Led by huge performances from the bench from Rakai Tuheke and Ethan McKellar, who were both backing up from Group 10 duty the day before, Hawks’ defensive effort was the highlight after snatching the lead from the plucky Bears just before half-time and never letting go of it.

Hawks took a 14-12 lead into the break and extended that lead to 14 after consistently thwarting Bears’ raids and turning that defensive momentum into points at the other end.

Blayney did finally cross in the 74^th minute to make it an eight-point game and had another chance three minutes later, but Hawks forced a knock-on  to secure the win.

“I’ve said from the start with our tough first round, mainly being on the road, winning these early away games is really important and to play pretty scrappy footy and still get over the line, I couldn’t ask for more,” Hawks captain-coach Willie Heta said.

“There was glimpses of our best but there’s plenty to work on, we were still pretty patchy. We spoke about not going away from what was working for us because when we do, that’s when the errors come in.

“Defensively I thought we were pretty good, and I’ve said before with us it’s more about our attitude there and wanting to do it. Our structure and everything we’re doing positioning-wise is coming through which is nice to see, if we can keep building on that I think we’ll find more and more points on the back of it.”

“Rakai and Ethan, then Brodie (Christopherson) and Nathan Potts too, all had to back up from rep honours on Saturday and for them to do that and do it really well, was a big effort. They did a great job so they’ve really, really earned their week off with the bye.”

Blayney skipper Tim Mortimer was disappointed with the result in a game he thought his side could’ve won, but considering his Bears were coming off 52-12 and 58-22 thrashings, the progress is promising.

“It’s disappointing, but it was a pretty positive kind of performance. I was very proud of the guys’ effort and defensively I thought we were pretty good,” he said, admitting the defeat largely came down to the number of errors his side made.

“It’s all our own doing. We have been concentrating on minimising our errors and this was definitely a step forward but there’s still areas to fix up there as well, those errors come off a bit of fatigue and our [decision-making] could’ve been better at times too.

“We’ve picked up a few more players so we had a bit more punch of our bench which we were really missing in the first two games, and that made a lot of difference [on Sunday].

“It’s early in the season, we’ll keep plugging away.”

After his side held Hawks out following a clinical set finished by a deft, and pinpoint, Heta grubber, it was actually Mortimer who opened the scoring in the eighth minute, he charged over one-off of a scrum.

Mitch Evers slotted the conversion to give the Bears a 6-0 lead, but it didn’t last long as Hawks hit back through Brett Morgan seven minutes later.

Two blues half Brodie Christopherson nudged a grubber in behind the line that Bears fullback Carter Hirini fumbled, Morgan dived on the loose ball to score and Heta added the extras to lock things up.

Blayney moved back in front 19 minutes from the break through. Michael Toohey had a crack from dummy-half and flopped a ball out the back, while Hawks were calling for a non-existent knock-on Bears back-rower Ricky Scott swooped on the loose ball and dived over untouched. Again, Evers nailed his kick to give Blayney a six-point lead.

Although the home side knocked on just two tackles after the restart, it held the visitors out after an attempted offload from Heta was gathered in by Toohey.

After Hawks held Blayney out at the other end, Christopherson diffusing a grubber kick, the two blues started taking advantage of the fact the Bears were fading at the back end of the half.

They threatened a number of times before finally drawing level in the 37^th minute, replacement prop Sia Nemani showing skills any half would envy in putting Nathan Potts over.

Heta converted and then nailed a penalty goal two minutes later to give his side the lead for the first time, after a silly Hirini strip in a tackle deep in Bears’ territory.

Hawks immediately went on the attack straight after the break and blew their first opportunity in the 42^nd minute, but it mattered little as utility Ethan Monk waltzed over from dummy-half four minutes later. Heta missed the straightforward kick, leaving his side’s lead at six.

The scoreline stayed at 18-12 for another 25 minutes too as the two sides battled severe cases of the dropsies, before Ethan Bereyne barged his way over following a Potts line-break.

Heta’s conversion pushed the score to 26-12, making it a three-score game, and although Toohey dived over for a well-deserved try with six to go the Bears missed their next opportunity in the 77^th minute, Hawks securing the win.