Te Kawau's Real Blokes weren't distracted by duck-shooting nor the past champion teams' reunions at Rongotea on Saturday.

They stayed on track by bouncing back from their loss to Varsity a week previously by putting Marist away by 16 points.

A pattern is emerging with five games of the first round remaining. College Old Boys, Feilding and Kia Toa appear sure bets to make the top six.

The efficiency of COB is such that the other two are not yet on the same tier.

Te Kawau will be one of five other teams in pursuit of the other three spots with Feilding Old Boys, Varsity, Marist and Linton Army.

Unless High School Old Boys, Bush, Freyberg and Oroua make a resurgence, they're not going to make the cut.

At Rongotea, Marist even had the ignominy of one of its forwards losing the ball over the tryline and he had none of the Real Blokes anywhere near him.

Oroua fielded a new prop from Ireland, Christy Condon from the Middleton club in Cork where Oroua men Jason Holland and Damon Urlich have coached.

Feilding had six forwards out on Saturday but still had enough to come from 15-0 behind to beat HSOB.

Kia Toa rocketed to a 31-0 lead over Feilding Old Boys only to ease off in the second half and FOB snatched a four-tries bonus point.

The match was notable for two penalty tries each way issued by ref Chris Rooney, both for players being held back when tries were close.

COB scored nine tries against Freyberg but only one of them, from the sideline at that, was converted.

VARSITY 27 OROUA 19
There were 80 minutes of fast action with Oroua's best effort of the year. With seven minutes to go, Oroua trailed 24-19 and was taking it to the students but Walker Jaocbs missed two long-range penalties and Varsity got one to deprive Oroua of a bonus point.

Hard-running Varsity fullback Alex Nixon scored two good tries, Cameron Hayton scorched over for another from 70 metres but Oroua's Daniel Rodden picked up a ball toed through and ran in from long distance. Oroua only woke up after Varsity scored two tries to lead 14-0 off good lineout ball from Jason Cudby.

Other Oroua standouts were new prop Christy Condon, Jason Holland, Ian Honeyfield, Ali Webb and Karl Shepherd.

At Kimbolton:
Varsity 27 (Alex Nixon 2, Cameron Hayton, Hamish Clare, tries; Chris Brown 2 con, pen)
Oroua 19 (Daniel Rodden try; Walker Jacobs 4 pen, con) HT 17-13.

LINTON ARMY 23 BUSH 18
The turning point came late in the first half when a certain try to Matty James was ruled out because of obstruction. Bush was up 12-0 then and 19-0 would have seen the soldiers off.

It was an otherwise even game which see-sawed up and down the field. As Bush tailed off later, Linton came back with two tries in the second half after No 8 Matt Oldridge scored a telling try close to halftime off a lineout.

The Bush cover defence fell away against a forwards drive which produced a second try and another through the Linton backs.

At Pahiatua:
Linton Army 23 (Jeremy Evans, Matt Oldridge, Matt Kerr tries; Cody Hall 2 pen, con)
Bush 18 (Matty James, Brandon Young tries; James con, 2 pen) HT.

COLLEGE OB 47 FREYBERG 0
Nine tries to zip said it all, most scored wide out, Jason Morgan battling with his conversions. Not so at centre, where he and the COB backs were too slick and fit for Freyberg which was outplayed in every aspect, Junior Tomasi Cama still on duty before his next IRB sevens travels.

Freyberg won a few lineouts but that was it, chasing COB shadows in a full 15-a-side effort and the COB defence smothered Freyberg. COB won 90 percent of the ball and Freyberg only got bad ball. Elliki Gavidi toiled away for Freys and rep wing Leon Lubbe had a couple of runs before limping off. Prop Nick Fakahau was sinbinned.

At Arena ground 2:
COB 47 (Andre Taylor 2, Talau Hala 2, Junior Tomasi Cama, Jason Morgan, Aaron Good, Sam Mitchell, Jeremy McKenzie, tries; Aaron Cruden con)
Freyberg 0,
HT 22-0.

TE KAWAU 26 MARIST 10
Marist couldn't penetrate Te Kawau's defence and ran out of ideas, even with overlaps in the backs. The Te Kawau midielders, Luke Harvey and Pio Savali, led the charge as did captain-No 8 Bryan Matenga and halfback Scott Treleaven.

For Marist, new Japanese fullback Yohei Shinomiya ran and tackled hard. Marist stole a few lineouts but Te Kawau had the stronger scrum.

Te Kawau scored its first try two minutes after the start and its third, to Simon Easton, two minutes from the end.

Te Kawau took its chances while Marist ignored two penalties in front of the posts in the first half and didn't get a point from them.

At Rongotea:
Te Kawau 26 (Anthony Porima, Jade Morgan, Simon Easton tries; Karl Field 3 pen, con)
Marist 10 (Koli Sewabu, Simeli Tuiteci tries)
HT 21-0.

FEILDING 36 HSOB 15
HSOB led 15-0 after 30 minutes, one try from a rolling maul and the other when Frank Lene burst over from broken play. At that stage HSOB was winning 60 percent of the ball and was going well but Yellows scored two converted tries five minutes before halftime to close it to one point.

Feilding had the edge in the loose through Brendon Clare and Mitchell Crosswell with class direction from first-five Antony Papenfus. Feilding went too well in the second half, scoring three tries from long range. Flanker Damon Neil and second- five Semisi Ta'ufo'ou were HSOB's standouts.

At Johnston Park:
Feilding 36 (Mike Parr, Richard Beazer, Brendon Clare, Suliasi Vitau, Chris Willoughby tries; Brad Carr 3 con, pen; Aaron Smith con)
HSOB 15 (Savelio Fonohema, Frank Lene tries; Lene pen, con)
HT 14-15.

KIA TOA 38 FOB 26
Kias scored tries untroubled in the first half, lock Fraser Stone stealing FOB lineouts, prop Shannon Hepi trundling up and loose men Ma'ake Tu'ipulotu and Tonga Folau breaking tackles on the burst. But over-complicated moves and unforced backline spills kept FOB interested.

Quickly recycled ball by the Kias backs and quick hands via classy first-five Graham Smith had FOB reeling. Then FOB stormed back and won the second half 26-7, the penalties going its way after halftime.

As the Kias errors mounted, FOB won more ball and John Robin, Gordon Thomas and Gavin Wairau got into the game, attacking well from deep. Folau was sinbinned for a high tackle and Thomas scored the bonus point try after fielding a Joggie Viljoen kick.

At FMG Stadium:
Kia Toa 38 (Tawhiti Walsh 2, Jerard Saunders, Kurt Baker tries; pen try; Graham Smith 5 con, pen)
FOB 26 (Jeremy Waitoa 2, Gordon Thomas tries; pen try; Thomas 3 con)
HT 31-0.