Varsity 55 Dannevirke 19

Varsity scored off the opening play and while there was no score for the next half hour, the scholars added eight more tries.

They were too slick and fast for Dannevirke who didn't get enough ball.

The students' loss to Feilding was forgotten as they dominated territory and possession, while Dannevirke struggled to get out of their half.

Dannevirke came back to score all 19 points in the second half, two from long range with lock Johnny Sweetman and hooker Nigel Walshe excelling, as did halfback David Walshe until he suffered a suspected broken arm.

Varsity just kept scoring tries.

Their stars were lock Ben Koch and James Goode, first-five Isaac Thompson and midfielder Caleb Kahupukoro.

At Massey University:
Varsity 55 (Caleb Kahupukoro 2, Scott Davidson 2, Mark Howard, Isaac Thompson, Cameron Hayton, Casey Stone, Max Pearson tries; Isaac Thompson 4, Davidson cons)
Dannevirke 19 (Brad Truesdale, Mark Walshe, Luke Hay, tries; Brad Watson 2 con)

HT 26-0.

The smell of relief was almost detectable from the OB-Marist and Te Kawau camps on Saturday.

OB-Marist's relief came from procuring only their second win of the season, even if it took seven weeks, and Te Kawau were relieved to come back from 20-12 down to beat Freyberg 22-20 on their home Rongotea patch.

Amazingly, OB-Marist could yet push for a top-six spot if they beat Dannevirke, Freyberg and Linton Army in the remaining games.

The green and whites so dominated Feilding, it was hard to see how the Yellows had rolled Varsity a week previously. OB-Marist has Turbos lock Lisiate Fa'aoso back for his first game in a year and with Reece Robinson, usual lock Chris Long at No 6, and the lofty Peniasi Tokacece at No 8, all on fire, Feilding were shut out of the lineouts and many of the scrums.

Feilding couldn't deck Tokacece and it was astonishing they didn't run amok on the scoreboard. Feilding, with Nick Crosswell out ill, left gaps as wide as the Oroua River on defence, which the green and blacks galloped through but lacked the confidence to finish.

It seemed 50 might be on the cards when OB-Marist led 19-9 into the wind at halftime, and with Brad Carr off with a hamstring strain. OB-Marist had three clearcut try chances before they finally got three tries 10 minutes before the break.

OB-Marist made hard work of scoring just one late try in the second half after a break by Long and prop Sua Leota. But had Feilding taken two shots at goal, they might still have rocked OB-Marist's fragile confidence. Craig Clare showed his class for Feilding until he heard his ankle click and went off as a precaution. Halfback Sean Brown and centre Troy Smith were OB-Marist's best backs.

At Arena Manawatu:
Old Boys Marist 27 (Troy Smith, Chris Long, Waisea Qoikata, Johnny Missen, tries; Smith 2 con, pen)
Feilding 9 (Brad Carr 2, Craig Clare pens) HT 19-9.

Kia Toa 48, FOB-Oroua 24

A slick first half set up Kias for win number eight before next week's bye, while FOB-Oroua scored four second-half tries for a bonus point.

Kias didn't play New Zealand Sevens fullback Kurt Baker, but without him the backs like Scott Curry and Tevita Taufui cut the Stags open in the first half and Joggie Viljoen marshalled things at halfback. Outstanding was hooker Bryn Templeman who made like a wing to score the first of his team's eight tries.

With the reserve trotting on, the second half lost structure, full of mistakes and knock-ons and missed tackles by the Kias. The half was 24-all and the Stags deserved credit for their comeback, the first team to score four tries against Kias.

George Taura scored a try and made another. A fight saw Stags flanker Junior Tunufai binned while lock Jason Cudby was again their best player.

At Bill Brown Park:
Kia Toa 48 (Paul Tietjens 2, Bryn Templeman, Daniel Squires, Fraser Stone, Joggie Viljoen, Josh Draper, James Solomon tries; Paul Tietjens 4 con)
FOB-Oroua 24 (Willie Cribb, Ashley Wildbore, Paora Mullany, George Taura, tries; Walker Jacobs, Trent Hill, cons)

HT 24-0.

College OB 47, Linton Army 5

With young halfback Karl Bryson humming along, COB will have trouble finding a spot for Turbos halfback Aaron Good who returned from Spain on Saturday.

NZ touch captain Lani Kaiwai set things off with three of COB's eight tries against a Linton team six men short, three at Waiouru. Linton took on COB for the first quarter and defended bravely but into the wind; COB with their slick backplay still led, even if not finishing.

COB dominated the second half, too fast around the track, turning over army ball and keeping the Linton scrum under pressure, only to lose Turbos prop Talau Hala with a serious ankle injury.

COB, though, had too much ball and Linton missed too many first-up tackles. Other COB standouts were wing Jason Harvey and lock Michael Fitzgerald.

At FMG Stadium:
COB 47 (Lani Kaiwai 3, Jason Harvey 2, David Walker, James Meyrick, Matenga Baker, tries; Andre Taylor 2 con, pen)
Linton Army 5 (Paul Davis try),

HT 13-5.

Te Kawau 22, Freyberg 20

There were real blokes chewing nails when trailing Freys with time running down.

Te Kawau scored four tries but had to score two in the last 10 minutes, to Simon Easton and Sam Leung-Wairarapa-Bush, to get home after being down 20-12.

Freys had used the wind well in the first half but lacked finish, and Te Kawau held out in a scrappy game. Freys tried to spin the ball through their big backs, whereas Te Kawau stuck to their philosophy of using their big forwards to do the job. Until the last 15 minutes it was an even game, with Freys again appearing to run out of puff when it counted.

At Rongotea:
Te Kawau 22 (Sam Leung-Wai 2, Isaac Cook, Simon Easton; Andrew Amey con)
Freyberg 20 (Alipati Natoba, Zane Hamilton, tries; Taha Wihongi 2 con, 2 pen)

HT 5-14.