Silverdale continued to control North Shore's fate in North Harbour rugby with a shaky but wellcontrived 17-15 victory.
When the two sides met in last season's semifinal it was 6-6 at halftime and 9-9 at fulltime. Silverdale won 15-12 in extra time when a last-minute Shore penalty to again level thescores went astray.
On Saturday it was all on again. Wayne Ashford and Phil Weedon contributed tries in the first spell to give Shore a 12-6 lead.
Silverdale thundered back with a try from Brindley Jenkins to close the gap to 14-15.
Then Greg Jones, who had already nailed three penalties, dropped a last-minute goal to seal Shore's fate.
In a midweek match, Silverdale beat Marist 14-6 to tidy up the Easter round and now lie third in the championship, nine points behind six-times champions Takapuna.
Massey, showing scant respect for Takapuna, were level 3-3 at the break but Takapuna showed the stuff of champions with a late burst of scoring - including wing Richard Marks intercepting and scampering 80m for a try - to win 27-3.
Second-placed Kumeu looked fragile when held to 12-7 at halftime by a gritty and enterprising Glenfield. But in the second spell, Kumeu let fly, moving the ball around with their entertaining brand of rugby and the tries flowed in the 42-12 victory.
East Coast Bays' climb back to the top stuttered along with a 23-23 draw against Helensville.
Bays made the early running, with tries to loose forwards Manaka Tonga and Atila Moala building a 17-9 halftime lead.
Helensville rallied and Joel and Pet Nasmith scored second-half tries.
After their midweek loss, Marist scored four tries in beating Mahurangi 31-16 to stay in contention for the semifinals, while Northcote bolted away from bottom-placed Navy, winning 44-17.
