While spectators struggled to see through a thick blanket of fog, Maheno stormed home to break its losing streak with a 39-20 win over Excelsior in the Citizens Shield.
Maheno-Excelsior and Kurow-Valley both played under lights on Thursday night to allow the country players to get away early for the duck-shooting weekend.
However, the conditions were far from ideal, especially in Maheno, where parts of the field were unrecognisable for long periods of the game. It made it hard under the high ball, and a strong dew forced players to play short and sharp in patches due to handling difficulties.
However, Excelsior went up 6-0 through two early penalties from Josh Phipps, before Maheno halfback Robbie Smith closed the gap to 6-3.
Blues had plenty of ball in the first half, and produced a massive scrum, but were unable to make anything from it.
Centre Jacob Day scored the first try for Maheno, which led 13-6 at the break.
Blues came out of the sheds with some good momentum, but after coughing up several penalties on their line, Phipps was yellow-carded.
Maheno scored immediately to extend its lead to 20-6.
After stringing together multiple phases, powerful second five Taina Tamou broke through to score Excelsior’s first try of the day and close the gap to 20-11.
It felt as though Blues could be on the verge of staging a comeback, but three classy tries within 10 minutes extended Maheno’s lead.
In the dying minutes, Blues centre Hamish Slater made a break down the side, and a grubber kick forward sat up for him to score.
Maheno was dominant in the second half. Smith was a general all night, recycling the ball at speed from the ruck and kicking smartly, and Adam Johnson showed his pace on the wing. Best on field for Blues was captain Mat Duff.
Valley avenged last year’s Citizens Shield final loss, beating Kurow 24-14 on Kurow’s home ground.
Valley conceded a penalty try in the first half but nothing could separate the two at the break at 7-7.
Top-of-the-table Kurow scored first in the second half through a Lachlan Templeton converted try.
But from there, Valley had the game as front-rowers Logan Dunlop and Jake Greenslade added to Jake Matthews’ try to win the game. Isaac Clunie had a good kicking game, converting all tries, and scoring a penalty.
In Saturday’s only game, Old Boys rebounded from two straight losses to beat Athletic Marist 19-17.
It was a tough and bruising encounter at Whitestone Contracting Stadium, and Athies got on the board first in the 29th minute to lead 7-0.
Just before halftime, Junior Fakatoufifita scored for Old Boys to make it 7-7.
Old Boys hooker Lenny Varu was yellow-carded, and playing against 14 men, Athies went ahead 14-7.
But Old Boys came to the fore, through Tini Feke and Tevita Asi tries and the boot of Inoke Naufahu, to edge out their old rivals for a two-point win.
