Bartercard Cup-Round 12-Results

Manurewa scored the big upset in this weekends Bartercard Cup competition when they gave the Hibiscus Coast Raiders their fourth loss of the season.

Celebrating the return of centre Anthony Kiro from Otahuhu and Warrior Henry Fa'afili turning out at fullback, the Marlins produced a quality of football that they've struggled to attain for much of the season in winning by 25 - 18.

The Raiders were celebrating the return of some of their stock from injury but couldn't match their opponents on the day. They still retain second place on the table, but only on for and against percentage as they sit on 16 points along with Otahuhu and Eastern Tornadoes.

Mt Albert now have a six point break on the rest of the field following their 42 - 12 win over the Taranaki Wildcats.

The Lions were too strong for the Wildcats, with winger Scott Dewhurst celebrating his return from injury with 3 tries, while David Myles also picked up a couple.

The Eastern Tornadoes, playing without Jeremiah Pai, who was about to make his debut for the Warriors, comfortably beat Canterbury Bulls by 42 - 12.

The Otahuhu Central game also went according to predictions with the Leopards running out 48 - 26 winners, in an eight try performance. This result wasn't in the script until the last 10 mins where the Leopards ran away with the match. Central put up a great front and were within 6 points of the Leopards before running out of gas.

Wellington showed that they're still on track to take a position in the top five when they accounted for the Marist Richmond Brothers 46 - 28.

Once again Wellington showed how hard they are to beat at home and the win opens up an important little break between them and Northcote in sixth place.

While that difference is only 3 points, it could be a very important 3 points in a few weeks time.

Northcote can thank a poor second half performance at Ericsson Stadium on Sunday in going down to Glenora by 22 - 40.

With the scores tied up at half time, 18 - all, the Bears came out to play in the second half and the Tigers didn't cope at all well losing their cool on occasions in the process.

For the Tigers, new young halfback Carlos Mataora had an excellent game and looks to be an exciting prospect. Jason Duff also made a welcome return and Mat Spence put in a pretty good effort but was perhaps a little too intent on running a personal battle with his opponents.

For the victors, fullback and goal kicker Tawhai Edwards had an excellent game. His goal kicking from wide out was top class.

Star of the show was the Bears second rower, Lauaki, whose three tries were a deserved reward for aggressive running. If he can put together some regular performances of the same quality he'll be worth a closer look at a higher level.

This was arguably the Bears best match of the season but they still look to be too far down the ladder to be able to break semi-final contention.