Premier 1 Results 25 June / Round 13

The penultimate round of the competition ran to script with exception of the Marist v Western fixture, where the Marist side nailed its first win of the season.

Clearly good things are happening at Marist, with this side pushing some of the favorites earlier in the season and now producing this result, a massive turn around from a team that beat them by 100 points last year. Huge performance from blind side Glenn Preston, half back Raymond Daniels, first five Roydon Campbell and young 19 year old loose forwards Evander Semau, Huawai McGahan.

North Shore, with a couple of their recent go-to men missing from their line-up struggled to overcome a committed ECB team that boastes a wealth of experience . After turning with a 7 point lead, North Shore spent most of the second half on defence but got lucky with an intercept ball that saw Fraser Conay scoot away under the posts, only to have exactly the same thing happen at the other end with Mike Lee dotting down untouched wleaving Shore with 5 minutes to hand on.

The Glenfield-Silverdale match turned into a battle of attrition, a really great game in the wet conditions with both teams playing their hearts out. The game could have gone either way with both sides having plenty of opportunity, but passes juts not sticking.

Massey continued to build into their post season prepartaion by accounting for Northcote who have hit a few speed bumps in their quest to feature at semi’s time. This result, built on a striong forward effort keeps Massey in the hunt for securing the minor premiership if they can overcome Takapuna in the final round next week and North Shore don’t get the bonus point over Marist. Nortcote on the other hand have a real battle on their hands now in a must-win match at 4^th placed East Coast Bays next week. The game did have one notable milestone for Northcote with Steve Wolfgrammes notching his 100th game for the club.

The two must see games in the final round next week will be the top of the table clash (Massey v Takapuna) at Moire Park and the 4^th /5^th clash (East Coast Bays v Northcote) at Windsor, with perhaps the latter havimng a bigger bearing on both sides

North Harbour Premier 1 results 25 June:

Takapuna 52 Mahurangi 0

Marist 17 Western 14

Massey 23 Northcote 16

North Shore 18 East Coast Bays 13

Glenfield 22 Silverdale 16

Point Scorers

Takapuna  52 (Tries: N Cargo, J Tyrell 2, S Langridge, H Christey, S Hall, J Tofa-Va'a, M Du Preez; J Elrick 6 Con)    Mahurangi  0. HT 30-0

North Shore 18 (Tries: F Conway, D Hilton-Jones; W Walker 1 Pes, 1 Con, D Hilton-Jones 1 Pen) East Coast Bays 13 (Tries: M Lee; M Cochrane 1 Con, 2 Pen) HT 10-3

Glenfield 22 (Tries: W Unga, K Williams-Paul, D Little; D Halaufia 2 Con, 1 Pen) Silverdale 16 (Tries:  D Wiggs, V Cann; C Kiwara 2 Pen) HT: 15-11
 

Massey 23 (Tries:  N Ratumaitavuku, M Talea, N Tuigamala; N Tuigamala 1 Con, 2 Pen) Northcote 16 (Tries: C Law; B Searle 1 Con, 3 Pen)   HT 17-6

Marist 17 (Tries: J Beasley, E Semau; R Campbell 2 Con, 1 Pen) Western Pioneers 14  (Tries: P Volavola; J Paumau 3 Pen)  HT 10-9

Points Ladder after Round 13: