Kia Toa lived up to its pre-match predictions by dousing a young Varsity side and Freyberg might face another tough season after being shut out at the army camp where Hurricane Hayden Triggs came on for Linton Army at halftime.

Feilding Old Boys' station as a lowly- rated underdog which had lost 16 players lasted just one Saturday.

Under new coaches Potene Paewai and Victor Herbert, FOB was expected to be a struggler, but instead dwarfed Bush, one of the teams predicted to be among the big resurgents.

Bush, without Frank Bryant in Hong Kong, lost Turbos first-five Mattie James injured soon after halftime. Bush was intimidated by the big FOB forwards, there was an all-in brawl and FOB took control in the second half.

Paewai said his men were fired up for the occasion. "To be honest, we read the newspapers and liked the fact we weren't rated and used it as a positive motivator for us," he said.

"We have a very experienced core of players and a there are a lot of young players in teams out there."

It never pays to write off defending champion College Old Boys, judging by its unexpectedly heavy 29-10 dousing of Te Kawau.

Te Kawau has a core of experienced men back and COB has brought in schoolboys, but COB scored four tries to one.

Another with high expectations, Feilding, was six of its best short including Nick Crosswell at Kimbolton, but Oroua, with Jason Holland and Walker Jacobs the key men, seem to have plenty of life.

There were seven tries in a thrilling Marist-HSOB clash on the oval, six in the second half.

FEILDING OB 35 BUSH 20
Bush went well through its loose trio of Raymond Allen, Dallas Christie and Duncan Law and in the backs with James the danger. Bush scored two tries, one from Allen after a kickoff chargedown.

FOB targeted Bush's key men, but was heavily penalised at the breakdown in the first half and Greg Falloon was binned. After halftime, James took a heavy head knock and the big FOB forwards hit it up and took Bush out of the match, scoring six tries. They put the ball into the corners with the wind behind them and closed out the Bush backs. FOB flanker James Gutsell was back from injury with a top game.

At Johnston Park:
FOB 35 (John Robin 2, George Taura, Peta Simmonds, Greg Falloon, Daniel Harper tries; Tony Falloon con, pen)
Bush 20 (Raymond Allen, Zane Gardiner tries; Mattie James 2 pen, 2 con) HT 8-20.

KIA TOA 24 VARSITY 5
In largely a forward battle, Kias scored from a lineout overthrow in the fourth minute but most of the spell was even, although Kias led 14-0 at halfitme.

Varsity, which had been a little overawed, had the wind in the second half but didn't use it well, after getting back to 14-5. Varsity hammered away but couldn't peg back the deficit and with three minutes to go new fullback Kurt Baker got his second try off a counter-attack.

At Massey University:
Kia Toa 24 (Kurt Baker 2, Tonga Folau tries; Joggie Viljoen 3 con, pen)
Varsity 5 (Scott Lewis try) HT 14-0.

FEILDING 14 OROUA 10
The Yellows might have been short-staffed but still had a strong scrum and lineout in a game strewn with handling errors.

Twice Feilding got quick phase ball, fed the short side for the overlap and scored two tries that way to lead 14-3 at the break. With penalties flowing everywhere, Oroua battled back to almost get parity in the forwards but its sole try came in the last minute of a scrappy game when No 8 Kris Callon crashed over.

At Kimbolton:
Feilding 14 (Chris Tunnicliffe, Mike Parr tries; Brad Carr 2 con)
Oroua 10 (Kris Callon try; Walker Jacobs pen, con) HT 14-3.

LINTON 31 FREYBERG 0
The first 15 minutes were all Freys, dominating possession. They missed an early penalty and while the honours were even after that, Linton got into the game and led 14-0, new centre Aaron James scoring the first of his two tries just before the break.

Linton scored from the second half kickoff and at 19-0, Freys were deflated, the soldiers on top for the next 25 minutes. It was another scrappy first-up match, Linton having only its third run of the season well led by Triggs in the second half.

At Linton Camp:
Linton Army 31 (Aaron James 2, Zinzan Ransfield-Kake 2, Jimmy Reid tries; Reid 3 con)
Freyberg 0, HT 14-0.

COLLEGE OB 29 TE KAWAU 10
A fit and fiery COB came out on its toes from the start and virtually had the game won when up 15-3 at halftime. The COB forwards were on top and the backs ran hard, almost breaking through time and again. It didn't help when Te Kawau prop Robbie Trembath was sinbinned.

A Charlie Beetham try after eight minutes brought it back to 15-10 and center Sam Leung-Wai was a threat every time he saw the ball. COB scored two second-half tries to close it out.

At Rongotea:
COB 29 (Thomas Trollope 2, Sam Mitchell, Andre Taylor tries; Aaron Cruden pen, 3 con)
Te Kawau 10 (Charlie Beetham try; Carl Field pen, con) HT 15-3.

MARIST 29 HSOB 26
Forget the first half; it was all spilled ball and turnovers, the big HSOB pack having a strong scrum and and Marist through Chris Long the expert lineout.

There were two 80-metre tries, one by Marist before halftime and the other by speedy lock Ben Stanley who spurted from a ruck and ran off against the run of play. A top Marist try by Koli Sewabu after two waves of attack took Marist to 15-6 but Marst's defence lapsed and HSOB ran in two tries.

The Marist backs via Johnny Leota were dangerous and they set up another, then Lisiate Fa'aoso slipped over through weak tackling before hooker Rob Foreman stole a Marist lineout and flopped across.

At FMG Stadium:
Marist 29 (Waisea Qoikata, Koli Sewabu, Shaun Brown, Lisiate Fa'aoso tries; Brown pen, 2 con; Jason Temara con)
HSOB 26 (Ben Stanley, Joe Harawira, Rob Foreman tries; John Dodds 3 pen, Frank Lene con) HT 10-6.

* Points:
COB 5, FOB 5, Linton 5, Marist 5,
Feilding 4, Kia Toa 4,
HSOB 1, Oroua 1,
Bush 0, Te Kawau 0, Varsity 0, Freyberg 0.