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Bombay got themselves back in the winner’s circle in the Challenge Cup Premier competition on Saturday, defeating Karaka 31-20 at Bombay in the Counties Power Club Rugby competition.

The defending McNamara Cup champions are still without a number of their premier squad, but they had five guys back in the mix that missed last week’s loss against Onewhero. Three of those had been playing for the Cavaliers.

It was a big occasion for Bombay, who were celebrating halfback Liam Daniela’s 50^th game for the club. Head coach Jeff Marr said it’s always great motivation for his side when they are playing for a milestone like that.

“Liam had a great game. He played the whole 80 minutes and his talk was fantastic for us. For a young man, he’s only 21, he’s a real leader for us on the field and he’s a great club man.”

Marr said they worked hard against Karaka and stuck to the patterns and structures a bit more than they had the previous week.

First-five Piers Francis was cleared by the Blues to play a half for Bombay and Sam Vaka had his usual strong game and Marr is delighted to have some really good, healthy competition within the club.

Waiuku came away with a 36-0 win over Drury at the Drury Domain. Waiuku got off to a great start, bagging a try in the 8^th minute down the blindside. They then scored another in the 20^th minute. It was an even encounter after that with Waiuku only closing out the game in the last 20 minutes.

Head coach Jim Robinson was really impressed with the Drury side.

“I have to say, I’ve been around premier rugby for about 20 years and it’s the best Drury team I’ve ever seen. Their forwards are really good and we only took the game in the last 20 minutes or so. We got a good try off the line out in the 50^th minute, then a good push over try and a couple more towards then end, so we managed to close it out. But they will cause some upsets this year.”

Robinson said his number seven Ethan James had a brilliant game, especially around the breakdown, stealing a lot of ball in the breakdown area.

“Ethan was outstanding for us and just the fact that we kept Drury to zero was really good. Our defence was great and that’s two weeks in a row now where we haven’t conceded a try so I’m very happy about that.”

Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors retained the Counties Power Cup with a 74-15 victory over Te Kauwhata at Bruce Pulman Park.

Te Kauwhata scored the first try of the game, which gave Ardmore Marist a bit of a wake up call. Ardmore Marist fought back to take a 45-10 lead into the half time break.

Ardmore Marist president Glen Flavell said the club are trying to create some depth through the Premier Reserves side so some players made the step up to the Premier level.

“It’s great that we can bring players up and down, and the Reserves players can get a taste of the top level. Our boys managed to close it out in the second half, but credit to Te Kauwhata, they really stuck at it and were right up on us on defence. They managed to break the line a couple of times as well.”

Flavell said fullback Luteru Laulala had a fantastic game, scoring three tries, but the forwards did a really great job with the ball. He said Ardmore Marist were delighted to hold on to the Counties Power Cup for another week.

Steelers’ flanker Sam Henwood bolstered Pukekohe Mitre 10 Mega in their 60-8 win over Papakura Ray White. Henwood returned to club rugby from Chiefs duty and Pukekohe head coach Rhys Cullinane couldn’t believe how impressive he was after his short time with the Chiefs. He said he was a cut above everything.

Pukekohe scored early on in the game, playing well in the first 20 minutes and scoring a few more times in the first half. Cullinane gave plenty of credit to Papakura Ray White.

“Papakura hung in the game the whole time. They never gave up and they were really positive even when we started to put a few points on them. In terms of my side, all round I’m reasonably happy. We didn’t make as many mistakes as we did last week which was a positive.”

In the Counties Power Game of the Week, Onewhero defeated Manurewa 41-27 at Mountfort Park 2. Onewhero stuck to their patterns in the first half and played the game they wanted to play. But head coach Adam Cathcart said they went away from their game plan in the second half and Manurewa came back into the match in the last 20 minutes.

Onewhero second-five Teina Natti was the A S Wilcox & Sons Limited Player of the Day, taking home a basket of vegetables. While Manurewa’s Steve Tuiali got a special mention as well.

Patumahoe recorded a 69-6 victory over Weymouth in wet conditions. Patumahoe head coach John Penberthy said it was an ok game, but it was played in good spirits.

“A few unforced errors started to creep in when the rain came in. We got a few individual based tries, but no team tries so we have a bit to work on ahead of Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors next week.”

Patumahoe got off to a good start and they led 26-3 at the break. Penberthy thought his side’s second half was stronger as they managed to score more points. Fotu Lokotui had a stand out game for Patumahoe, scoring a couple of tries and kicking a conversion.

“The biggest thing for me was that our defence was solid again, we didn’t concede a try so I’m really pleased about that,” Penberthy said.

In the Premier Reserve Don Shuker Cup Ardmore Marist Harcourts beat Te Kauwhata 87-5, Waiuku beat Drury 30-7, Pukekohe defeated Papakura Ray White 46-8, Karaka beat Bombay 28-7, Manurewa recorded a 38-12 win over Onewhero and Patumahoe Hutton Builders beat Puni 47-12.

Following grades kick off 2 April:

Massey Cup (Under 21), Bright Cup (Under 20), Under 85kg, Division 2, Women’s.

(Information supplied by club coaches and team sheets).

A S Wilcox & Sons Limited Leaderboard after Round Two