Sizzling Comebacks Part 1

Club Rugby | 01 January 2015 | Steven White

The start of the New Year means it’s all downhill to the start of the 2015 rugby season. What have been the most exciting matches, tightest finishes and most memorable comebacks in Wellington club rugby over the past 10 years? Here’s some we’ve selected - Part 1 below:

Petone produced a stunning second half performance to snatch a thrilling and unlikely 27-26 win in the dying minutes. Tawa looked to be cruising at halftime with a 26-5 lead, but could not withstand a determined Petone in the second half, laying on 22 unanswered points. With the wind, Tawa halfback Nigel Hunt and second five-eighth Willie Lafaele set up tries for outside backs Vice Saletele and Junior Togia. But Petone turned the tables after the break. Astute tactical kicking by first five-eighth Sam Wimsett put them on the front foot and prop Thomas Tupuivao carried three defenders over the line with him to score a decisive try. Wimsett sealed the win in the dying minutes with two sideline conversions.?

Oriental-Rongotai dominated Avalon in the first spell of this match and took a deserved 22-3 lead into halftime, prolific former New Zealand Sevens and Hurricanes wing Roy Kinikinilau’s 50 metre try a highlight. But Avalon stepped up the pace in the second half. Two quick tries closed the gap and a third to barnstorming No. 8 Thomas Waldrom, followed by three penalties to first five-eighth Cameron Cross, sealed a thrilling 31-30 win for Avalon. Cross’s last penalty was the most important, sending over the match winner from barely 10 metres in from touch just before fulltime.?

Avalon caused the boilover of the 2005 Jubilee Cup round-robin, pulling off a rousing comeback to beat Marist St Pat’s. MSP looked all class in the opening 20 minutes scoring three tries to take a comfortable 19-3 lead. But then Avalon rallied. Their forwards unsettled the MSP pack with strong driving play and straight running and their backs threw caution to the wind. A try to wing Siu Katoa closed the gap to 19-10, while fullback Andrew Turner and centre Finau Hopoi kept probing. Katoa scored again, followed by a try to right wing Noel Woods to make the final score 28-26 to Avalon.?

The previous six Jubilee Cup finals before the 2005 decider between Petone and Northern United were all tight. So there was an air of inevitability when Petone fought back from a 6-20 deficit early in the second half to find themselves trailing just 18-20 with ten minutes left on the clock. With tries to outside backs Tu Umaga-Marshall and Willie Moala, the Villagers were back in the game. Then in the 75th minute Petone were awarded a penalty from an attacking scrum. First five-eighth Earl Va’a was called upon to win the game with his boot. His kick from 25 metres out on the angle never looked like missing and Petone won by a point, 21-20.?

Left wing Mike Pehi scored four tries and helped create another as HOBM defeated defending Swindale Shield champions Upper Hutt 32-29 in this early season fixture. Fans at the Hutt Rec were treated to an exciting finish, as first HOBM pulled back a 12-point deficit to get themselves in front, next Upper Hutt came back to retake the lead and then HOBM won in the final moments with a try out wide. In all, 45 points and seven tries were scored by both sides in a high drama second half, all created by a combination of great teamwork and brilliant individual play. Pehi stole the show, scoring four of HOBM’s five second half tries, including the clincher on fulltime.

Upper Hutt produced the upset of the round with a rousing 34-20 come-from-behind win over Petone at Maidstone Park. Upper Hutt’s young guns were down by a whopping 17 points at the halftime interval, before turning their fortunes around to win by 14 points. Petone pivot Sam Rasch missed a chance to extend his side’s 20-3 halftime lead, spurring his opposite, Ben Aoina, into action with a series of raking tactical kicks. Hard running Upper Hutt No. 8 James Mei was the star of the second half with a hat trick of tries off the base of the scrum, his third try set up after a storming 25 metre run up the sideline. Lock Jason Russo and Aoina also scored tries to complete the turnaround.?

Northern United came from behind to earn a pulsating 23-20 Jubilee Cup victory that ultimately decided the fates of both sides - propelling Norths to a home semi-final and shutting OBU out of the playoffs altogether. It was a runaway intercept try to Norths first five-eighth Rob Aloe early in the second half that proved the clincher for Norths. Trailing 13-20, with a player in the sin-bin Aloe and under all sorts of defensive pressure, Aloe intercepted a short pass and sprinted 70 metres to score to make it 20-20. From this point the tide turned, with Norths snatching a noticeable shift in momentum away from the previously rampant OBU, keeping them scoreless for the rest of the match. After two long-range misses, Right wing Peato Lafaele slotted the winning penalty five minutes from fulltime for his 150th point of the season, and to reverse the 21-27 defeat to OBU a month previously.?

Poneke roared back over the final 30 minutes of this entertaining Jubilee Cup match to beat home team Avalon 26-21 after being behind 10-18 early in the second half and up against it with Avalon’s No. 8 Thomas Waldrom and halfback Peter Sciascia calling the tune. Poneke came back with a converted try and three penalties to squeeze out an important win. Loosehead prop Kwain Auelua carving through on a swerving 25-metre run to the line, to make it 18-17, before three penalties to first five-eighth Brad Cooper clinched the result. Led by Waldrom, lock Owen Jackson and openside flanker Kerry Wood, Avalon's pack had deserved their three tries to one lead at halftime. This result ultimately propelled Poneke to the top qualifier’s position for the Jubilee Cup semi-finals, while Avalon finished just outside the playoffs.

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Wainuiomata won their way into the following week’s Westpac Stadium final with a last-minute come-from-behind 19-18 Hardham Cup semi-final win over Oriental-Rongotai at William Jones Park. First five-eighth Earl Va'a was cool under pressure in landing the winning penalty for the last act of the game, to the big disappointment of Ories who had led throughout. Ories had opened up a 15-3 lead after 30 minutes, with tries to first five-eighth Mau Lolo and lock Mason Malagaamalii, the latter coming after Ories had charged down a Va'a clearing kick. Wainuiomata pulled the deficit back early in the second half with a converted pushover try to the right of the uprights to no-nonsense No. 8 Sape Misa. Va'a (two) and Lolo exchanged penalties and Ories led 18-16 late in the match. But ill-discipline cost them, giving away a last-gasp penalty, and when it sailed through the uprights their season and defence of the Hardham Cup was over.