Wellington representative teams round-up 5 September

UPDATE # 3:

• Wellington Pride miss out to Waikato

• Wellington U19s win well

• Wellington U16s come back to win, Wellington U16 Development prevail

• Wellington Development hold off Hawke's Bay Saracens

• Wellington Maori go down to Canterbury Maori

Wellington Pride 16 - Waikato 27

The Wellington Pride were desperately unlucky not to come away from Waikato Stadium with any competition points in their third round Women’s NPC fixture.

In a game of two halves, Wellington led 13-0 at halftime, but Waikato came back in the second half to score five tries and win 27-16.

Waikato ran in four of their five tries in the final 15 minutes, including one on fulltime that denied the Pride a bonus point.

Playing into a moderate wind in the first half, the Pride fully deserved their lead, with two penalties to first five-eighth Lizzie Goulden and a try to halfback Agnes Dean their reward.

The Pride played with power and passion and dominated the Waikato side throughout the opening 40 minutes. Their mauling and scrummaging was particularly impressive and their continuity and support play between backs and forwards was on-song.

But the Pride were also left to rue several missed opportunities and some errors in execution that could have extended their lead further at the break and altered the outcome.

This included a several raids up into Waikato’s 22, a missed penalty and, crucially, a try by loosehead prop Moana Aiatu that was denied by the TMO.

Wellington also started the second half off promisingly, but Waikato held on under their own line and proceeded to fight back from that point on.

Earlier, the Pride were positive from the outset, launching a 30-metre rolling maul and then counter-attacking out wide through left wing Ayesha Leti-l’iga, who linked up with support. Winning a penalty, Goulden kicked them to an early 3-0 lead.

Goulden doubled their lead to 6-0 with her second penalty, after the forwards put pressure on Waikato’s lineout.

The Pride’s midfield of Georgia Daals and Amanda Rasch went close to creating the game’s first try after combining in a break-out from halfway. The last pass was called back for being forward, but Waikato was stretched.

Moments later Goulden ran back another kick in general play and linked up with Daals and Ayesha Leti-l’iga out wide. The forwards continued the momentum, but again Waikato held on by a thread under their own posts.

From the next play, Wellington pushed Waikato off their own defensive 5-metre scrum and halfback Agnes Dean rushed through to dive on the loose ball and score the first try. Goulden added the extras and the Pride were in front 13-0 after 25 minutes.

Waikato fought back over the next several minutes, but a good passage of play by the home side was undone when blindside flanker Kendra Reynolds was sin-binned.

The Pride re-gained ascendancy and created further chances leading up to halftime.

Fullback Vaine Marsters and midfielders Rasch and Daals launched a likely raid from broken play. Goulden then missed a difficult penalty attempt, but Waikato knocked on in their own goal-line, presenting the Pride with an attacking scrum in prime position.

Loosehead prop Moana Aiatu was held up over the line and denied a try by the TMO and all Waikato could do was hang on until halftime.

Now with the wind at their backs and the sun out, the Pride ripped on to attack early in the second spell. Once again a possible try went astray with a knock-on close to Waikato’s line.

Waikato sped the game up and started making inroads up the middle. Launching from a scrum, they went wide to fullback Stephanie Downer who scored in the left corner to close the gap to 13-5.

Despite a committed period on defence, Waikato broke through to score their second try to lock Victoria Edmonds, converted by left wing Ana Marsters to close the gap to 13-12 with 15 minutes to play.

Goulden immediately kicked her third penalty, giving the Pride a 16-12 lead.

Waikato ran in their third try of the afternoon to centre Stacey Waaka, followed by their fourth to left wing Ana Marsters and suddenly Waikato led 22-16.

Wellington had a late chance to launch an attack from halfway, but the ball was turned over and Waikato rushed forward to score their fifth, to centre Waaka.

Waikato 27 (Stacey Waaka 2, Stephanie Downer, Victoria Edmonds, Ana Marsters tries; Marsters con) beat Wellington Pride 16 (Agnes Dean try; Lizzie Goulden 3 pen, con). HT: Wellington 13-0.

