Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Saturdays during the depths of winter bring just one thing for this long time sports addict - footie.

Last Saturday was a big day for this writer, with a Baywide top-four showdown at the Tauranga Domain, before the NRL clash between his two favourite teams telecast on Sky Sport in the early evening.

There was plenty of vocal support, for both Tauranga Sports Raptors and the Te Puke Sports Pirates who aimed to knock the home side from the top of the perch.

When Tauranga Sports opened the scoring, with a penalty goal in the opening minutes, few could have imagined the helter skelter rugby that would entertain the crowd for the remainder of the first half.

Two concerted Pirates attacks saw the visitors punch out to a 14-3 lead after just 12 minutes. The two sides traded a try apiece, before Tauranga Sports spun the ball to dot down three times.

On the cusp of halftime, Te Puke Sports came back with a further touchdown. Tauranga Sports, took a narrow 27-24 advantage into the half time break in play, after forty minutes of exhilarating running rugby.

After the action packed first spell, which produced eight tries and 51 points, a more subdued second half unfolded. Tauranga Sports went on to take out the match 41-31 to re-ink their credentials at the top of the Baywide standings.

My standout player was Tauranga Sports first-five, Lucas Cashmore, who distributed the ball to his outside backs with finesse and was extremely dangerous with the ball in his grip.

He has already been awarded New Zealand Under 20 honours and looks destined for Super Rugby and beyond.

There was a heap of anticipation in getting ready to hit the couch, to watch my two NRL favourites, in the New Zealand Warriors squaring off with the (Redcliffe) Dolphins at Mount Smart Stadium.

The game matched up the Warriors, who have been chasing NRL title success since their debut season way back in 1995, with the new boys on the block in the Dolphins.

Entering the near full-house encounter in the South Auckland stadium, the two sides were in close attendance within the top eight on the NRL standings.

An armwrestle ensued in the opening forty minutes with the Warriors taking a narrow 6-4 lead into the half time.

The Warriors then unleashed their arsenal of attack, with four second half touchdowns, to thrill the home-town fans with a 30-8 win.

The Warriors star was Shaun Johnson who ran in two tries and belted over a perfect five from five conversions. Big Warriors unit, Dalin Watene-Zelezniak, used his size and power to cross for two touchdowns.

On the day, the New Zealand side outmuscled their Queensland rivals, with the two rivals heading into next weekends assignments in the top eight, with 16 points apiece.

Both my two favourites teams have realistic ambitions of making the top eight, to contest the championship playoffs, but will need to dig deep into their playing resources to achieve the big goal.

With 13 weeks of intense rugby league in the regular season remaining, it will be interesting where they sit in the standings, when they meet again in Dolphins territory on the 1st September.