Women’s semi-finals this weekend

The first set of playoffs for the year take place tomorrow with the semi-finals in both divisions of the Women's competition.

Understandably the focus is on those in the Premier Victoria Tavern Trophy division, where the hierarchy of recent seasons has received a shake-up this term.

After missing out on the Premier second-round last year and having to accept the consolation of winning Division 2 instead, 2012 winners Wainuiomata have left little doubt as to their credentials by emerging as top qualifiers after finishing third in the first-round Fleurs Trophy. Notably, their credentials include winning both matches against Oriental-Rongotai this year and beating Norths last weekend. Pride members Jackie Patea and Alice Soper are their highest-profile players, but its loose forwards Kiri Mei and schoolgirl Brooke Tauaneai leading their efforts with Accacia Te Iwimate marshalling the backline.

Norths find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being the fourth qualifier, having only beaten Avalon this round. Brenda and Helen Collins returned last week after being involved in Samoa's unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Rio Olympics, and have an enormous wealth of experience in their squad typified by Sanita Levave and 300-gamer Dawn Patelesio which makes them difficult opponents.

The matches between the two have both been hard-fought, low-scoring affairs. Norths won the Fleurs Trophy contest 10-5, while Wainuiomata won the return game 19-10 last weekend, setting up this weekend's rematch at William Jones Park.

The other semi-final is at the Polo Ground between city clubs Oriental-Rongotai and Old Boys-University. Ories have dropped only two games this year - both to Wainuiomata - and managed to do enough to share the Fleurs Trophy with Norths in the final game of the first round; they come in off of a 94-3 romp over Avalon last Friday night. The Impala's face the twin challenges of beating a side they've lost to twice this year (0-51 and 22-32) and haven't beaten since Ories return campaign in 2013, but also with the bye last week and Avalon defaulting the week before they haven't played in three weeks.

On top of this is that both sides will be absent key members, away with the Tertiary Women's 7's side at the World University Championships in Swansea, Wales. Ories will be without the trio of backs Lizzie Goulden and Amanda Rasch and forward Joanah Ngan-Woo, while OBU are without backs Georgia Daals and Sauimoana Solia, and outside-back-turned-lock Holly MacDonald, with the group in the unusual situation of being teammates half-a-world away from where their club sides are playing each other.

That will test the depth of both sides, but arguably the loss of Daals, OBU's star player, is a significant blow to their hopes while Ories can call on their wealth of talent. However after upsetting Norths and running Ories close in the round-robin they will fancy their chances regardless.

In a first for Wellington Rugby, women will also referee both Premier semi-finals. Former Black Fern and Pride player Rebecca Mahoney, who also controlled last year's NPC final, will have the whistle for the Ories vs OBU game, while the Wainuiomata and Norths match will be refereed by former Taranaki Schools and Otago NPC player Claire Richardson.

In Division 2 the top qualifiers were Hutt Old Boys Marist with Johnsonville/Tawa the visitors to the Hutt Rec. On paper the Lady Eagles should have few problems in progressing to the final (which they would host), having racked up 214 points in their four second-round matches, including a 75-0 win over their opponents three weeks ago. The side also includes Pride lock Petra Kriklanova and outside back Jayda Timu who starred at school-level for Wellington East. The combined side may have only taken two wins this year, both over the Upper Hutt Rams, but are improved from last year's standalone efforts. A win here though would be one of the shocks of the season.

The second Div 2 semi-final will be played out as Kilbirnie Park between neighbours Marist St Pats and Poneke. The two sides re-emerged as standalone entities in 2016 after several years were players affiliated with one club played under the banner of the other; with credit due to the efforts of people like Premier men's players Ryan Setefano (MSP) and Misipalauni Moananu and his late brother Misiluni (Poneke) in their efforts in bringing more players into the game. MSP have won both of the sides encounters this season (33-12 and 29-12), and will lean heavily on a quartet of recent school leavers in their back division, Jane Bryce, Georgia Broughton, Helen Vaimoli, and Tina Vaaua-Hamlin (the latter if healthy). Poneke had last weekend off with the bye so will be rested, and perhaps that will give them an edge they can exploit.

Two matches kickoff at 11am with the other two kicking off at 11.30am.

If any match is drawn at the end of 80 minutes then the following would apply:

· Extra time of 10 minutes each way will be played.

· If still tied at the end of extra-time, then the team scoring the most tries in match will progress

· If this is equal, then the side that won the second round match between the two will progress. Those sides are Wainuiomata, Oriental-Rongotai, HOBM, and MSP.

World University 7's tournament

As mentioned above, several Wellington players are representing New Zealand at the World University 7's tournament in Wales. The six players above, Ories' Lizzie Goulden, Amanda Rasch and Joanah Ngan-Woo, and OBU's Georgia Daals, Sauimoana Solia, and Holly MacDonald as well as Avalon's Ruby Finau make up half the squad, which is being coached by OBU's Director of Rugby Zak Feaunati.

10 Women's teams are taking part, with New Zealand in Pool A. Their schedule is:

Day 1 Thursday 7 July

· France - 10:40am (9:40pm NZT)

· Great Britain - 2:45pm (1:45am NZT)

· Italy - 5:45pm (6.45am NZT)

Day 2 Friday 8 July

· Japan - 1:10pm (12.10am NZT)

If the team finishes pool play either first or second, then they proceed to the semi-finals on Saturday morning UK time (PM ours). If they finish third, they will play a second game late on Friday's schedule.

The full schedule and results can be found here - http://wucrugby2016.com/championship-schedule.htm - while it will also be streamed live on www.youtube.com/FISUTV

Charlotte Chivers 50 games for OBU

Saturday is also a milestone day for four people involved in the Womens game. OBU halfback Charlotte Chivers will bring up 50 games for the Impala's; becoming the 13th player to reach that number and at just 18 amongst the youngest after debuting in 2013 as a 14 year old.

Hutt Old Boys Marist trio to be presented with blazers

Three HOBM women's players, Sala Maulolo, Maria Hunt and Mo Laumatia will be presented with their club blazers this weekend.

Mo Laumatia has had a long rugby career and is currently one of the HOBM women's coaches. Mo started playing when she was five and has played representative rugby most of her life She represented Wellington Pride/7's and traveled the globe with Manu Sina. She played alongside Dawn Patelesio for years at Norths as well.

Sala Maulolo returned to rugby in 2015 after a 14-year break in support of re-establishing the HOBM women's team. Previously she played for HOBM between 1998-2002 and won the 1999 Victoria Tavern Trophy. She played for Wellington in 2000, Wellington Samoans in 2000-01 and for a New Zealand Sevens Invitational team in 2001.

Maria Hunt was a Victoria Tavern Trophy winner with HOBM in 2006, and has been back playing for the side since its resurrection in 2015. She was in the Wellington 7s team in 1999, the Wellington Pride in 2002-03, the Wellington Maori team from 2000-10 and in the Manu Sina training squad in 2003.