Upper Hutt Rams and Poneke comeback to win Jubilee Cup thrillers

Is this the comeback of the year?

The Upper Hutt Rams end ended Oriental-Rongotai's unbeaten record in the second round with a stirring come-from-behind 46-29 win in their fourth round bucqui Jubilee Cup fixture at a sun-drenched Polo Ground this afternoon.

The Rams were seemingly dead and buried at 7-24 behind late in the first half, but instead of rolling over they flicked the switch and launched a furious five-try assault on Ories either side of halftime that won them the game.

Flankers Mitchell Markov and Daniel Schrijvers and centre Max Pearson - in his first Premier match in that position - were key players in the comeback that saw them snatch a 26-24 lead at halftime and then 38-24 midway through the second spell.

Ories rallied and briefly threatened again, but the cocksure Rams scored another try and then for good measure fullback Salesi Rayasi scored on the hooter to keep the Rams in semi-final contention and keep the Magpies in the pack.

Through the cutting at Kilbirnie Park, a second half blitz saw Poneke come from behind to beat Marist St Pat's 28-22.

With a slight wind advantage, MSP managed to score two tries in the first 40 minutes through hooker Valentine Meachen and lock Nemani Waaka to hold a 12-6 half time lead.

An early Fa'atonu Fili penalty goal edged MSP's buffer out to nine before the hosts ran in 22 straight points.

Using the sunset to their advantage, Poneke launched several bombs deep into MSP's half which resulted in tries to Pakai Turia and Nick Robertson, before Faresa Tasele crossed the chalk, providing Poneke with an unassailable 13-point lead.

At the Basin Reserve, there was more than a whiff of a comeback in the air when the Wellington Axemenpounced on an Old Boys University fumble and scored a converted try, and then moments later fullback James So'oialo kicked a penalty to cut OBU's halftime lead of 26-10 to 26-20.

The Axemen had the breeze behind them and their tails up, but the defending champions found another gear and sealed the match with consecutive tries to second five-eighth Luke Harvey and fullback Teegan Minkley. OBU won 36-20 to reclaim their place inside the semi-final zone.

Wellington had scored the game's first try when So'oialo linked with second five-eighth Pene Nabainivalu. But the Goats struck with the next four tries, including one each to props Finbarr Kerr-Newell and Johnathon Fuiomono, in his 100th game, and others to halfback Tomasi Palu and wing Joe Hill, to take a big lead into the turnaround.

OBU's scrum was a key factor in this win, while their lineout was also much improved from last week and the dash and élan of centre Wes Goosen was well received by the home supporters.

Tawa kept themselves in the semi-final race with a 29-15 bonus point win over Wainuiomata in the late game at Westpac Stadium.

In possibly the most important match of the year for Tawa, they scored two first half tries and led 15-5 at halftime.

This was increased to 22-5, but poor discipline cost Tawa and Wainuiomata bounced back into the contest with their second try.

But fullback Randall Bishop scored their bonus point try with not long to play and the result was all sown up in Tawa's favour.

The Jubilee Cup is a tight race, with Ories still leading but points table analysts can throw a blanket over the rest of the field. Just eight points separate the entire field with three rounds to play.

Hardham Cup

In the Hardham Cup, the won their top-of-the-table fixture against Northern United 23-18 at Jerry Collins Stadium.

HOBM are the only unbeaten side after four rounds of the Premier 2 competition and have probably done enough to earn a home semi-final with three regular season matches to play.

For Norths, fullback Peato Lafaele was playing in his 200th match for his second club but he was sin-binned. Their two tries were scored by halfback Phil Finau and centre Perry Hayman.

Norths remain in second place, just ahead of Petone who edged Avalon 31-26 in a close match, while nothing separated Johnsonville and Marist St Pat's B in their 29-29 draw.

Johnsonville scored deep into injury time try and then kicked the conversion to force the tied result.

