The Bartercard Baywide Premier title race was split wide open on Saturday (27 June 2009) with two upsets, a draw and a close encounter.

In Opotiki the home side provided plenty of thrills for their supporters, when they defeated defending Baywide champions Tauranga Sports 25-18. Languishing at the bottom of the leader board without a point, Opotiki upset the formbook to grab a win, that keeps their championship semi-final aspirations alive.

Bay of Plenty representative hooker Dean Elmiger showed his troops the way forward all day – and was rewarded with two tries. Sam Howe punished a number of the visitors errors, booting home five penalty goals.

Tauranga Sports points came from tries to Kent Rae and Steven Honey with Eru Haimona slotting two penalties and a conversion. The defending champions now sit two points away from the top four.

The second upset came when Mount Maunganui continued their roller coaster season of form to beat Rotoiti 34-12. What made the victory more remarkable was that it came in front of Rotoiti’s passionate home crowd supporters at Emery Park.

Mount Maunganui with their Steamers stars, proved too good for the home side running in four tries, with touch downs awarded to Cory Aporo, Zar Lawrence, Colin Bourke and James Riddell. For Rotoiti Whakataki Cunningham and Sikeli Bola were awarded tries, with Bola kicking one conversion.

For the second week in a row Whakarewarewa left the field at full time, with shared points. This time the dead heat came at home at Puarenga Park against Te Puke Sports with a 16 all result. A slight 6-3 advantage to Te Puke Sports at the break, saw the lead change several times in the second spell – with Whaka scoring last with fifteen minutes on the clock, to hold on for a draw.

A real arm wrestle took place at Rugby Park in Whakatane, when Rangtaua had to battle for eighty odd minutes to defeat Whakatane Marist 9-3. In a game where neither side breached the try line, the Rangataua victory came from the boot of John Ririnui with three penalties, with the home side reply coming from a penalty goal from Max Bullivant.

In Division one, Te Puna provided Waikite with their first defeat of the championship round, in a high scoring encounter. With the game up for grabs in the second spell, after Te Puna held a narrow 16-14 advantage at the break – the home side ran in four second half tries to win 46-29. A feature of the game was the first three Te Puna touchdowns awarded to Tipu Clark.

In other Div one encounters Greerton Marist squeezed past Arataki 12-9, Te Teko defeated Reporoa 29-14, with Kahukura getting past fellow Rotorua side Ngongotaha 18-3.

In a replay of last years Division Two Baywide final, Paroa and Papamoa went head to head in the Eastern Bay, with Paroa sneaking a one point 20-19 win. The Paroa victory kept their championship aspirations alive after two losses in a row. Rangiuru and Ruatoki battled to a 15 all draw, with Judea and Marist St Michaels also posting victories. 

At Te Kaha, Katikati continued their impressive return to Bay of Plenty rugby, defeating Apanui 40-5 in Division Three. Other sides chasing Baywide promotion to win were Matakana Island, Murupara and Waimana.

Colts front runners Ngongotaha got back to winning form with a 25-8 victory over Opotiki. Other leading championship contenders to bank win points, were Rotoiti who just got past Greerton Marist 20-17 along with Te Puke Sports, Tauranga Sports and Mount Maunganui.

Bartercard Baywide Rugby Results 27 June 2009
Premier:
Opotiki 25 (Dean Elmiger 2 tries; Sam Howe 5pens) Tauranga Sports 18 (Kent Rae, Steven Honey tries; Eru Haimoana 2 pens con)
Mount Maunganui 34 (Cory Aporo, Zar Lawrence, Colin Bourke, James Riddell tries; Sam Jurisich 3cons 2 pens, Ryan Boshier con) Rotoiti 12 (Whakataki Cunningham, Sikeli Bola tries; Bola con).  HT: 3-7.
Whakarewarewa 16 (Aliki Kisina, Scott Mayhew tries; Kelly Haimona 2 pens) Te Puke Sports 16 (Nic McCashin try, 3 pens con) HT 6-3 to Te Puke
Rangataua 9 (John Ririnui 3 pens) Whakatane Marist 3 (Max Bullivant pen)
Premier Points Table
Te Puke Sports 11, Rangataua 10, Mount Maunganui 10, Whakarewarewa 9, Tauranga Sports 7, Rotoiti 5, Opotiki 4, Whakatane Marist 2,

Division One: Te Puna 46 Waikite 29, Greerton Marist 12 Arataki 9, Te Teko 29 Reporoa 14, Kahukura 18 Ngongotaha 3.

Division Two: Rangiuru 15 Ruatoki 15, Paroa 20 Papamoa 19, Judea 39 Kawerau 3, Marist St Michaels 20 Eastern Districts 15.

Division Three: Matakana Island 16 Edgecumbe 12, Katikati 40 Apanui 5, Waimana 40 Galatea 10, Murupara 23 Eastern Pirates 22.

Colts: Mount Maunganui 45 Taneatua 5, Te Teko 73 Kahukura 3, Tauranga Sports 37 Waikite 7, Te Puna 89 Whakatane Marist 0, Te Puke Sports 27 Whakarewarewa 5, Rotoiti 20 Greerton Marist 17, Ngongotaha 25 Opotiki 8, Marist St Michaels 16 Rangataua 14.