Semi-finalists sorted in Jubilee Cup rugby

Above: Dark days. Contrasting fortunes for home team Marist St Pat’s Pat’s and Petone at Evans Bay Park today, with the home side winning 32-15 and booking their place in the upcoming semi-finals and Petone missing out on the top four.

UPDATED: The four semi-finalists have been found for the Jubilee Cup semi-finals with next week’s seventh and final round to spare.

Old Boys-University (now on 26 points), Tawa (19), Marist St Pat’s and Oriental-Rongotai (both 18) have all qualified for the top four Wellington club rugby championship round on 25 July, with Old Boys University the confirmed top qualifier and the winner of the Andy Leslie Trophy with a match in hand.

The chasing pack of Wainuiomata (12), Petone and Wellington (10), and defending champions Hutt Old Boys Marist (8) will be playing for pride only next weekend. No Hutt Valley teams will feature in the semi-finals this year.

In the Hardham Cup, the Johnsonville Hawks and the Upper Hutt Rams have taken the top two spots for the semi-finals with a round in hand. Johnsonville defeated Petone 70-12 today and the Upper Hutt Rams defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 44-13.

Avalon, Norths and Poneke will be the three teams hunting the final two semi-final places next Saturday. At Fraser Park, Avalon beat Tawa B 45-17, while at Kilbirine Park saw off Northern United 27-23. Match report of the Poneke – Norths game below

The coldest week of the year in Wellington gave way to a lovely sunny day today for the most part and the rugby ran hot.

At the Basin Reserve, Old Boys University held on to beat Tawa 26-20, their supporters enduring a nervous finish. Midway through the second half, pivot Hamish Buick skipped through Tawa defence and scored a converted try under the bar to put them ahead 26-3.But Tawa rallied strongly and used strengthening breeze to their advantage. Some booming kicks kept OBU caged in their half and forward pressure resulted in tries to Telea Seumanutafa – his 16th of the season – and to James So'oialo fullback who is now sitting on 231 points for the season.

At Evans Bay Park, Marist St Pat’s earned a bonus point 31-15 win over Petone, to knock the Villagers out of contention. After leading 10-3 at halftime, courtesy of a Fa’atonu Fili intercept and try to support player Gabe Papuni, MSP pulled clear in the second stanza with tries to left wing Lote Raikabula, fullback Ryan Setefano and hooker Valentine Meachen. Petone answered with a runaway try to fullback Sam McNichol and a bustling try in the corner to right wing Belgium Tuatagaloa, but were left rueing a high error rate in an often scrappy match.

At the Polo Ground,the Wellington Axemen grabbed their second win of the Jubilee Cup round, with a 29-22 victory over semi-final bound Ories. Match report of the Ories – Wellington game below.

In the battle between last year’s finalists at William Jones Park, home side Wainuiomata edged out Hutt Old Boys Marist 18-15. Wainuiomata led the contest 15-3 at halftime before withstanding a concerted second half comeback by the Eagles who scored tries through centre Tomasi Alosio and first five-eighth Johnny Bentley.

In the match of the day in the Victoria Tavern Trophy Women’s rugby competiiton, defending champions Oriental-Rongotai saw off Northern United 29-27 in a thriller at Te Whaea.

Ories bolted to a 21-0 lead over Northern United after almost as many minutes and a one-sided match was on the cards.

But Norths regrouped and came back to trail 26-5 at halftime – still with much work to do in the second spell. Norths won the second half.

The Old Boys University Impalas also held off a determined second half fightback in their match against Hutt Old Boys Marist. OBU won the match 28-22 with a four-try bonus point, but that was after they had led 21-5 at halftime.

In the two Senior Women’s matches that were played today, Wainuiomata beat Tawa 51-7, their fourth straight win of the second round, and Poneke defeated Johnsonville 90-10.

In the Ed Chaney/HD Morgan Memorial Premier Reserve competitions, the Old Boys University earned their sixth straight win with a 39-23 victory over Johnsonville. Hutt Old Boys Marist are second in the Ed Chaney Cup after edging Wainuiomata 15-10, and Poneke have slipped to third after losing 16-22 to MSP.

Oriental-Rongotai lead the HD Morgan Memorial section after defeating Wellington 24-8, ahead of second placed Upper Hutt Rams who beat Paremata-Plimmerton 46-0 and took their sixth bonus point of the second round.

The Petone Brotherhood were defaulted to by Tawa and had the afternoon off in the First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup, and lead the competition after four rounds. OBU are just behind in second after beating MSP Avele 62-5, with the HOBM Barbarians third after beating the Petone Saxons 32-10.