Wellington U19s 84 - Hurricanes U19 Barbarians 0

The Wellington U19s started their competition season off with an emphatic win over the Hurricanes Barbarians side, in windy and heavy underfoot conditions at Arena Manawatu.

The Hurricanes Barbarians team comprised players drawn from the Wellington, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay regions who weren’t otherwise recently selected in their A teams.

Wellington ran in 12 tries, with right wing Jarrod Adams scoring a second half hat-trick, and lock Lui Lumanau and No.8 Patrick Fenika each bagging braces. Wellington’s kickers, Josh Robertson-Weepu (eight conversions) and Alex Ropeti (four) landed all the conversions.

Playing into the wind in the first half, the Wellington U19s blew the Hurricanes Barbarians away early, scoring six converted tries and taking a 42-0 lead into halftime. Five of the first six tries of the afternoon were scored by the forwards.

The floodgates opened after about 10 minutes when blindside flanker Vern Sosefo crossed after a lineout drive and a bust by first five-eighth Piri Paraone.

Industrious lock Lui Lumanau scored the first of his two tries and fullback Josh Robertson-Weepu converted to double their lead to 14-0.

Halfback Kaide McCashin made a 30-metre break and openside flanker Te Whenua Poihipi scored their third try.

Luamanu ran in his brace, followed by two more tries before halftime to No. 8 Patrick Fenika and and centre and captain Pepesana Patafilo.

Fenika ran in his second try early in the second half, followed by a try to hooker Josh Houston-Tupou that raised the half century.

A scrappy period of play followed, before Wellington put their foot on the pedal once more and right wing Jarrod Adams scored two tries in two minutes. Both were converted by replacement Alex Ropeti and Wellington led 70-0.

With a hunger for the try-line, Rampage Adams regathered a chip and chase by Logan Henry and ran in his hat-trick.

Replacement wing Malo Tuitama, in his first match all year after coming back from injury, scored the last try of the day and Ropeti converted to make the final scored 84-0.

Wellington U19s 84 (Jarrod Adams 3, Patrick Fenika 2, Lui Luamanu 2, Vern Sosefo, Te Whenua Poihipi, Pepesana Patafilo, Josh Hosuton-Tupou, Malo Tuitama tries; Josh Robertson-Weepu 8 con; Alex Ropeti 4 con) beat Hurricanes Barbarians U19s 0.Halftime: 42-0.

Wellington U16s and U16 Development

In Masterton, the Wellington U16 Development team won 47-17 with Wairarapa-Bush U16 in a fast-paced match played on the new all-weather surface at Memorial Park.

In the second game, the Wellington U16A s came back from 24-0 down at halftime to beat the Wairarapa-Bush U18s 32-24.

The U16As fought back in the second spell to score six tries, with lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi scoring a double and his locking partner Jack Wright also scoring a try. Wings Todd Svenson and Oria Andrews also scored tries, along with replacement Adrian Seumanufagai.

Wellington Development 26 - Hawke's Bay Saracens 24

The Wellington Development side opened their 2015 representive campaign with a hard-fought 26-24 win over the Hawke's Bay Saracens on an adjacent field to the U19s game at Arena Manawatu.

Playing with the wind in their favour, the Wellington Development team scored four first half tries to take a 26-5 lead into halftime.

Hawke's Bay came back in the seocnd half and launched serveral ferocious assaults, but Wellington was able to hold on to the end.

Wellington Development 26 (Stu Simonson, Fereti Soloa, Mike Lealava'a, Jordan Simpson Hefft tries; Fa'atonu Fili 3 con) beat Hawke's Bay's Saracens 24

Wellington Maori 24 - Canterbury Maori 28

Wellington Maori relinquished the Tirikatene Shield to Canterbury Maori in their match at Helston Park.

Wellington were lamenting a high error count that prevented them asserting themesleves on the game. 

Meanwhile, the Wellington Maori Development side beat Horowhenua-Kapiti B 34-26.

In another match, the Centurions Under 21 lost to Wairarapa-Bush B 36-10