Excitement aplenty in Wellington’s club rugby competitions
There were some thrillers and some thrashings in Premier bucqui Jubilee Cup and Premier Reserve Hardham Cup club rugby matches today in Wellington on a still and mild mid-winter's afternoon.
In the Jubilee Cup, the Wellington Axemen came back to squeeze out Poneke 32-30 and Ories kicked on late to defeat Tawa 30-22. Conversely, Marist St Pat's inflicted a 49-19 hiding upon defending champions Old Boys University and Wainuiomata overpowered the Upper Hutt Rams 51-20.
In the Hardham Cup, Hutt Old Boys Marist came from behind to edge close rivals Petone 36-31, Paremata-Plimmerton pipped the Avalon Wolves 33-29 and Old Boys University defeated Marist St Pat's 30-24 in the battle of the B teams. In the day's most one-sided result, Northern United defeated Johnsonville 104-12.
Oriental-Rongotai (Jubilee Cup) and Northern United and Hutt Old Boys Marist (both Hardham Cup) are the three unbeaten teams in the second round of the top two competitions after three weeks of seven of the second round.
Tawa (Jubilee Cup) and Avalon (Hardham Cup) are the two winless teams anchored to the bottom of their respective competitions and will have to pull something special out of the fire to qualify for the semi-finals over the final four weeks of the round-robin season.
Summing up some Jubilee Cup matches played today, Marist St Pat's successfully defended the Bill Brien Challenge Shield by sending OBU packing in an emphatic 30-point winning margin.
This was MSP's first win over OBU in two years, and they did it by slowing down and disrupting OBU's ball at the breakdowns and chancing their arm and scoring several entertaining long-range tries.
With captain Isaac O'Connor, fellow loose forwards Josh To'omaga and Matt Peni lock Nemani Waaka all causing havoc around the fringes, first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili helped set up first half tries to centre Ryan Setefano and fullback Kerrod Foaese to give them a 20-12 halftime lead. Fili extended the lead after the oranges with a penalty before two consecutive turnovers led to successive breakout tries and suddenly MSP was up 35-12.
Setefano was sinbinned, but MSP scored two further tries with 14 players on the board, and it was all OBU could do to claw back a consolation try at the end.
Up at the Graveyard, Poneke supporters must have thought it was happy days when lock Galu Taufale placed a kick through for No. 8 Jimmy Hewitt to collect and score of and put the red and blacks up 30-13 at halftime against the Wellington Axemen.
But the second half was a different story, as Wellington marched back into the match and came back to win 32-30. The game was on tenterhooks throughout the final quarter when Wellington flyhalf James So'oialo kicked a penalty to close the deficit to 29-30 after Poneke's lock Cole Stewart was sin-binned. So'oialo then kicked the winning penalty and they held on to win.
At leafy Lyndhurst Park Ories beat Tawa with a late fightback. Down 20-22 with 10 minutes on the clock, second five-eighth Roy Kinikinilau charged down a Tawa kick to charge 50-metres to be brought down inside Tawa's 22.
A few phases later Kinikinilau's inside, Hayden Whelan, jigged his way past the Tawa defence to score and reclaim the lead and win Ories the match.
It shouldn't have been such a struggle for Ories to earn the four points but it was their discipline which kept Tawa in the game, particularly in the second 40. Ories had scored the first two tries of the match, to wing Tuga Mativa and to centre Paulo Aukuso, both involving Kinikinilau.
Fullback Randall Bishop kicked five penalties on his way to a 15-point haul as Tawa's forward pack took the game to their Ories counterparts, winning several breakdown penalties and turnovers to give Tawa their first lead of the game with 20 minutes to go before Ories launched their comeback, taking advantage of the tiring Tawa forwards.
At Maidstone Park, the Upper Hutt Rams were left counting their fit front-rowers after being dealt to up front by Wainuiomata. The green and blacks scored their first try via a pushover from a scrum and ran in three more in quick succession after that to lead 24-0 after 20 minutes.
It was game over soon after that, first five-eighth Josh Robertson-Weepu scoring a hat-trick and six players scoring tries in the nine tries to four win.
In the Hardham Cup, Petone raced to a 15-0 lead over Hutt Old Boys Marist in their riverside derby.
Petone kept the heat on the Eagles and took a 25-12 lead into the halftime interval. This was advanced to 28-26, but in a knife-edge finish to the contest, the Eagles soared home to win and remain unbeaten after three rounds.
Northern United are also on maximum points after three rounds of the Hardham Cup competition, after seeing to Johnsonville 104-12 at home at Jerry Collins Stadium
Norths scored 17 tries, with six individual players scoring two tries each. First five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop was one of these players, and he also kicked 10 conversions for a personal haul of 30 points. Norths led 61-5 at halftime.
After recent heavy defeats, Paremata-Plimmerton came back to beat Avalon 33-29 in their clash. They raced to a 21-0 lead over Avalon and then withstood a withering Wolves fightback. Paremata-Plimmerton led 28-14 at halftime and then gave up the lead trail 28-29.
