Traveling out east is a once-a-year event for the Weasel, so in the car hopped the other weaselettes to see how Simeon Brown has this electorate a shoe-in for National and how us westies would win the battle against the easties.

For a distinct moment there, and may I say distinct, it was in the first 10 minutes, but as time wore on the scoreboard kept ticking over as try after try kept coming and the goalkicker was nailing conversions from all over the place.

It was heartbreaking how our boys could manage with wave after wave of attacks, with passes sticking and sidesteps from prop forwards for good measure. It didn’t help that in the first 40 we had 3 boys in the sin bin for various offences that put loads of pressure on our defensive line.

Again we made the same mistakes and at a number of times too took wrong options. Pakuranga did have their full complement of players, some who are in next week's under-20 tournament. They also had the use of their prop from the Blues Super Team.

Our situation was not helped that we only have 2 starting props, and that a lock pulled out with sickness on the morning of the game. By halftime we were under “golden oldies” scrums... good for us but not for Pakuranga.

With the rain coming down at halftime, the ball became a lot more difficult to handle and when we had possession the mistakes occurred with dropped ball, poor passing or just taking the wrong options.

From the Weasel’s observation, Cooper Sinton battled away behind a beaten forward pack. Kyan at fullback ran the ball back with purpose and Daniel Lawrence toiled away without being given much ball.

Kind of disappointing that there was all but a handful of supporters. It may have been a crappy day weather-wise, but the Weasel was very much alone with all those SAFFAS and Simeon Brown look-alikes who cheered every try as if it was the winning try. These boys need our support away from home as much as when we play at Waitemata. They are in the cellar-dwellers fight and we need to show them we support them, more so when the going gets tough.

The highlight result of the day was the Under 21s win over Ponies 25–20, which keeps them firmly in the top 4.

The Development went down at Pakuranga 73–0, so not a great day to be at the Ranga with two heavy losses.

Next week it's an away match at College Rifles who are humming along well. A win for them and they are top 4 material. A win for us helps loads with our confidence.