The sun was shining bright at Edendale for its club day celebrations.
Edendale raced out to a 10-0 lead with a converted try to Bram Fodie and a penalty goal. Midlands fought back to 13-13 at halftime through its strong ball carrying and solid set-piece.
Midlands took its momentum into the second half and scored a converted try. But the final 30 minutes belonged to Edendale as it upped the tempo and pulled away to victory.
Centre Devon McLeod was outstanding on attack and defence. McLeod scored one of his team's five tries and converted all of them.
McLeod also kicked two penalty goals in his 21-point haul. McLeod has a 100% goal-kicking record this season. Others to have strong games for the Magpies were Jono McDonald, Jeremy McLeod and captain Bram Fodie.
Midlands coach Dayna Cunningham was pleased with his forwards' set-piece but felt his team was off the pace in other areas.
"Edendale played with far more desire and intensity in the second half. They breached us on the edges as we made some poor decisions on defence," he said.
Midlands best backs were Jack Maguire and Sam Wheeley. In the forwards George Hazlett was the standout, while Sam Brame, Jesse Murphy and Hamish Anderson also had strong performances.
Reigning champion Marist kept its unbeaten record intact, beating Woodlands 54-7 at Miller St.
Marist was keen to put on a good show in front of its big home crowd but its enthusiasm led it into repeated unforced errors.
Despite the lack of second-phase play, Marist took a 28-0 lead into the break.
The overall quality of rugby was not much better in the second half but the home team scored five more tries.
The Marist reserve bench its presence felt. Sam Brierley and Willy Pera up front, and the evergreen Jeremy Boyle, Javaan Fa'amoe Ioane and Keanu Kahukura all added some spark when they came into the backline.
Marist's best was first five-eighth Scott Eade while Alefosio Vahe and Senio Samisoni were also impressive on debut.
Woodlands suffered a couple of potentially serious injuries but never gave up and gained some reward when veteran Jason Rutledge scored an intercept try.
The Eastern Northern Barbarians enjoyed a 45-12 win in Te Anau. The Barbarians led 25-7 at half time. Coach Mark Hourston was pleased with his team's effort.
"We enjoyed a good win on Lachie McCall s 100th game. It is an outstanding effort from him, considering the team has only played 101 games," he said.
Pirates Old Boys confirmed third position in Pool B with a 24-21 win over Wyndham at Surrey Park. Pirates played well for most of first half and led 19-7 at the break. Wyndham came back strongly and had the vast majority of possession during the second half.
Star kept its unbeaten record in tact with a 33-20 win over Blues at Waverley Park. Blues coach Simon Frisby thought his team looked like a team that had not played in a few weeks.
"The boys were very keen, maybe too keen and unfortunately we had a lot of 50-50 ball that didn't go to hand and Star punished our mistakes. We fought back well and scored some nice tries," he said.
Riversdale earned a 19-8 victory at Waikaka.
- John Langford