Paremata-Plimmerton earned their second win of the second round, beating OBU B 23-15 in the early game at the Basin Reserve. Paremata-Plimmerton had an edge up front and some dangerous runners out wide, but a litany of errors, many unforced, kept the second OBU team in the game.

OBU led narrowly at halftime, before the visitors pulled clear with two tries in the second half and effectively kept a possible late comeback in check.

Women's

Wainuiomata have qualified top for next weekend's Division 1 Victoria Tavern Trophy semi-finals with a 19-10 win over Northern United in the final regular season round on Friday night.
Wainuiomata will turn to host defending champions Norths again in their knockout match.

Second placed Oriental-Rongotai will play Old Boys University after Ories defeated Avalon 94-3 in their match last night. Ories led 39-0 at halftime and kept their foot on the pedal throughout the second spell.

No. 8 Joanah Ngan-Woo scored five tries for Ories. Captain and prop Raylene Lolo, flanker Lillian Mapu and fullback Amanda Rasch all scored two tries each in the 16-try win.

OBU had the bye, their second consecutive weekend off after being defaulted to by Avalon last week.

The Wainuiomata - Norths match, played at neutral Alex Moore Park in Johnsonville, was an arm-wrestle and tightly fought. The match was refereed by former Wellington Pride first five-eighth Bex Mahoney, down from the Wairarapa. During the game, Norths lost Helen Collins to a leg injury, putting her participation next Saturday in doubt.

Norths posted the game's first ty, Brenda and Helen Collins, fresh from their Olympic bid for Samoa 7s, returned pace and structure to the Norths backline. Wainuiomata then set up camp in Norths 22, dominating possession but a failure to finish saw them kept to 12-5 at the break.

The second half saw Wainuiomata pick up their intensity but momentum was lost when there was a stoppage in play for Helen Collins' injury. Wainuiomata continued to take Norths on up-front and pulled away 19-5 with 10 to play. After a period of gutsy on the line defence, Norths finally crashed over in the corner on what was to be the last scoring play of the game.

In the Division 2 competition, Hutt Old Boys Marist qualified top, beating the Upper Hutt Rams 71-0 on Friday night. No. 8 Maria Hunt scored four tries, while four other players scored braces.

Marist St Pat's defeated Johnsonville-Tawa 60-32 in the other match. Poneke had the bye.

Next week's Division 2 semi-finals will see HOBM play Johnsonville-Tawa and second placed MSP meet third placed Poneke.

Premier Reserve

There was some high scoring and two one-point thrillers in today's Ed Chaney/HD Morgan matches.

Norths are on the maximum 20 points in the Ed Chaney Cup after their 34-33 win over HOBM in the early game at Porirua Park.

Tawa beat Wainuiomata 32-31 in another well contested fixture, while the Uppe Hutt Rams beat Oies 45-8, Petone defeated Avalon 61-24, Poneke beat Paremata-Plimmerton 50-0 and Wellington beat Johnsonville 39-5.

Colts

Old Boys University Green earned a bonus point 27-15 victory over Tawa today in their top of the table clash. OBU hold a one-point lead to Tawa at the head of the standings.

In a tight race, Poneke and MSP also have four wins from five, after Poneke defeated Ories 23-19 and MSP beat Johnsonville 52-13.

In two other hotly contested John E Kelly Division 1 Colts games, the Upper Hutt Rams beat Norths 30-29 and Wellington edged HOBM 13-10.

First XV

Perhaps the biggest result of the day was Porirua College's 2-18 upset win over competition leaders Tawa College in the Premier 2 competition.

There were three WelTec Premiership matches played today under sunny skies. St Pat's Town continued their good form since losing to Wellington College a few weeks ago, beating Rongotai College 33-10. St Pat's Silverstream scored 11 tries in defeating St Bernard's College College 63-12 in the Hutt Valley marist schools clash and Scots College defeated Wairarapa College in Masterton.

The Wellington College - Bishop Viard College clash has been deferred until Tuesday 26 July.