In a less than inspiring session of Premier Men's hockey, the games lacked the intensity of the past weeks Intercity games. Ecolab Suburbs Piako downed The Cook University 3-2 in the early game with the teams just going through the motions in a lack luster first half. Te Rau Brown opened the scoring for the students with Jonny Forbes replying to leave the sides locked up 1 all at half time. A late brace of goals sparked some life into the game with Forbes giving Suburbs the lead immediately responded to by Varsity's Morice McMillan and then Forbes grabbed his hat trick moments later to seal the win. Intercity champions Fraser Tech should have easily dispatched Hamilton Old Boys but, like the early game, they lacked intensity and composure to finish off scoring chances. Richard Petherick, playing in the unaccustomed role of striker, was accredited with a hat trick and Clinton Smith and Paul Rae combined well to provide the equalising goals for a morale boosting 3all draw. The drop in standard of Saturdays games may be attributed to many of the players backing up on Sunday for the Midlands team to play Auckland, let' s hope next week provides a return to top quality hockey that the sides showed in the intercity competition.

In the Women's fixtures, Te Awamutu and the vastly improved Southern United finally gave the spectators a quality game of hockey. In the ABN-AMRO Craig's match of the day, the sides fought out a tightly contested 1 all draw. The ever dangerous Jeanna Platt led the way up front for Southern and her well executed shot from a clever PC variation gave her team the first half lead. Robyn Mathews, Rachel Falconer and Kath Drew were at their effective best in thwarting Southern raids into the Te Awamutu half and setting up play for their forwards. Fullback Janine Parry was equally effective for Southern and only a welcome return to goal scoring form by Michelle Whitehead with a deft deflection after a scything run by Maria Dunne, blemished the Southern defensive effort. Both sides used width effectively and strung series of passes around the field in an attempt to find openings. The result still sees Te Awamutu surprisingly last after tworounds, but, as we saw in the intercity competition, they are a fiercely competitive team and will not relinquish their title without a fight.

In the late game Bazuka Sports University and Fraser Tech battled to a 2 all draw.