Ōpōtiki senior men’s rugby team is going to take some serious beating this season.

If another team topples them, they will have had a fantastic day out – or Ōpōtiki will have had a shocker – because at the minute Ōpōtiki are destroying everything in front of them.

Coming up, they will be challenged again by Paroa, and Whakatāne Marist are always a different beast at home.

Te Teko are on the improve and so are Poroporo, and Rūātoki is a different beast if Ngarohi McGarvey-Black lines up for them.

So, it’s likely there will be no easy game of Ōpōtiki going forward, not that there is now, but you can expect score lines to be closer.

Saturday’s victory against Tāneatua was another by 50-plus points with the 74-3 score, another try fest for the home side. It was their sixth score over 50, this season.

They started strongly with six tries in the first 20 minutes, before a quiet half-hour period, in which they added only one more. However, the final 12 minutes saw them run in another five.

Winger Braeden Elmiger continued to show his class with four tries, while Andre Biddle managed two.

Player-coach Tuterangi Te Moana is pleased to see Tāneatua in the competition this year.

“Having Tāneatua in the comp has been good. Facing new opponents brings its own challenges, especially not knowing what they bring to the table. They’ve done an awesome job moving up and we look forward to facing them more in the future.”

Te Moana is also pleased with the way his team performed for the win.

“[It was] a great way for us to kick off round two.”

“Our carrying game and support running gave us a lot of go forward, and with our backs’ skill set, allowed us to convert that go forward into tries. Our connection on defence also worked well to stop them from crossing the goal line.”

Te Moana said it was fantastic to see numerous players making the most of chances given to them.

“We’ve had great performances across the board with all our players, but if it came down to points, we’d have to put Braeden Elmiger at the top of that list. In saying that, I can’t stress enough the role that the rest of the team have in setting up those awesome opportunities.”

Everyone was buying into what Te Moana, and his fellow coaches were wanting to create, and it was leading to positive results.

“We’re lucky enough to be able to call on our reserve players to step up and fill in where needed.

“We’ve really been focusing on creating depth and allowing them the opportunity to move up and present their skills which creates healthy competition and for that creation of depth.

“That also leaves an opportunity for others to step up in the reserve team also, which benefits us again and will hopefully help sustain that depth in future.”

Te Moana said it was nice to be able to rest this weekend before clashing with Poroporo, a challenging side.

“We’re looking forward to the break and then to Poroporo at home this time around. Our home games have been feeling very special lately, and I think everyone can feel that energy going into those games.

“We’re taking it week by week and not looking past the team in front of us.

“Considering how they’ve gone so far and how tight knit they are, I think Poroporo will bring a nothing-to-lose attitude into this game, which may make them dangerous and will catch a complacent team off guard.”

Looking ahead, after Poroporo the team have a bye, then meet Paroa away, who are likely to be their toughest test to date considering, they lost to them last round.