halftime. They stretched that with two tries to Counties Manukau loosie Daniel Crichton and Wesley College graduate David Raikuna, while Blair Feeney added 15 points from the boot.
