Papatoetoe picked up their first win of the season with a 33-24 victory over Waitemata at home today.

Walked to the field by their mothers in honour of Mother’s Day, it was exactly the motivation the home team needed to run in five tries for a bonus point effort.

While Papatoetoe are destined to play the second round in the bottom eight, Waitemata will be pleased to have picked up a bonus point as they are well and truly still in the hunt for a top eight position.\

Waitemata were on the back foot from the kick off, knocking on the opening play to gift possession to Papatoetoe.

The home team made use of it and were the first team to find points.

Papatoetoe number 8 Fuiva Takitaki ran strongly off the back of a midfield scrum and a nifty offload up to Okristen Williams saw the talented flanker go over for the opening try. Captain D’Angelo Leuila converted for the 7-0 lead.

What followed that was a consistent period of Waitemata attack as they camped out in the Papatoetoe half and threw everything at the home team.

A well worked move from the line out saw young speedstar Moape Qiolevu go over in the corner. The conversion was good and scores leveled at 7 all.

Waitemata kept applying pressure but time after time the Papatoetoe defence held up to the challenge. Regular strike weapon, second five-eighths Faleniu Iosi was well contained.

Eventually Papatoetoe got their hands on the ball and second five-eighths Josh Tafili made a searing break up field only for his support player to be tackled without the ball, leading to a penalty.

From the ensuing line out Papatoetoe knocked the ball on close to the line, the first in several lost opportunities for the home team.

Papatoetoe began to create chances but lack of composure saw them pushing passes and gifting away possession.

Waitemata conceded a yellow card and Papatoetoe took advantage of the numbers, Leuila coasting over for a try on the stroke of half time, converting his own efforts for the 14-7 lead.

The second half kicked off the same as the first, this time it was Papateotoe knocking on the opening play.

But a powerful effort at scrum time saw them produce a tight head and a grubber kick through the line caught Waitemata napping, Joji Kurisaqila running over for the points.

Papatoetoe had their bonus point try within 50 minutes, Williams nabbing his second of the day. It too came from a good kick through the line. Williams and Leuila provided good chase and were able to turn the ball over from an isolated Waitemata defender for Williams to grab the five points.

Leuila proved to be on point with the boot, slotting both conversions for the 28-7 lead.

When Tofaga Iese went over for Papatoetoe in the 56 minute it was one way traffic and looked as though it would be a long second spell for the visitors.

Waitemata had other ideas though, and launched an inspired comeback.

Iosi gave Waitemata some momentum with a powerful break up the guts before halfback Fred Tavita darted through the break down and over for the try.

Minutes later captain Mario Ozich was the beneficiary of an overlap as he cruised over in the corner to narrow the deficit to 33-19.

Tavita went over for his second with less than ten minutes on the clock and it was game on. At 33-24 Waitemata were on a roll and looked to be in again.

With another big overlap there was the opportunity for another try only for a knock on to dash the hope of victory for the men from the West.

Final score 33-24.

Papatoetoe coach Junior Poluleuligaga said he was proud of his team.

"It's relief really. I'm proud of the boys. they have been putting in the hard work and I'm pretty happy they were rewarded with a win at home in front of their mums. 

"We said to them to go out and have fun, don't think whats ahead. We wanted them to enjoy the occasion because it was our Mother's Day game," said Poluleuligaga.

Papatoetoe 33 (O Williams 2, D Leuila, T Iese, J Kurisaqila tries, D Leuila 4 con)
Waitemata 24 (F Tavita 2,  M Qiolevu, M Ozich tries, K Siemensen 2 con) Halftime: 14-7