Wild weather dominates rugby on Saturday

The rugby on Saturday was dominated by the wild weather that swept up the lower North Island, bringing torrential and wind and making for a tough afternoon for club, representative and college teams that were in action.

The Poneke Ruffnuts side became the latest club rugby team to win a title. Playing at home at Kilbirnie Park, the Ruffnuts beat the Upper Hutt Rams Pirates 41-7 in the Reserve Grade Division 1 John Davies Cup decider.

The Reserve Grade Division 2 semi-finals were also confirmed, with top qualifiers the Upper Hutt Rams J8s hosting the MSP Internationals in one semi-final of the Alan Seerup Cup and the Paremata-Plimmerton Punters hosting the OBU Pink Ginners in the other.

In Saturday’s games, the Upper Hutt Rams J8s beat the OBU Teddy Bears 10-0, the Paremata-Plimmerton Punters defeated the OBU Righteous Brothers 39-0, the Wests Roosters Mixed Veges defeated the Pink Ginners 38-5 and the MSP Internationals beat the OBU 69ers by default.

There was a mixed bag of representative results for Wellington’s teams in matches throughout the lower North Island.

Three teams were hosted by Heartland Championship opposition, ahead of that competition starting next weekend, and all three met defeats.

The Wellington Development team lost 14-15 to Wanganui, with first five-eighth Brandyn Laursen scoring a try and kicking a conversion and their other points coming from a penalty try.

The Wellington Samoans were defeated 15-39 by Wairarapa Bush, while the Wellington Centurions Development team lost 13-17 to Horowhenua-Kapiti in Levin. 

The Wellington Maori and Wellington U19s sides both had wins on Saturday.

In the curtain-raiser to the Wellington Development game at Cooks Gardens, the Wellington Maori team beat Wanganui B 44-22.

In the opening match of the Central Region Shield, the Wellington U19s beat the Manawatu U19s 28-0.

Wellington scored four converted tries, scoring two in the first half to lead 14-0 at halftime and then doubling their lead by fulltime as steady rain arrived and made for a tough slog through to the fulltime whistle.

Wellington’s first try was scored by Petone loosehead prop Niko Manaena after a kick into the corner by Norths second five-eighth Kienan Higgins and a lineout steal.

Upper Hutt Rams tighthead prop Luke Chisholm scored the second try, running on to a pop pass by club teammate and flanker Josh Southall and steaming 30 metres to cross the chalk.

Manawatu put pressure on Wellington’s line late in the first half, but the defence held out.

Conditions deteriorated at the start of the second half, making for a tough second 35 minutes. Much of the game was played between the 22s, while both sides also wrung the changes.

Nevertheless, it was Wellington that scored first, a kick into the corner by first five-eighth Malo Manuao forcing a mistake and leading to an attacking scrum, from which Wellington worked play back across field and Tawa blindside flanker Jack Sturmey scored the try.

Wellington’s fourth and last try was the result of a counterattack from the back after a series of kicks backs and forth between both teams and replacement loose forward Iona Apineru steamed up the tramlines to score. Manuao kicked his fourth straight conversion.

Closer to home, the Wellington Pride missed out 0-22 to the Manawatu Cyclones in their Women’s NPC Farah Palmer Cup warm-up fixture at Ngati Toa Domain, while the two other Centurions teams, the U85kgs and U18s, met in as season opener for both at Kilbirnie Park and the U18s prevailed 25-5.

In college rugby on Saturday, the Tawa College First XV defeated their Porirua College counterparts 34-12 to win the Premier 2 Murray Jensen Cup, as part of Finals Day for all school matches below the Premiership level.

The southerly hit St Pat’s Silverstream, the venue for the finals, mid-morning, and was cause for a series of close finals aside from the Premier 2 result.

This included two draws and shared titles and a notable 15-14 to Wellington College over St Pat’s Silverstream in the U15 title.

Today, Scots College won the Premiership First XV final, beating St Pat's Silverstream 20-15.

Silverstream leapt to a 10-0 lead before conceding three tries in the last 15 minutes of the first-half, inlcuding two consecutive tries to centre Ethan Webster-Nonu, to trail 17-10 at the interval.

Silverstream closed the gap to 15-17 with a try to first five-eighth Riley Higgins, from a pass in a tackle by lock Akira Ieremia, who had scored the second of Silverstream's opening two tries with an intercept and runaway.

Scots advanced their lead to 20-15 with a penalty with over 20 minutes still to play. 

Silverstream had the better of the rest of the match, creating several clear opportunties as Scots conceded a slew of penalties at the breakdown. But Scots made up for this with a strong defensive effort that kept Silverstream out to the end. The last five minutes of the final saw Silverstream camped on the Scots line. They packed down two late scrums but couldn't break through and referee Ryan McLean blew fulltime on a Scots win.