Top rugby teams remain unbeaten
The Horowhenua-Kapiti club rugby pacesetters are still unbeaten, but both were sternly tested in close games over the weekend.
Levin College Old Boys pipped Shannon 36-35 at the Shannon Domain. The home side had led 21-19 at half time, and 35-22 in the second half.
Fellow unbeaten side Waikanae repelled a stern Wanderers effort to win 15-6 on their home turf.
The sides have been doing it in different ways this season, and that was evidenced on Saturday afternoon.
College Old Boys have the best attack in the competition, now averaging almost 40 points per game, but Shannon, second in that statistic, gave as good as they got in a game that swung back and forth.
Both sides scored four tries, with the outside back duo of Lyric Faolua and Willie Paia’aua doing most of the damage for College Old Boys, scoring three tries between them.
The pair have six tries each this season, two ahead of the next best.
Shannon have reasons to be optimistic - they have played both unbeaten sides already, losing to them by a combined six points and leading both at half-time.
Waikanae has not fired offensively, but with 41 points and five tries conceded in four games, they are comfortably the competition’s stingiest defence.
They scored twice in the first half, but the only scoring by either side in the second was an Ethan Reti penalty.
In the other games, Foxton notched their first win of the season with a 42-15 win over Athletic, while Paraparaumu got back to winning ways after two successive defeats, trouncing Rahui 43-8.
The teams return to action this weekend, with the most intriguing match of the round at the Paraparaumu Domain, with Shannon the visitors.
Shannon were thrashed 50-0 by Paraparaumu in last season’s corresponding fixture, but Shannon have improved, and Paraparaumu were on a run of one defeat in nine games prior to that match.
College Old Boys return home to the Levin Domain to play Foxton, Waikanae travel to Otaki to battle Rahui, and Athletic and Wanderers face off in a Levin derby at Playford Park.
All games kick off at 2:45pm on Saturday.