It was a mixed day out for Ōpōtiki’s two senior men’s rugby teams on Saturday.

The premier side showed glimpses of their potential but were unable to produce an 80-minute showing, falling to a 33-20 defeat to defending champions Whakarewarewa, while the Ōpōtiki development team, who suffered a 100-point defeat just two weeks ago, scored a massive confidence boosting 33-24 win over Whakarewarewa.

In the premier clash, Ōpōtiki opened the scoring through a Mana Howe penalty goal and looked to have parity at scrum time with a couple of impressive shoves, however, discipline and ball handling let them down at times.

Whakarewarewa scored the first try of the clash after 15 minutes through a rolling maul.

For the next 15 minutes, Ōpōtiki’ attacked the Whakarewarewa defence with several strong carries from the likes of Mana Howe and David Whyte.

Some superb play saw Ōpōtiki go close twice through loose forward Matt Anstis and Mana Howe, however, it was number eight Luke Morris who found his way across the chalk from a five-metre scrum.

That made it 10-7 to Ōpōtiki with Mana Howe nailing the conversion.

Just minutes before halftime, Whakarewarewa replied with a try to go ahead 12-10, which is how it stayed until the second stanza.

The home side Whakarewarewa scored after just 20 seconds into the second half with an 80m effort, shell-shocking Ōpōtiki.

Ōpōtiki nabbed a key turnover 13 minutes into the second half when Whakarewarewa were hot on attack.

Former All Black halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi scored a soft try in the second half after a dominant scrum by Whakarewarewa to put them ahead 26-10.

A superb run from Braeden Elmiger saw Ōpōtiki attack from deep in their own end. Minutes later, Tamarau Karepa made a halfbreak, which saw some silky skills from Whyte, the Howes, and Abel Magalogo, which saw his brother, Kiovi, score an impressive try.

Karepa made a fantastic break minutes later and Ōpōtiki looked set to score but a poor pass let them down.

Opotiki managed to score a third try through Te Amo Wilbore.

Whakarewarewa managed a late try to win by 13 points.

Ōpōtiki remain winless but have shown they are more than competitive in this grade.

Whyte was outstanding for Ōpōtiki as was Mana Howe, while prop forwards Kalin Elmiger and Ryan Kurei were dominant at scrum time.

Karepa looked dangerous at fullback with limited opportunities.

There was a real family feel to the Opotiki side which face Whakarewarewa with the Elmiger brothers, Kalin and Braeden, joined by Tane and Mana Howe, Antonio and Mana Takamore-McPhee were on the bench, while Kiovi and Asivo Magalogo are also brothers.

Coach David Te Moana and assistant coach/player Tuterangi Te Moana are also related, while fellow Ōpōtiki coach Dean Elmiger has his two sons in the side.

The Ōpōtiki Development team were superb in their clash against Whakarewarewa Development picking up their first win of the season.

Opotiki managed five tries in their triumph.

Skipper Shaun Gebert scored an impressive try and was one of their best, while Opotiki showed plenty of courage on attack and defence.

Che Collier was strong at fullback, while Arlen Newton got through a power of work as did Genesis Raukawa.

Rewita Biddle produced some touches of brilliance when he came on in the second half. It was a huge confidence boosting side for Ōpōtiki.

This weekend both Ōpōtiki teams have the week off, before they face two difficult away matches before returning to Princess Street Reserve on May 23.