Premier Rugby Report - 7th June By Lindsay Knight Any notion that Massey would cake-walk their way to the North Harbour premier rugby title for the second consecutive year were dispelled on Saturday when they were upset by North Shore 16-14. It was Massey’s first defeat of the season and their first since midway through last season when they came with a late run to win the premiership. The narrow defeat left them still with an almost unassailable table lead and a certain place, almost certainly as top qualifiers, for the play-offs. But it was an important win for Shore, who were beaten by Massey in last year’s final, giving them a psychological boost should they again meet Massey in the playoffs, perhaps even in the final again. The Shore club also knows better than most that points achieved in the first two championship rounds become irrelevant in the play-offs. Last year Shore, in winning both the first and second round, were almost as dominant as Massey have been this year, but despite being top qualifiers were run down by a rampant Massey in the one-off final. Though having Super 15 players Chris Smylie, from the Hurricanes, and Nafi Tuitavake, from the Crusaders, in the backline, Massey found it hard to overcome a committed Shore defence. They opened the scoring with an excellent try by centre Dennis Pili, but then had to wait until near the end before gaining another with Shore at that stage down to 14 men having lost a player to a yellow card. Shore clinched the match in the third quarter when prop Alex Woonton powered over. Their big asset proved to be veteran first five eighths Willie Walker who took the side to a 16-7 lead with a dropped goal to add to his two first spell penalties. Just as Shore might gain some encouragement for any future clash with Massey, the West Aucklanders were also left with some positives despite the defeat. It was the second time this year they have had to travel away to play Shore and so were denied any home advantage. They also might have the services of two other star backs in Tevita Li and Pita Ahki for the play-offs as by then the Blues’ Super 15 season is likely to be over. There was another upset on Saturday when Northcote toppled another almost assured semi-finalist, Silverdale 28-23. Northcote secured a four tries to three win which owed much to the extra in their backline from Renata Roberts-Tenana and Gareth Williams-Spiers, a national sevens player in 2012 who has moved to the Harbour from Auckland’s Suburbs club. Northcotes win enabled Takapuna, a comfortable 44-14 winner over East Coast Bays, to close the gap a little on the top four. Takapuna are now back at full strength after the return of several representative players, but to qualify for the semi-finals probably need too many results to go their way. Western Pioneers leapt over Shore to narrowly take second place with a 31-7, bonus point win over Glenfield. Kyle Nu’uali’itia was good value again in a Pioneers backline which excelled on the counter attack. Mahurangi gained their second win for the year in the premier two division, but the other demoted team, Marist, lost to Glenfield’s reserves.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 21:11:36 +0000