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Patumahoe Hotel produced the shock of the round to beat high-flying Karaka 35-20 at Patumahoe Domain on Easter Saturday in a round of upsets.

Patumahoe had been Karaka’s bunny in recent years but Jeff Maka’s side enjoyed their Easter Eggs a little more having got their hands on the Wymer Cup, contested between the two clubs, for the first time in many seasons.

Jonny Wilkinson had 20 points courtesy of a try, three conversions, two penalties and a dropped goal.

“We’re obviously really pleased with the result,” assistant coach Reon Graham says. “The boys stuck to their game plan really well for the whole 80 minutes.

“When Karaka came back into the game we were able to go back to our structures and get ourselves back into the game.

“I was really happy with our set piece this week. Our scrum was really good this week and we won 100% of our own lineouts and even stole a couple of theirs.”

The big name rep players in the Patumahoe forward pack really stood up in the big game.

“Joe Royal and Fotu Lokatui really stood out in the forwards. Jonny controlled the game well and kicked very well. Sam Furniss was terrific on both attack and defense,” Graham says.

The win lifts Patumahoe to second on the Counties Power ladder.

Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors remain atop however after thrashing Te Kauwhata EnviroWaste 83-3 at Bruce Pulman Park.

The home side racked up 13 tries in the process with Christopher Cunningham and Vini Iosua bagging hat-tricks as they retained the Counties Power Cup for another week. Iosua also moved to the top of the AS Wilcox and Sons Leaderboard with his eighth try of the season.

“TK were short on numbers and for us to maintain our structure for the whole game was the goal and the challenge for us,” coach Saua Leaupepetele says.

“We did a good job of it. It wasn’t perfect but with everything being one-sided it is pretty hard to stick to your structures.

“The set piece was still there. We wanted to dominate in the defensive are and we did. One area we’ve had issues with leading into this game was the kick-off re-starts and we wanted to make sure we didn’t have any mistakes and we achieved that.”

Having picked up some injuries in a fierce battle with Bombay last week Leaupepetele was happy to have a more open game this week.

“This game was perfect timing in some ways,” Leaupepetele says. “We rested some of our key players to give them time to heal for the next big game next weekend. Injury-wise we are not perfect but we are a lot better than this time last year.”

Ardmore Marist faces Karaka next week in another mouth-watering clash.

Manurewa Kidd Contracting claimed a win in the Counties Power Game of the Week against Onewhero Counties Bulk Haulage – winning the game 22-17 at Mountfort Park.

They turned around a halftime deficit to take a narrow win that lifts them to fifth on the table.

Penitoa Finau was the AS Wilcox and Sons Player of the Day, who had an “awesome game and tackled all day.”

Waiuku Brian James Contracting enjoyed their best win of the season in beating Pukekohe Mitre 10 Mega 22-8 at Rugby Park, Waiuku.

The win lifts the home side to sixth on the ladder – one spot ahead of Pukekohe.

“That was the highlight of the season so far,” coach Alex Leger says. “It is great to see the guys building and getting better each week and starting to believe that they can play at this level.”

Pukekohe made a promising start but Waiuku fought back well and got better as the game went on.

“Defense was dominated by player of the day Terence Dolan and Joey Gregory,” Leger says. “Ethan James and Nathan Miller showed attacking strike too.”

Bombay Gough Cat had little trouble in dispatching Papakura Ray White on Thursday night – running out 43-3 winners at Massey Park in Papakura despite cyclone-like conditions.

“There wasn’t much wind,” Bombay coach Jeff Marr says. “It was just wet and slippery – the surface was pretty good – but there were still a few mistakes.

“We kept our try-line intact for the game so there were a lot of positives to come out of it and we gave a lot of younger guys a bit of a shot as well.”

Bombay has dropped games to Karaka and a narrow loss to Ardmore Marist this season as they’ve had players coming in and out of their line-up most weeks.

“We are pretty close to where we thought we’d be tracking. We still have some players missing and that won’t be rectified for another couple of weeks. We still have to get them up to speed but I’ll probably be a bit happier after that.

“The first round is really about putting out a marker and trying to build on that each week.”

The defending champions lie in a share of third place while Papakura remain at the foot of the standings.

Bombay Pokeno Bacon had to work hard to win their Premier 2 match against Papakura – eventually claiming a 21-13 victory. Manurewa racked up a huge 70-15 win over Onewhero, Karaka held off Patumahoe 28-21 and Pukekohe beat Waiuku 17-3 while Ardmore Marist Ross Roof Group won by default over Te Kauwhata in other Premier 2 action.

McNamara Cup (Premier 1)

Papakura Ray White 3

(Lisona Tagaloa pens)

Bombay Gough Cat 43

(Sepuloni Taufa 2, David O’Connell, Joshua Stol, Jordan Goldsmith 2, Haamiroa Clarke,  tries; Haamiora Clarke, Jordan Goldsmith, Ki Anufe 2 cons)

HT: 3-19

Manurewa Kidd Contracting 22 (Counties Power Game of the Week)

(Viliami Taulani 3, Bradford Lemalufaitoaga tries;  Bradford Lemalufaitoaga cons)

Onewhero Counties Bulk Haulage 18

(Samuel Shuker, Ilaisa Koaneti tries; Luke Makris cons; Luke Makris 2 pens)

HT: 12-15

Ardmore Marist South Auckland Motors (Counties Power Cup Holders) 83

(Christopher Cunningham 3, Vini Iosua 3, Timothy Taefu 2, Feta Luamanu 2, Linford Haniplae, Whaiora Rangiwai, Richard Moriota tries; Solomona Paraki 9 cons)

Te Kauwhata EnviroWaste 3

(Vili Sabani pens)

HT: 57-0

Patumahoe Hotel 35

(Mason Hohepa, Joseph Royal, Fotu Lokotui, Jonny Wilkinson tries;  Jonny Wilkinson 3 cons; Jonny Wilkinson 2 pens; Jonny Wilkinson DG)

Karaka 20

(Walter Fifita, Cardiff Vaega, Conall Bromwich tries; Orbyn Leger cons; Orbyn Leger pens)

HT: 22-10

Waiuku Brian James Contracting 22

(Tevita Nabura 2 tries; Jack Hardie 4 pens)

Pukekohe Mitre 10 Mega 8

(Joe Reynolds tries; Joe Reynolds pens)

HT: 9-8

Bob Chandler Memorial (Premier 2)

Papakura 13 Bombay Pokeno Bacon 21; Manurewa 70 Onewhero 15; Ardmore Marist Ross Roof Group win by default 30 Te Kauwhata 0; Patumahoe 21 Karaka 28; Waiuku 3 Pukekohe 17.