Bay of Plenty Steamers captain Colin Bourke provided the icing on the cake for Mount Maunganui with his side's third try as they defeated Eastern Bay visitors Opotiki, in the Bartercard Baywide Premier rugby competition.

Mount Maunganui carried on its recent surge of form, which has seen them win seven of their last eight matches, with a hard fought 26-10 victory.

Mount kicker Sam Jurisich kicked three penalties in the first half, before Roha Maxwell crashed over for Opotiki.

The resultant conversion and a penalty goal slotted by Sam Howe saw Opotiki take a 10-9 lead into the half time break.

However, the home side held Opotiki scoreless in the second spell while running in three touchdowns; Mount fullback Tutere Waenga grabbed a double, with Bourke sealing the result late in the game.

The latest Mount Maunganui victory re-inks their second place on the points table.

Te Puke Sports provided Whakarewarewa, which led the standings up to the last game of the first round, with further misery.

In a close run encounter Whaka led 12-10 at halftime courtesy of four penalties to Kelly Haimoana.

Three penalty goals to Nick McCashin, and a further three pointer to Haimoana resulted in Te Puke narrowly taking out the match-up 19-15. The Te Puke tries were awarded to Gideon Uelese and Mark Nicolaas.

Flying Tauranga Sports winger John Stewart grabbed a trifecta of touchdowns for the second successive week, as the defending champions wrapped up their game against Waikite in Rotorua 41-12.

With just three rounds remaining before the semi-finals Tauranga Sports holds an 11-point advantage over Mount Maunganui on the points ledger.

With relegation awaiting the last team in the Premier competition, Te Puna moved off the bottom of the points ladder, with a narrow 19-16 win against Rotoiti.

What made the victory more significant that it was achieved at Rotoiti headquarters at Emery Park. Rangataua won a high scoring encounter 31-25 against Whakatane Marist, with the Eastern Bay side picking up a valuable bonus point to help stave of relegation.

Te Teko continued its lead in the division one competition in another high scoring Baywide match, when they despatched Kahukura 50-26 in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Greerton Marist who has been on a slide in recent weeks, got their semi-final aspirations back on track when they upset Ngongotaha 27-5 at Greerton Park.

Marist St Michaels, which has made a habit of grinding out narrow victories this season, continued its nail biting results defeating Katikati 17-15. Rangiuru continued their resurgence with a comprehensive win over Ruatoki 38-5, in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Defending colts champion Te Puke Sports continued its two-year unbeaten run with a solid 34-5 win against archrivals Tauranga Sports. The Te Puke team are odds-on favourites to win back-to-back age group titles, with no other team troubling the titleholders this season.

In other colts section one games, Te Puna got its semi-final aspirations back on track defeating Opotiki 18-nil, Marist St Michaels beat Mount Maunganui 37-7, with Greerton Marist getting past near neighbours Rangataua 30-15.

Bay of Plenty Bartercard Baywide Rugby Results June 25

Premier:

Mount Maunganui 26 (Tutere Waenga 2, Colin Bourke tries; Sam Jurisich 3 pen con) Opotiki 10 (Roha Maxwell try; Sam Howe pen con) HT 9-10.

Te Puke 19 (Mark Nicolaas, Gideon Uelese tries; Nick McCashin 5 pen) Whakarewarewa 15 (Kelly Haimona 5 pens) HT 10-12.

Te Puna 19 (Heywood Kuka, Aiden Kuka, Taimona Tata tries; Darrel Houia 2 cons) Rotoiti 16 (Sekeli Vorenasu try, 2 pen con; Joe Fenton pen)

Tauranga Sports 41 (John Stewart 3, Kane Hames, Josh Hall tries; Nick Evemy 5 con 2 pens) Waikite 12 (Tu Wijohn, Hamu Hudson, Quaid Langeveltd con) HT 31-5.

Rangataua 31 (Siaosi Longi 2, Nathaniel Walker, Rory McConnochie tries; McConnochie 4 con pen) Whakatane Marist 25.

Points Table: Tauranga Sports 58, Mount Maunganui 47, Te Puke 43, Whakarewarewa 39, Rangataua 39, Opotiki 31, Rotoiti 26, Waikite 25, Te Puna 19, Whakatane Marist 17,

Division One: Rangiuru 38 Ruatoki 5, Marist St Michaels 17 Katikati 15, Greerton Marist 27 Ngongotaha 5, Te Teko 50 Kahukura 26, Paroa won by default.

Colts (Section One) Te Puke Sports 34 Tauranga Sports 5, Greerton Marist 30 Rangataua 15, Marist St Michaels 37 Mount Maunganui 7, Te Puna 18 Opotiki 0

(Section Two) Rotoiti 31 Whakatane Marist 10, Waikite 49 Whakarewarewa 5, Ruatoki won by default.