The unpredictability that marked much of the preliminary round has continued for the start of Waikato premier club rugby's main round.

Ron Crawford Memorial Trophy winners CBD Hamilton Old Boys went from the top of the pile to a share of the bottom when beaten 24-21 by defending champions Wagon Wheel Bakery Morrinsville Sports at Morrinsville on Saturday.

Meanwhile Hamilton Marist managed a home-ground surprise of their own when they bounced back from a shoddy performance and heavy defeat a week earlier to trip up APL Hautapu 21-18.

TDO Melville had the tough trip to Otorohanga and came away with an 18-18 draw with OTC Otorohanga and it was only Shenanigans Irish Pub Fraser-Tech that averted a result not in keeping with their finishing position in the first round last week with a 26-24 home win over Ecolab Te Awamutu Sports. But that was down to Te Awamutu missing a penalty goal from 30 metres out in front with time up.

That all meant Fraser-Tech began the Haswell Catley Trophy round on top of the table with a maximum five points – one better than Morrinsville and Marist – but there are bound to be many more twists and turns in the plot before this round is finished and the championship semifinalists found.

Hamilton Marist 21 Hautapu 18

This match could have gone either way at Marist Park but the result was a fair one with Marist taking their opportunities to score the only two tries, defending superbly and producing the more urgent forward performance.

While Hautapu produced the slicker inter-passing attack and always looked dangerous out wide through wing Ruamai Erueti and fullback Nathan Merryman or with mobile forwards Jordan Smiler and Neil McComb running with ball in hand, the first half was relatively even with Marist opting for an efficient pick-and-go and driving game and getting more numbers to the breakdowns.

Hautapu had the advantage of a diagonal wind and first-five Josh Blue took advantage with four penalty goals from five attempts for a 12-10 half-time lead, although Marist still managed to score the only try – a beauty finished off by lock Gene Waller despite prop Lionel Wairau being in the sin-bin for a high tackle.

Marist got better field position with the use of the wind in the second half and took the lead 16-12 through a couple of Nick Fairweather penalty goals before the visitors finally got on attack through a Pappa Wharewera break and Blue got his fifth three-pointer to close the gap to one.

Midway through the half Marist attacked the right corner with lineout drives from penalties but blew the chance with a crooked throw only for hooker Nick Seymour begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting to make up for it with an opportunist try three minutes later after a fumble by the livewire Merryman in front of his own line to make it 21-15.

A sixth Blue penalty again got Hautapu within sniffing distance and they finished the stronger, particularly after Wairau was sent off for his second yellow-card offence with two minutes to go but a combination of Marist defence, where winger Tuki White was outstanding, and some poor passing by the Hautapu backs kept the home team's lead intact.

Morrinsville Sports 24 Hamilton Old Boys 21

Morrinsville had to rally desperately in recent weeks just to reach the top eight but they started the main round with a bang at Campbell Park, scoring three tries to none against the previous round winners.

It still took a 70th minute try in the corner by winger Benji Olesen and some staunch defence in the dying minutes for the home side to get home after an outstanding goal-kicking performance from Old Boys winger Kane Adams, who slotted seven penalty goals from as many attempts.

The game never got flowing, marred by a lot of penalties, with Morrinsville leading 16-15 at halftime after tries to player of the match halfback Damon McKinnon and young Fijian back Jone Lagibola to five Adams penalties.

Old Boys took the lead in the second spell 21-19 thanks to two more Adams penalties to one from Andre Wilson but New Zealand Maori back Dwayne Sweeney came on at centre for the last 30 minutes in his first outing back from suspension and got Morrinsville hot on attack, forcing successive scrums that led to the Olesen try.

Prop Mark Verner, back from injury, and loose forwards Brett Harrison, Paul Sweeney and Alex Bradley were the heroes up front for Morrinsville, while McKinnon, centre Vesi Rauluni and replacement Dwayne Sweeney did the damage in the backs.

Halfback Malcolm Barnes was Old Boys' player of the day, while Adams stood out for his goal-kicking and Murray Iti had yet another strong game at loose forward.

Fraser-Tech 26 Te Awamutu Sports 24

After an absorbing contest at Elliot Park, Fraser-Tech just managed to finish in front, with the outcome of the game in doubt until the final act of the match, when Te Awamutu's goal-kicker Leon Emery missed a 30m penalty goal attempt right on fulltime, John Holt reports.

There was little between the sides throughout an even game. In the forward contest, the visitors may have had an edge at scrum time, but Fraser-Tech won more than their share of ball at the lineouts, principally through the effort and athleticism of their beanpole No6 Peniasi Iowane.

Te Awamutu had the more conservative game-plan and often kicked for territorial gain, while Fraser-Tech were more inclined to play an attacking game out wide, but too often scoring opportunities were ruined by mistakes.

Hooker Vern Kamo, the standout player in the Tech forwards, scored the opening try of the match, Te Awamutu replied with an Emery penalty goal and try to lock Daniel Gujer, in his 100th premier game for the club. Late in the half Tech fullback Thomas Watt sliced through some weak Te Awamutu defence on a fine 30m run to score handy to the goalposts for a 14-10 half-time lead.

After some robust forward pressure, the Te Awamutu side regained the lead 15 minutes into the second half with a try to flanker Cohen Masson. Three minutes later Kamo scored his second try adjacent to the posts, but Te Awamutu managed to charge down Christie's point blank conversion attempt and Fraser-Tech led 19-17.

With 10 minutes to go, Te Awamutu produced the best try of the match when rangy lock Chris Middleton scored unopposed just inside the corner flag, up in support to finish off a series of good attacking phases from his side, with Emery nailing the wide-angled conversion to get the visitors ahead 24-19.

But Tech were not done. Flanker Adrian Hall claimed the side's final try when the forwards drove over their opponents' goal line with just four minutes of play remaining and Jason Fly calmly slotted the conversion attempt to get his side their winning margin, although both sides then had to endure Emery's late miss, his only unsuccessful goal kick in the match.

Otorohanga 18 Melville 18

This physical encounter at Island Reserve produced some good rugby and could have gone either way.

Otorohanga could rue the ball dropped in front of the Melville posts by their open-side flanker Rayn Denton, but Melville missed a simple penalty midway through the second half that would have got them six points clear before the home team tied it up.

Otorohanga had the better of the first quarter for an early lead through tries to Denton and second-five Terry White, who produced a strong midfield performance along with Joe Perawiti.

But Melville fought back with a try to outstanding back TK Moeke and the boot of Tyler Leith to close up the scoreline to 15-13 by halftime.

It was a see-sawing battle from then on, both sides struggling with the interpretations of Japanese referee Taizo Hirabayashi.

Skipper and lock Haimona Waititi had a fine all-round game for Melville and Moeke and fullback Cam Hugill also played well.