Lots on in club and college rugby today

Above: Action from the Festival series last week, which continues today at the Petone Rec with Wellington City and Wellington Maori playing at 1.00pm and Wellington Samoans and Wellington Suburbs meeting at 2.30pm.

Club Rugby

Just three grades remain in action, all at the semi-finals stage

Under 85kg Restricted Division 1 Paul Potiki Shield

Kilbirnie and Lyndhurst Parks are the venues for the two semi-finals; the Poneke Cav’s went through the round-robin undefeated and will host the Wellington Axemen who’s victory over the MSP Reds propelled them past HOBM on the table and into the fourth spot and will be looking to reverse the 16-15 result to Poneke from three weeks ago, while the Cav’s will ensure a home final should they again prevail.

The second semi-final has JC Bowl winners the Tawa Titans and the OBU Bunnies clashing; the Bunnies come off a 9-22 lost to the Cav’s while Tawa ended HOBM’s season winning 23-13, and won these two sides last meeting in the round-robin by 16-0 at the same venue.
Both matches kick-off at 2.30pm

First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup

After a second round plagued by defaults and withdrawals the third-tier competition reaches the playoffs. The HOBM Barbarians finished on top and will take on the Petone Saxons, who knocked-out clubmates and first-round Thompson Memorial winners the Brotherhood last weekend, at the Hutt Rec; while the Ian Galloway cage will be the venue for Old Boys-University – seeking to emulate their two senior sides’ successes – and Stokes Valley who will likewise be seeking to do what their Under 85kg side did and claim a title.

Both matches also kickoff at 2.30pm

Reserve Grade Division 1

The playoffs have also been reached in Reserve Grade. In one the Poneke Ruffnuts – undefeated all season – take on neighbours the MSP Internationals on Kilbirnie #2 at 2.30pm, while the other pits suburbanites the Johnsonville Cripples and the Wests Mixed Veges against one another at Helston Park at 2.45pm.

Festival Series

The second round of the Festival series is today at the Petone Recreation Ground, with Wellington City taking on Wellington Maori in the early game at 1.00 pm and last week’s two winning combinations Wellington Suburbs and Wellington Samoan playing at 2.30pm.

College Finals Day

St Patricks College Silverstream will once again play host to the conclusion of the College Rugby season with finals day. Apart from the Premiership title and the two Girls division winners, all other grade and division winners will be found tomorrow.

In all there are 12 finals, with 12 different schools being represented. The host school has the highest representation with five teams on show, while St Pat’s Town has four.

As well as all these below, both of the Premiership finalists are in action in Hurricanes regional semi-finals. Premiership champions St Pat’s Town host Hastings Boys’ High at Evans Bay at 1pm, while runners-up Scots College make the long trip to face Gisborne Boys’ High at 12.30pm. The winners of those matches will meet in Palmerston North next weekend, with the winner of that progressing to the National Top 4 in Rotorua.

Premier

The major game of the day is the Premier 2 final between Bishop Viard College and St Bernard’s College, being played on the #1 ground at 1.30pm.

This will be Bishop Viard’s 22nd match of the season, and have only dropped one of those games - to Wairarapa 25-32 back in grading – going through the competition undefeated so far. They progressed to this stage by defeating Hutt Valley HS 24-7 in last week’s semi-final and would like to add this title to the local Co-ed Cup and Porirua-area Beard Trophy (both won by defeating Tawa) and will be aiming for regional Co-ed glory next week in Palmerston North against either Feilding HS or Tu Toa.

St Bernard’s dropped out of Premier 1 this year after being beaten by both Wairarapa and Bishop Viard in grading. In competition they won six of nine games, losing two and drawing one, but defeated the Silverstream 2nds in the last round to earn the bye and then beat Porirua 24-15 to reach this final. They will look to their big forward pack to set the platform, while Viard will look to use their abundant speed to their advantage. Viard has won the two meetings between the sides this year by 48-22 and 27-14 in grading and competition respectively.

The Paul Cameron Cup is the prize in the Premier 3 final at 1.00 pm on the #2 ground. After nearly tipping over HIBS in grading, Wainuiomata High School has gone undefeated in the competition rounds, including a 29-12 win over their opponents tomorrow, Newlands College, but only just hung on to beat Onslow 8-7 in their semi-final two weeks ago. Newlands know what it’s like to be in Wainuiomata’s position; last year’s team went undefeated in this division before losing to the St Pats Town 2nds in the final. They dropped two games in the round-robin, to Wainuiomata and Onslow, and only progressed to this point from their 22-all draw with Taita by virtue of the tiebreaker rules.

