The Wellington U18s beat the Hawke's Bay U18s 22-21 in Palmerston North on Saturday to win the 2009 Hurricanes region U18 competition.
Also at Palmerston North, the Wellington U19s lost to Hawke's Bay U20 11-35 in the final of the Hurricanes region U20 competition, while in other matches the Wellington Bs defeated the Hawke's Bay Bs 17-14 at Porirua Park in the Hurricanes region Development competition and the Wellington Colts missed out on Eden Park to Auckland U20 31-19.
Wellington won the Hurricanes under 18 competition for the second consecutive year with the narrowest of wins, 22-21, over Hawke's Bay.
It was a match that, in many ways, replicated the clash between the two teams in the round robin a fortnight earlier (won by Hawke's Bay 33-31). On this occasion, however, Hawke's Bay did not convert its final minute opportunity and Wellington was able to hang on and take the title.
Just as they did in Napier two weeks earlier, Wellington played into a strong breeze in the first half and led at the break. Opting for a scrum in preference to a penalty shot at goal after five minutes proved a good decision for Wellington. It opened the scoring when a sequence of subsequent forward drives resulted in a Tupou Sopoaga try after six minutes, which Terence Hepetema converted from close range.
The next 15 minutes belonged to Hawke's Bay and they profited with two penalty goals and a converted try. Wellington were not done though, and hit back with a penalty goal and a Clinton Dysart try five minutes before the break to lead 17-13.
Turning with the wind at their backs, Wellington again started the second period well and soon went nine points clear when Tomasi Alosio finished off a good try. Then, in a sense of déjà vu, Hawke's Bay took the game to Wellington in the final quarter and closed to within a point through a try and penalty goal.
Only, this time the Bay could not manage the vital winning score when its normally reliable goal kicker, Ihaia West, pushed his close range penalty attempt wide with only a minute remaining on the clock.
In the U19 final at Palmerston North, the Wellington U19s weren't able to protect their tryline in the second half as the Hawke's Bay side came back to overtake them with the strong wind at their backs.
Wellington couldn't take full advantage of the elements in their favour in the opening 40 minutes, scoring just one try to openside flanker Rhys Summerell and kicking two penalties to first five-eighth Glen Walters to lead 11-5 at halftime.
Hawke's Bay played a territorial game after halftime and scored a further 30 points to secure their victory.
At Poriria Park, the Wellington Bs played their way into the Hurricanes Development final with a come-from-behind 17-14 win over Hawke's B.
No. 8 Alex Tulou and openside flanker Tivani Fomai combined to score the match winning try in the 73rd minute to overcome their Hawke's Bay counterparts and extend their lead at the top of the standings.
Wellington plays Taranaki B at Porirua Park in their final round-robin game this coming weekend, ahead of the final in Palmerston North on 17 October.
The race for the other final berth is still wide open, with Taranaki's 12-6 victory over Manawatu in the other game on Saturday meaning the other three teams are separated by just competiton point.
The Hurricanes Development competition points table after five rounds is: Wellington 19, Manawatu 11, Hawke's Bay 10, Taranaki 10.
Trailing 10-14, Tulou powered ahead into open space from a ruck on Hawke's Bay's 22-metre line, drew the last line of defence and offloaded to Fomai to score the try that took Wellington into the lead.
Right wing Chris Slade made no mistake of the conversion, asking Hawke's Bay to now score a try to win the game. They threw everything at Wellington but Wellington held on for their fourth win in five competition games.
Hawke's Bay had scored the only other points of the second half with a try in the 45th minute and then defended stoutly for long periods until Fomai crossed for the match winner seven minutes before the end.
Playing into the wind in the first half, Wellington had battled hard to take a 10-9 lead into the turnaround.
Hawke's Bay centre Sam Giddens kicked all his side's early points to gain a 9-0 lead inside 10 minutes, with Slade replying in the 12th minute to close the gap to 9-3.
In a disjointed match, Wellington broke through to score the opening try on the 30-minute mark, skipper and hooker Eugene Smith laying on a seven-pointer for halfback Anthony Bradshaw under the posts with a well-timed inside pass after a Wellington counterattack.
A Wellington turnover then led to Hawke's Bay re-taking the lead soon after halftime with their only try of the match to set up the close finish.
The Wellington Colts' match with Auckland U20 was the curtain-raiser to the Auckland - Southland Air New Zealand Cup match at Eden Park on Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately the Colts couldn't make their trip to a winning one, going down 31-19 to the Auckland U20 side. The Colts played well in parts and scored three well-taken tries to winger Ryan Setephano, lock Shahn Eru and first five-eighth Hayden Cripps, but were unable to hold off the home side who came back from a 12-point deficit at one stage to defeat Wellington.
At Palmerston North:
Hurricanes region U18 final: Wellington 22 (Tomasi Alosio, Clinton Dysart, Tupou Sopoaga tries; Terence Hepetema pen, 2 cons) beat Hawke's Bay 21. ht: Wellington 17-13
Hurricanes region U20 final: Wellington U19 11 (Rhys Summerell try; Glen Walters 2 pen) lost to Hawke's Bay U20 35. ht: Wellington 35-11.
At Porirua Park:
Hurricanes region Development Competition: Wellington B 17 (Anthony Bradshaw, Tivani Fomai tries, Chris Slade pen, 2 con) beat Hawke's Bay B 14 (B. Solomon try, Sam Giddens 3 pen) ht: Wellington 10-9.
At Auckland:
Wellington Colts 19 (Ryan Setephano, Shahn Eru, Hayden Cripps tries; Cripps 2 con) lost to Auckland U20 31
The 2009 WRFU 7s was held at Porirua Park on Saturday.
The clubs that participated were:
Open Grade:
Tawa, Johnsonville, Marist St. Pat's, Petone, Old Boys-University, Wainuiomata, Oriental-Rongotai, Wests Roosters, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Northern United.
U20 Grade:
Tawa, Poneke, Johnsonville, Marist St. Pat's, Old Boys-University, Upper Hutt, Oriental-Rongotai , Northern United, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Avalon.
The following are the semi-final and final results from the Open Grade and the Under 20 Grade:
Open Grade
Semi-Finals Oriental-Rongotai Black 37 beat Old Boys-University White 5
Marist St Pat's Blue 36 beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 0
Final Oriental-Rongotai Black 39 beat Marist St Pat's 19
Under 20 Grade
Semi-Finals Northern United 26 beat Marist St Pat's 12
Oriental-Rongotai 24 beat Poneke 17
Final Northern United 36 beat Oriental-Rongotai 19