Wellington looked threatening early and opened the scoring with a try to Faleima Siinei down the right wing. Soon after, openside flanker Hayden Schrijivers swooped on a spilled Taranaki pass in their own territory and linked well before his St. Pat’s Silverstream teammate and centre Aviata Silago scythed his way to the try line. Successful conversions from first five-eighth Andrew Wells made the score 14-0 after as many minutes.
Two Taranaki penalty goals reduced the deficit before halfback Carne Green ran from a midfield scrum just inside Taranaki’s 22 and fed his Wellington College teammate and fullback Andrew Quinlivan who crashed over in the right hand corner. A Wells penalty goal on the stroke of halftime stretched Wellington’s lead to 22-6 at the break.
Wellington declined several kickable penalty goal attempts early in the second spell which, when they then conceded plenty of their own, allowed a typically dogged Taranaki team to claw its way back into the match with 13 straight points. A Wells penalty goal mid-way through the half - Wellington’s sole second half points – stretched the lead back to nine. However, the visitors, needing to win to keep their season alive, were not done and scored their second try with just under quarter of an hour remaining.
When No. 8 Tuakana Metuarau was sin-binned, a perhaps unfortunate victim of repeated team infringements, it made for an anxious six minutes. In the end Wellington managed to hold on and, with the peculiarities of an abridged three team competition (no Manawatu this year), confirmed its place in the final.
Wellington travel to Napier next weekend to play Hawke’s Bay in a dead-rubber dress rehearsal of the following week’s U18 final.
Scores: At Maidstone Park, Saturday 10 September: Wellington U18 25 (Aviata Silago, Siinei Falelima, Andrew Quinlivan tries; Andrew Wells 2 pen, 2 con) beat Taranaki U18 21. HT: 22-6
Wellington U20 beat Taranaki in Hurricanes tournament
The Welington U20s pulled clear late in the match to beat their Taranaki counterparts 34-17 in New Plymouth on Saturday.
Wellington sealed a bonus point victory with two tries in the last five minutes, following a tight first half that saw them ahead just 10-9 at the turnaround.
Loose forward George Amosa scored a hat trick of tries, while blindside Deon Carney and halfback Philip Finau also found the tryline for Wellington.
The team now goes on to play Hawke's Bay this coming Saturday at Maidstone Park at 1.00pm, with the winner progressing to the Hurricanes region U20 fina the following week.
Scores: At New Plymouth, Saturday 10 September: Wellington U20 34 George Amosa 3, Deon Carney, Philip Finau tries; Ambrose Curtis 2 pen, 2 con; Dudley Parsons con) beat Taranaki U20 17. HT: 10-9