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Silverstream and Scots both hungry for Premier 1 title

Wellington Premiership | 07 August 2014 | Steven White

Above: St Pat's Silverstream left wing Salesi Rayasi scoring one of his four tries when these two sides met in a thriller in round-robin play.

The St Pat's Silverstream and Scots College First XVs are both eager to get their hands on Wellington's ?NZ Uniforms Premier 1 title when they meet in the final at Porirua Park this Sunday afternoon.

For top qualifier St Pat's Silverstream, it's a chance to put last year's season decider upset 22-25 loss to Wellington College behind them, and for a chance for a core group of players who have been together for a couple of seasons to finish on a high.

For second placed qualifier Scots College, it's an opportunity to make history and win the college championship for the first time since 1989 and for the first time ever since 1995 when Silverstream, Wellington College, St Pat's Town and Rongotai re-joined the grade from the club U19 competition. A win for Scots College would also be their first ever victory against Silverstream.

Both are coming off hard-fought semi-finals victories in diabolical conditions last Saturday.

Silverstream played their way into their sixth consecutive final by beating Wellington College 8-0. A lone penalty to first five-eighth Nick Mannix was all that separated the sides until captain and flanker Jack McCormack barged over to score the match winner in the second half. Scots pulled clear of St Pat's Town to win 36-12. It was touch and go for a while, but individual brilliance by backs TJ Va'a, second five-eighth Thomas Umaga-Jensen, outstanding centre Malo Tuitama and fullback Peter Umaga-Jensen swung the game their way.

Head-to-head, these sides have already produced a cracker of a match this season. Nine tries were scored, including four to Silverstream wing Salesi Rayasi and two to Scots centre Tuitama, and the lead changed several times before Silverstream came out on top 28-26.?

That loss for Scots proved to be their only defeat in the Wellington competition this season, while Silverstream remain unbeaten. Both teams were victorious over defending champions and last year's national Top Four school Wellington College in round-robin play, Silverstream beating Wellington College 24-11 and Scots defeating them 31-10.

In eight competition matches, including last Saturday's semi-final, Silverstream has scored 234 points and conceded 76 and Scots has piled on 385 points and let in 92. Of course, that includes a 106-10 slaying of Hutt International Boys' School a month ago.

Both have also played several inter-school Traditional matches. Notably, Scots had wins over Nelson College (23-17) and Marlborough Boys' College (33-19) and Silverstream beat Christchurch rivals St Bede's (31-19) for the first time since 2008.

Like their earlier game this season, Sunday's final promises to be a clash of the high-energy Scots College game versus the abrasive, bigger Silverstream forwards.

Scots College defied the wind and the rain to run the ball from everywhere at times in their semi-final win over St Pat's Town, tactics that paid dividends. Silverstream will attack them in the set-pieces and close to the rucks and breakdowns using their ball running forwards such as McCormack, who has recently returned from a shoulder injury, No. 8 Joe Apikotoa and hard-tackling hooker Asafo Aumua (recently sidelined through suspension and likely to come off the bench).

If the game opens up, Silverstream also has the firepower further out to match Scots' dynamic backs. Jarrod Adams and Losi Filipo are both match winners, while wing Rayasi will want to pick up from where he left off in their last meeting.

The past 10 winners have been: 2004 - Wellington College; 2005 - Wellington College; 2006 - Wellington College; 2007 - Wellington College; 2008 - Wellington College; 2009 - Wellington College; 2010 - St Pat's Silverstream; 2011 - Wellington College; 2012 St Pat's Silverstream; 2013 Wellington College.

The prize for the winner is a place in the Hurricanes region semi-finals and a crack at National Top Four glory at the end of the season.

The Wellington winner goes on to play Gisborne Boys High School in Gisborne in the first stage of Hurricanes region knockout rugby. The winner of that match then goes on to play the winner of the Palmerston North Boys' High School versus Hastings Boys' High School fixture for a place in the national Top Four.

On Saturday, HIBS and Rongotai College meet in the Plate Final at HIBS, kick-off 2.30 pm.