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Reigning champions Bombay Gough Cat are the Counties Power Cup holders again after a convincing 32-23 win over Patumahoe at Bombay.

Bouncing back from a thrashing at the hands of Karaka a week earlier Bombay shot out to an early lead and were able to withstand any chance of a Patumahoe come back in the second spell to take hold of the Cup and get their season back on track.

Patumahoe held the Cup for just seven days having won it from Pukekohe last week.  “Compared to last week it was a much improved effort across the board,” Bombay coach Jeff Marr said.  “Patty had the better of the start and got a couple of penalties up on us.

“We got into gear. I think we scored five tries in total but unfortunately for us we just slipped up at the end and gave them an intercept try that brought the scores a bit closer.  “I was really happy with our defense and our attack is starting to get there.”

Bombay got some relief back in the way of representative players with some of their big guns missing the loss to Karaka.

“We had prop Kalolo Tuiloma, Matahira Martin and Sam Vaka back in but on the other side we lost our left winger to a broken collar bone last week and one of our captains Liam Daniela was away. I think we still had 12 out of our squad unavailable.

“We got the Zane Perkins Cup (contested between the two clubs) back again too so that is some pretty big relief to get back on the horse again and into winning ways.”

Pukekohe Mitre 10 Mega also rebounded from a poor week two showing to beat Manurewa Kidd Contracting 23-12 at Colin Lawrie Fields.

“It is always hard to beat Rewa,” Pukekohe coach Waka Setitaia said. “It was a pretty good battle out there. I think we just wanted to win more.

“Both teams played for 80 minutes but we might have just wanted it a little more than they did.  “It came down to attitude. The boys had the right attitude at training Tuesday and Thursday and actually played to the game plan that we gave them.”

Setitaia was pleased with a solid all-round team performance but paid special tribute to a couple of players in particular.

“Our first-five Dylan Fearon stood out in his first start for the season and our little open side Josh Andrew played really well as well.”

Pukekohe will face top-of-the-table Ardmore Marist next week in a mouth-watering clash.

Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors had little trouble in disposing of Papakura Ray White 62-5 in the Counties Power Game of the Week.  Saua Leaupepetele’s side ran in 10 tries to one in the process.  While pleased with the result Leaupepetele admits it wasn’t as easy as the big score might suggest.

“It was a hard 62 points. It didn’t come easy. It was a very stop-start game and it was really hard for us to get any continuity going.

“I guess the good thing is we targeted to play good rugby for more than 60 minutes where we had been the previous weeks – we probably played about 75 minutes of good rugby so we are still progressing.”

Ardmore Marist had the services of Super Rugby halfback Jonathan Taumateine for the game.

“When you have a Chiefs halfback there – he was just a cut above,” Leaupepetele said. “Then we had a young boy Katetistoti Nginingini straight out of college playing on the wing. He wasn’t expected to start there but one of the guys turned up late so I promoted him to start and he got two tries.”

Onewhero Counties Bulk Haulage collected a second successive win by beating Waiuku Brian James Contracting 27-15 and moved into the top four as a result.  “It was just a typical battle between Onewhero and Waiuku,” Onewhero coach Adam Cathcart said.

“We scored a couple of long range tries to be up at halftime but the second half was a bit of a tussle.

“There was a lot of contact and it was very physical.  “In this competition you have got to take every win. It was a pleasing result and especially to go back-to-back is great.”

Karaka saw off a spirited Te Kauwhata EnviroWaste 38-7 to record their second win of the season and cement themselves in the top four as well.

The result was actually confirmed before kick-off with Te Kauwhata having to forfeit the match due to not having enough front-row eligible players. The match went ahead anyway with golden oldie scrum rules in place.

Karaka coach Craig Hill said the fact the result was known and such a key part of the game was removed made it difficult to really get going.  “It wasn’t great to be honest,” Hill said. “It just changes the whole game.”

Karaka’s performance certainly took a step back in quality from a week earlier when they beat efending champions Bombay.

“It was way down on last week with a number of basic errors but Te Kauwhata, all that aside, were pretty committed,” Hill said. “They really attacked the rucks and spoiled our ball and we found it hard to get going.”

While Ardmore Marist have the maximum 15 competition points after three weeks there are just two points separating Karaka, Bombay, Onewhero, Patumahoe and Pukekohe in positions two through six.

McNamara Cup (Premier 1)

Papakura Ray White (Counties Power Game of the Week) 5

(Brockson Brown try)

Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors 62

(Linford Hanipale 2, Katetistoti Nginingini 2, Cameron Flavell 2, Barrie Pine, Joel Taumateine, Luteru Laulala, Kirisome Laulala, tries;  Solomona Paraki 6 cons)

HT: 0-24

Pukekohe Mitre 10 Mega 23

(George Maka, Mathew Berry tries; Cody White, Jamie King cons; Cody White 2, Jamie King pens)

Manurewa Kidd Contracting 13

(Joshua Saifiti tries;  Bradford Lemalufaitoaga cons; Bradford Lemalufaitoaga 2 pens)

HT: 10-10

Bombay Gough Cat (Counties Power Cup Holders) 32

(Sam Vaka, Joshua Stol, Kalolo Tuiloma, Jordan Goldsmith, Sepuloni Taufa tries; Jordyn Walters, Ki Anufe cons; Jordyn Walters pens)

Patumahoe Hotel 23

(Sam Furniss, Richard Taupaki tries;  Harley Jenkins cons; Harley Jenkins 3 pens)

HT: 22-9

Te Kauwhata EnviroWaste 7

(How Peaua tries;  Vilitati Sabani cons)

Karaka 38

(Soakimi Havili, Desma Liaina, Cardiff Vaega, Deniro Refiti, Junior Fakatoufifita, Nicholas Worthington tries; Juan Benadie 4 cons)

HT: 0-19

 Onewhero 27

(Leroy Jack, Filipe Pau, Elijah Koaneti, Teina Nahi tries; Luke Makris 2 cons; Luke Makris pens)

Waiuku 15

(Bryce Vaireka, Kato Nganeko tries; Tevita Nabura cons; Tevita Nabura pens)

HT:  17-10

Sid Marshall Shield (Premier 2)

Papakura 12 Ardmore Marist 57; Pukekohe 19 Manurewa 46; Bombay 34 Patumahoe 23; Te Kauwhata 7 Karaka 105; Onewhero 17 Waiuku 55.