Representative season hits top gear this weekend

Above: Isaia Petelo ?breaking through the Hawke's Bay Saracens' defence for the Wellington Samoans last Saturday. Both teams are in action tomorrow, the Saracens hosting Wellington Development at Napier and the Samoans playing Manawatu Development at Porirua Park.

Most of Wellington's representative teams take the field this weekend in a mixture of home and away matches that could define their seasons.

The Wellington Lions Men's and Wellington Pride Women's National Provincial Championship teams are both in action in Pukekohe against Counties Manukau opposition in what are must win fixtures for both.

The Lions' woes have been well covered elsewhere, while the Pride grabbed their opening win of the Women's NPC last weekend against the Bay of Plenty Volcanix. After an early set-back, the Pride came back to defeat BoP in appalling conditions.

The Pride will need to produce another cohesive performance to get past Counties Manukau, who have a big pack and several dangerous playmakers further out. The Heat will be well refreshed having had their bye last weekend. Prior to that they lost to Auckland 20-45, defeated Hawke's Bay 22-3, lost to Otago 17-37 and drew with Manawatu 15-15.

Heading into this match, Counties Manukau are sixth on the points table on 7 points, ahead of the Pride in seventh on 4, but the Pride have yet to have their bye so a loss tomorrow would put their hopes of a mid-table finish in this year's Women's NPC in peril. They'll have to do without their Black Ferns lock too, Jackie Patea ruled out last night with injury.

The Pride's match kicks off at 3.10 pm, ahead of the Lions kicking off their must-win ITM Cup match against the Counties Manukau Steelers at 5.35 pm.

Closer to home, the Wellington U18s play Hawke's Bay at Arena Manawatu in Palmerston North at 1.00pm in a virtual final to decide the Hurricanes region U18 competition winners.

Whilst the Wellington U18s had their competition bye last weekend, Hawke's Bay defeated the Wellington U18s Centurions 15-13. Hawke's Bay are the defending champions, so won't want to relinquish their crown to the Wellington U18s.

The Centurions are back home at Porirua Park at 12.30 pm to face the Wairarapa-Bush U18s in their final competition match of the season. Last week Wairarapa-Bush registered their first win of the competition, beating East Coast 19-0.

Many of the best U18 age-group players from this side of the world are in action at Porirua Park next week, with the International Schools Series between the School Blacks, the NZ Barbarians and Australia and Fiji Schools on Tuesday and Saturday. This series starts this afternoon in Levin, kick-off 5.00 pm, with Australia and Fiji meeting.

Also at Porirua Park on Saturday is the Wellington Samoans v the Manawatu Development side, kick-off 2.00 pm, with the Wellington Samoans out to continue their top form from last week that saw them lower the Hawke's Bay Saracens 36-22.

Up on the top field at Porirua Park, the Northern United and Hutt Old Boys Marist Academy sides meet at 1.00 pm.

In one game in town tomorrow, the Wellington Samoan Schools meet the Western Bays Academy at Te Whaea at 1.00 pm.

There's also a Secondary Schools warm-up Sevens tournament at Wakefield park tomorrow afternoon, building up towards the Wellington leg of the Condor Sevens on Labour Day Monday, 27 October.

The Wellington Development side plays the first of three matches against inter-provincial opposition tomorrow against the Hawke's Bay Saracens at Napier, kick-off 2.00 pm.

The Wellington U85 kg Centurions side play their one-off match in Taupo tomorrow against the North Harbour counterparts.

The Wellington U19s play the first match of their national tournament in Taupo on Sunday, also against North Harbour opposition.

The Hurricanes U16 tournament gets underway on Monday in Napier.

This weekend's matches at a glance:

• U18s Centurions v Wairarapa-Bush, Porirua Park, 12.30pm
• Wellington Samoans v Manawatu Development, Porirua Park, 2.00 pm
• Wellington Samoa Schools v Western Bays Academy, Te Whaea, 1.00 pm
• Northern United Academy v Hutt Old Boys Marist Academy, Porirua Park 3, 1.00 pm
• Wellington Pride v Counties Manukau Heat, Pukekohe, 3.10 pm
• Wellington Lions v Counties Manukau Steelers, Pukekohe, 5.30 pm
• Wellington Development v Hawke's Bay Saracens, Napier, 2.00 pm
• Wellington U18s v Hawke's Bay U18s, Palmerston North, 1.00 pm
• Wellington Centurions U85 kg v North Harbour U85 kg, Taupo
• Wellington 19s v North Harbour U19s, Taupo, 5.05 pm (Sunday)

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