Excelsior rebounded from back-to-back defeats to claim bragging rights in the battle of the carpark with a 26-17 win over Athletic Marist on Saturday.
While Athies dominated territory and possession early, Blues got on the board first against the run the of play.
Excelsior were pinned deep in their own 22m when Oli Knopp shot forward on defence and snagged an intercept that he took 80m to score under the sticks.
Blues’ second try also came against the run of play.
Tyron Davies spied a gap behind the Athies defence and stabbed a kick into the left-hand corner.
The ball rolled into the in-goal area and Tuks Kaukinaivalu beat the retreating defenders to it and scored.
Late in the first half, Athies were finally able to string some phases together.
They found themselves in the Excelsior 22m and their forwards chipped away with carry after carry, before Junior Fakatoufifita crashed over to cut the lead to seven heading into the sheds.
The game fell into a slight lull to start the second half as Blues were more than happy to play the territory game.
Eventually, they won an attacking lineout and Hozayah Taylor scored off the back of a rolling maul.
However, Athies hit back immediately.
Blues corralled the ensuing kick-off but when they tried the clearing kick, it was charged down and regathered by Posiano Kamoto, who scored.
Blues were able to answer a few minutes later as a monster carry from Temesia Bolavucu led to him crossing the line with two defenders hanging off him.
That put the game beyond reach as even a late try from Kamoto was not enough to bring Athies back and Blues got the win.
While it was not always pretty, the fight shown from Blues was commendable.
Several players were playing out of position and they had a limited bench due to their mounting injury list.
Despite all this, they were able to get the win over a quality Athies side.
Valley are now the lone unbeaten team in the competition after a big second half got them over the line against Old Boys.
The Weston men were down at halftime but scored 26 points in the second half to win 33-20.
Maheno got their second win of the season up in Kurow.
The green machine ran in six tries as they beat the Red Devils 38-26.
