The effects of Plains Rangers not playing for a month were apparent when they visited Kawerau in the Tasman Cup on Saturday. Kawerau were the stronger team from the outset, but Rangers held out for 30 minutes and were looking more comfortable. Then a defensive mix-up gifted Kawerau a goal. Right on half time a second home team goal had them confident. The referee somehow found five minutes of injury time in the first half and at the end of that a Kawerau striker was brought down in the box and the resulting penalty converted.
Things looked up briefly for Rangers when Richie Nillesen was brought on in the second half. He put a good pass through to Dan Logan, who was upended in the penalty area and Jason Pullar put away the free kick. This was the home team's day, however, and they came back to score almost immediately and went on to capitalise on tiring defence thrice more. The final score Kawerau 7 Plains Rangers 1.