Sounds impressive. It wasn’t.
The home side lacked polish in the first half and were on the back foot for a good chunk of the second half.
It is not that they did not sparkle at times. They did. They scored 11 tries after all.
But they were not as clinical as they would have liked and squandered a lot of opportunities.
The conditions certainly did not help.
The wind made the lineouts a lottery.
No 8 Lucas Casey stood out with another dynamic effort. Centre Jake Fowler scored two tremendous tries and busted the defence at will.
It was a familiar story for Alhambra-Union.
They were outgunned.
They trailed 38-5 at halftime but closed to 43-24 and had momentum.
But the Broncos faded badly and fell off a series of tackles in the final 10 minutes.
Kaikorai was able to run in three late tries to pad out their victory.
First five William Thode shone for AU, and tighthead Benjamin Latu got the Broncos some go-forward when he carried.
University stunned Green Island to lead 27-0 at halftime at Miller Park.
The Grizzlies coughed up too much ball.
They rallied in the second half but lost 41-24.
Taieri slotted a late penalty to edge Harbour 32-29 in a thriller at Peter Johnstone Park.
Harbour had beaten them in the same fashion earlier in the tournament, so there was some revenge for the Eels.
Dunedin powered to a 50-14 win against Zingari-Richmond at Kettle Park in the other match.