Premier 4 for the Onslow Cup will be fought out between the Scots 2nds and Silverstream 3rds after both toppled the top qualifiers away from home; Scots beat Tawa’s 2nds 25-14 and Silverstream beat Bishop Viard’s 2nds 24-15. It is the third successive year that the Scots 2nds have made this final - they won in 2013 and lost to Onslow last year – while Silverstream will enjoy home advantage.

The Ross Findlay Cup will be at stake in the Premier 5 final, between the St Pat's Town 3rd XV and Aotea College’s 2nds. As with last year the Town 3rds went unbeaten in the competition rounds, but will look to go one better than last year’s team that lost in the final. Aotea survived a late run by Otaki to win 16-15 last week and will look to overturn the 33-20 result to Town from earlier in the year.

Age Grade

The Division 1 final – with the Father Gus Hill Cup up for grabs – will once again showcase some of the future 1st XV stars with this year’s match an-all St Patrick’s affair.

Town are the top qualifiers and will face their Silverstream cousins in the final after both romped home in their semi-finals; Town 65-5 over Naenae and Stream 64-0 over Scots with neither beaten side able to repeat their giant-killing efforts of the previous week that saw them eliminate Wellington College and Rongotai. Town have scored 439 and conceded only 41 in their eight games (average of 55-5), while Stream have a 499 for and 78 against split (average of 62-10). Town won the earlier meeting 41-7, but expectations are this will be much closer this time around.

The Division 2 competition was perhaps the most keenly fought of all the CSW competitions with no side winning more than six games. The final will be fought out between Hutt International, who accounted for Aotea 24-19, and the Town 2nds who upset the top-qualifying Silverstream 2nds 20-8 in the other semi.

Like the Premier 2 final the Division 3 match will be fought out between St Bernard’s and Bishop Viard after they beat Newlands 51-0 and Taita 22-15 respectively in their semi-finals

Weight-restricted Grades

The weight grades continue to produce some of the most fiercely contested matches in the college season. Silverstream once again provides sides in all three of the major finals, but in each case go in as the underdog qualifier.

The Under 80kg Arthur Reeve Cup will be fought out between Wellington College and Silverstream’s ‘A’ squad following the conclusion of the six-team double round-robin. College went undefeated, while Stream’s only loss was to College with their other meeting cancelled due to weather. With the result of that sole meeting being 22-17, it’s likely that another hard-fought close encounter will transpire.

The same two schools will also contest the Under 65kg Division 1 final for the Ina Hansen Cup. Wellington College are again the undefeated side and accounted for St Bernard’s 23-3 in their semi-final, while Silverstream beat Tawa 26-0 in theirs. And like their U80kg compatriots the round-robin result was close (21-14) and should be again tomorrow.

In Division 2 Scots finished unbeaten on the field (they lost one game by default) and progressed as top qualifiers where they beat Kapiti College’s ‘A’ team 29-17. They will take on St Pats Town, who beat Kapiti’s ‘B’ squad in the other semi by 15-7.

The true lightweights, the Under 55kg grade, also have two finals. The Division 1 final is for the David Scott Cup and will be fought out by Hutt International and Silverstream. HIBS have gone undefeated this year and progressed by beating St Pats Town 26-12, while Silverstream defeated Upper Hutt 41-7 in the other. Interestingly though, and owing in part to a reshuffle of the grade midseason these two have not met this year. The Division 2 match will be between Rongotai, who beat Silverstream B 52-38 in a points-scoring belter last week, and Onslow who reversed an earlier two-point loss to Scots to win by the same margin of 17-15.

Schedule for the day:

10.00 am
#1 - Under 65kg Division 1 – Wellington College v Silverstream
#2 - Under 55kg Division 1 – Hutt International v Silverstream
#4 - Under 65kg Division 2 – Scots v St Pats Town
#5 - Under 15 Division 3 – St Bernard’s v Bishop Viard
11.30 am
#1 - Under 15 Division 1 – St Pats Town v Silverstream
#2 - Under 80kg – Wellington College v Silverstream
#3 – Premier 5 – St Pats Town 3rd XV v Aotea 2nd XV
#4 - Under 15 Division 2 – Hutt International v St Pats Town B
#5 – Under 55kg Division 2 – Rongotai v Onslow
1.00 pm
#2 - Premier 4 – Scots 2nd XV v Silverstream 3rd XV
#3 - Premier 3 – Wainuiomata 1st XV v Newlands 1st XV
1.30 pm
#1 - Premier 2 – Bishop Viard 1st XV v St Bernard’s 1st XV