The premier Otago Rugby League competition resumed on Saturday after a three-week break due to university holidays.
The South Pacific Raiders beat University 28-22, and the East Coast Eagles held out the Kia Toa Tigers 28-26 in their return to Kensington Oval.
The Raiders continued their form, defeating a determined University side.
The Raiders spent most of the game with their noses in front, despite the students' best efforts.
The Raiders' forward pack worked well to assert some dominance in the middle of the field, with Manassah Kutia leading the way. Kutia's strong running and game awareness caught the Uni side off guard regularly, allowing him to score a great individual try.
Isaac Fuatavi also impressed for the Raiders, running the ball with great strength and also scoring two tries.
University stayed in the game, however, and often threatened to gain the upper hand.
Josh Cornish created some great scoring opportunities and was well supported by Finn Langdale, who gained several metres during counterattacking play.
However, unforced errors early in attacking sets instantly released the pressure University had managed to mount on the Raiders.
Scoring opportunities went begging due to handling errors, and lapses in defence cost soft tries.
The Raiders capitalised on University's errors, turning misfortune into misery by scoring when given a half-chance.
Ultimately, this is what separated the two teams.
In the second game of the round, the East Coast Eagles put an end to the Kia Toa Tigers' unbeaten streak this season.
The first half was very tightly contested and the score was 8-6 going into the break.
However, the Eagles managed to take control of the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half, scoring four tries to gain the ascendancy.
Sam Johnstone was pivotal to the Eagles attack, with quick play out of the ruck gaining several metres for his side and building the platform to launch from.
And launch they did, largely through Hyrum Martin and Tama Apineru, who are extremely skilled ball runners, using pace, strength, and solid fending to find their way to the tryline.
The Tigers fought their way back in the second half, however, and narrowed the gap to within two points.
They clawed back into the game through strong defensive efforts from Koben Katipa, Ian Blake, and Joseph Wrathall.
After shutting down the Eagles' rampant attack, the same players were key to the Tigers' counterattack.
Blake and Katipa led the way in hit-ups for their side and Wrathall controlled the attack around the ruck.
Vila Apuula was also impressive, directing play and linking up with his teammates both to score a try for himself, and set up tries for others.
But the Tigers were unable to take the lead before the final whistle, the Eagles holding on to be the first side to defeat the competition frontrunners, just two weeks before the semifinals.