The Tawa Titans were pushed close by Avalon in fourth round of the Paul Potiki Shield U85 kg Restricted competition. First round winners Tawa won 29-28. The OBU Onslow Bunnies made it four from four with their 29-5 win over Johnsonville and the Poneke Cavs earned their third victory of the second round with a 37-0 win over the HOBM Howlers.

Stokes Valley and the Wests Roosters are both unbeaten after four rounds of the Division 2 U85kg competition. On their Old Timers’ Day, Wests beat the Upper Hutt Rams 19-10 and Stokes Valley accounted for Paremata-Plimmerton 57-5.

The Poneke Ruffnuts today won the Reserve Grade first Round competition, with a perfect 11 from 11 record.

Reserve Grade Results (week 13): Wests Roosters Mixed Veges 33 - OBU Teddy Bears 19; Marist St Pat’s Internationals 21 - OBU Righteous Brothers 12; Upper Hutt Rams Pirates 17 - Paremata-Plimmerton Punters 13; OBU 69’ers 19 - OBU Porters Pink Ginners 5 ; Upper Hutt Rams J8’s 7 - Johnsonville Cripples 5; Poneke Ruffnuts 50 - Poneke Panthers 12. Bye: Upper Hutt Rams Thirsty Rams

All Paris Memorial Trophy Colts rugby was cancelled outright. It is unclear what’s happening with this grade, with two full rounds of cancellations now.

Jubilee Cup: Wellington (29) v Ories (22)

The Wellington Axemen put on a first half masterclass to run an Ories side into their own Polo Ground turf on Saturday in Miramar, prevailing 29-22.

At times it wasn’t pretty for both sides, however, Wellington were hungrier and their opening intent was telling and set the tone for a match that kept the strong crowd on tenterhooks until the final whistle.

The Axemen forwards steamrolled their way into Ories’ half in the opening exchanges, allowing their backs opportunity to pile on early points. Maestro Mexted, one of the most influential figures in the match, seized an early opportunity to cross the line through the smallest of gaps.

Soon after, Mexted decided it was time to stretch his legs and opportunistically intercepted an Ories cut-out pass to run 50 metres and back over the white line. This effort completely stunted the home side’s slow build-up of phase play as they attempted to take control of the game. From this point on they were always chasing the game.

Another try against the run of play, this time to Vaea Fifita, put another nail in the coffin just as Ories began to control the territorial battle. With a loose ball and 70 metres of clear green pasture ahead of him, Fifita galloped on his merry way without a finger laid on him, not for the first time this season.

Another early Fifita try in the second half and an Adam Deck penalty elevated the Axemen to an unassailable 29 points yet Ories weren’t about to bow down.

Aukuso Tuitama set the tone for a possible comeback, scooting his way around under the sticks for Proctor to add the extras. With men in the bin for both sides the game began to open up further, a rolling maul from a lineout saw Ories run in their second try to Tuakana Metuarau, closing the gap.

Another similar effort resulted in Ories’ third, coming within seven points with minutes remaining. A chaotic affair saw penalties swing the way of both teams but time ran out on a barnstorming finish.

The Axemen were fully deserving of their first win in the Jubilee Cup.

Standouts were Mexted and Fifita for their two try efforts, along with Matthew Goosen who had a strong running game in the midfield. Saimon Lomaloma was immense for Ories with ball in hand and never seemed to tire. Paulo Aukuso is a welcome return in the midfield while Hayden Whelan had some strong counterattacks.

Hardham Cup: Poneke (27) v Northern United (23)

If ever there was an apt phrase to describe rugby matches - this was the literal 'game of two halves' with each team dominating respective stanzas and the final result not confirmed until the final whistle.

Northern United came excruciatingly close to winning from behind at Kilbirnie Park after conceding a bonus point to Poneke from tries alone in the first half.  Poneke's winger Faresa Tasele and halfback Edwin Ainley beautifully scored a brace of tries each with Greg Mullany achieving a 50% strike rate on conversions with the boot - both try-scoring players standing out in terms of work rate and accuracy though out the match.

If the boys from Porirua decide to review their tape - watch from the point where Centre Jackson Garden-Bachop scores the first of his two tries as this initiates the 17-points scoring frenzy in 8 minutes that nearly clinched the match. The Norths centre alongside his strapping no. 8 Gerard Faitotoa both led the charge to give Norths a fighting chance to take the Bill Brien Challenge Cup back to Porirua Park.  The silver lining for Norths will be the bonus point they earn which keeps them one point ahead of Poneke on the Hardham Cup table and hosting Avalon at Porirua Park.

Poneke will meet Tawa B so will be pencilling this last round robin match for all points on offer to be eligible for playoffs.