The last 20 minutes of this match was a real ding-dong affair. Left wing Matt de Terte was the hero by scoring in the corner with a minute to play, after a breakout from inside their own 22 and a burst by second five-eighth Jeff Makapelu and then on to de Terte to score the 80-metre try.
After the conversion attempt was stopped by the referee for taking too long, Avalon took a quick kick-off but Paremata-Plimmerton earned a penalty and Tane McMillan-Parata booted the ball out into touch and it was all over.
Old Boys University B led MSP B 13-0 late in the first half of their curtain-raiser clash at Evans Bay Park, having scored a runaway try after a kick ahead and kind bounce. MSP scored a try in the corner on halftime to close to within 13-7.
MSP kept in touch throughout the second half, and a comeback win was on the cards until about 10 minutes to play when OBU scored the match clincher from a scrum 60 metres out.
Women's
Wainuiomata had the bye today, but remain out in front of the second round Victoria Tavern Trophy on 15 points with one round to play before the semi-finals.
Ories are second on 12 points after dispatching an understrength Norths side 52-5 today, with OBU on 3rd and battling for a home semi-final next week with Ories after they earned maximum points from being defaulted to by Avalon. In turn, Avalon knocked themselves out of playoff contention.
In the Senior Women's division, Hutt Old Boys Marist made it three from three by beating Marist St Pat's 29-12, while Poneke are in second after beating Johnsonville-Tawa 48-20. The Upper Hutt Rams had the bye today.
Premier Reserve
Like the top two grades above, there was a mixed bag of close results and blowouts in the third round of the Ed Chaney/HD Morgan Memorial contests this afternoon.
In close games, the Upper Hutt Rams beat Wainuiomata 25-20, Petone defeated HOBM 37-30 in a match that mirrored the Hardham Cup fixture that was to follow and Avalon ousted Paremata-Plimmerton 29-17.
In three more one-sided results, there were bonus point victories for Poneke, Norths and Tawa. Poneke beat the Wellington Axemen's second XV 39-5, Norths beat Johnsonville 70-14 and Tawa took to Ories 53-12.
Colts
The Tawa Colts are the unbeaten side after the first four weeks of the second round Division 1 John E Kelly Cup. Tawa defeated the Ories Colts in a bonus point 27-8 win today.
Ories, first round winners OBU Green, Marist St Pat's and Poneke comprise the chasing packs who have all won three from four so far.
In other Division 1 Colts matches today, OBU Green beat Wellington 29-12, MSP defeated the Upper Hutt Junior Rams 29-12, Poneke overcame the Johnsonville Terrahawks 49-23 and Northern United beat HOBM Green 19-15.
In two Division 2 matches played today, Petone beat Paremata-Plimmerton 63-10 and Wainuiomata beat OBU Black 20-19.
First Grade
The Petone Brotherhood beat Northern United 25-20 to take their fourth straight win in the Johnsonville Centennium Cup First Grade competition.
The HOBM Barbarians struck a blow to the Petone Saxons, winning 42-14, while MSP beat winless Tawa 36-20 and Poneke beat the Avalon Wolves 19-5. OBU had the bye.
U85kg
Like their Colts side, the Tawa Titans are also unbeaten in their competition after four matches of the second round. The Titans beat the OBU Bunnie 25-14 with a bonus point this afternoon in their Paul Potiki Shield clash.
In other confirmed Paul Potiki Shield results, the Wellington Light-Axemen beat the Avalon Wolves 25-11 and Johnsonville smoked the Upper Hutt Rams 48-5.
In Division 2, MSP Red defeated Western Suburbs 21-14 in their top-of-the-table Tony O'Brien Shield fixture.
WelTec Premiership
Wellington College made it five in the WelTec Premiership with a gritty 12-6 win over Scots College in a top of the table Premier One clash in Strathmore today.
Wellington College has beaten each of the top four schools from 2015 as well as the vastly improved Rongotai College this season.
It was a torrid scrap with few genuine scoring chances. It was 0-0 at halftime with Wellington centre Reece Plumtree missing two penalty shots.
Scots wing Malo Manuao finally opened the scoring ten minutes into the second-half when he kicked a 35-metre penalty.
Shortly after Manuao kicked a penalty, Scots fumbled the kickoff and Wellington charged into the 22. Laau Finau muscled over for a try and Plumetree converted to make it 7-3.
Manuao kicked a penalty to reduce the gap to one point before Wellington first-five Toko Sopoaga forced a five-metre scrum with a clever kick into the north eastern corner.
From the scrum Wellington built phase after phase and breached the Scots defence when Ish Perkins was unmarked on the wing.
Scots reserve Jay Tuapola caused heart rates to soar near the end when he weaved through the Wellington defence from his own 22 and surged to halfway. Confronted by the last defender he kicked ahead for Connor Garden-Bachop to chase, but Wellington College scrambled for the 22.
In the two other matches that were played today, St Pat's Town accounted for Bishop Viard College 56-7 and Wairarapa College defeated St Bernard's College 39-14. Rongotai overcame St Pat's Silverstream last Wednesday.