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Regional | Hamilton

Taniwharau clean sweep Waikato club rugby league championships

Taniwharau rugby-league club has claimed this year's Waikato Club rugby championship title.

The Huntly-based side wrapped up their undefeated season with a 16-14 win over arch-rivals, Hamilton City Tigers, in the grand final in Huntly over the weekend.

At every bend, the Tigers were confronted by Taniwharau who were the first to get the scoring underway extending their lead 16-0 in the first half.

Damien Darlington dotted down the first try 20 minutes in.

Jordan Tai Rakena and Darren Kingi followed in behind not long after with Duanne Sykes clearing two goals to catapult Taniwharau ahead into the second half.

In a nail-biting comeback, the Tigers found their second wind at the 49th minute off captain Aaron Jolley who pierced through a narrow gap to touch down.

Tamainu Huirama and Daniel Taungakava powered over in the final 10 minutes to narrow the margins by two points for the Tigers.

A missed conversion was their opportunity to equalise.

Taniwharau stealing the win in overtime.

For Taniwharau captain Pawhare Brown, the most important thing for his side was maintaining their winning streak from the season.

"Our plan was to keep to the strategies we had been staying true to throughout the season. We really wanted this grand-final."