Slade kicks MSP to 21-16 Jubilee Cup final victory over Norths

Marist St. Pat's are the 2009 Jubilee Cup champions, beating Northern United 21-16 in the final at Westpac Stadium on Sunday afternoon.????????????????????????????????

MSP won their 13^th Jubilee Cup title on the back of seven penalties to centre Chris Slade and a much more disciplined and composed performance under pressure than their Norths counterparts.

Slade's seven penalties carried his side to a decisive come-from-behind victory over Norths, who scored the game's only two tries but let themselves down through ill-discipline and a spate of handling errors that undid much of their momentum.

The win for MSP caps an excellent second half of the season, after winning five consecutive Jubilee Cup matches in the weeks leading up to the final and knocking over Petone in last?Saturday's semi-final.

For Norths, missing many of their frontline stars to Vodafone Wellington Lions duty, the loss was their second in Jubilee Cup finals to go with three wins in what was their?fifth final in the past six seasons.

Slade was the individual hero for MSP as part of a superb team performance that was led by their tight five who set a strong platform and carried on by their wholehearted loose forward trio and well organised backs. Halfback Peter Sciascia was awarded the Jim Brown Medal for Player of the Final.

Slade kicked four first half penalties to give his side a 12-11 lead at halftime, after Norths had stung MSP early to lead 11-0 inside the opening 10 minutes.

He was then asked to step up to the kicking tee and retake the lead later in the second half after Norths had scored their second try of the afternoon that put them back in front 16-15.

But concerted pressure by MSP and back-to-back yellow cards against them killed off their hopes of winning a third Jubilee Cup title.

With Norths down to 14 men, Slade slotted two more three-pointers for a five-point advantage and Norths couldn't respond, despite a last-gasp rally with a lineout penalty into the corner and one last crack for Cup glory.

Earlier, kicking the final off into?a moderate?wind and in bright sunshine, Norths quickly carried the attack to MSP and were on the board in the fourth minute with a stunning try out wide to left wing Francis Seumanutafa.

Veteran lock Tim Faleafaga soared high off an attacking lineout and Club Weekly player of the season and centre Alapati Leiua combined with fullback James So'oialo and Seumanutafa who did the rest.

Leiua and So'oialo carried the attack up into the 22, So'oialo offloading to the former lock and some-time flanker Seumanutafa who beat his marker Apoua Stewart, danced up the sideline and scored in the corner and Norths were ahead 5-0.

Moments later Norths' other lock Sene Ta'ala stormed up field in broken play, leading to a penalty to the 2009 season's top point scorer So'oialo and an 8-0 lead.

8-0 then became 11-0 inside 10 minutes with a second penalty to So'oialo.

But then the Norths infringements kicked in, Slade kicking a difficult penalty to make it 11-3.

A high shot by Norths left wing Daley Harper presented Slade with a second penalty from a similar position and an action-packed opening quarter ended with Norths ahead 11-6.

Slade made it three from three in the 25^th minute with a superb 40-metre kick on the angle and Norths' early advantage was whittled down to two points.

MSP then hit the lead at 12-11 with Slade's fourth penalty, this in time in front of the sticks, after a stolen lineout inside Norths' territory and a midfield break by second five-eighth Joe Wright.

Another attacking surge deep into Norths territory and more ill-discipline at the breakdown presented Slade with his fifth penalty opportunity on the 30^th minute mark, but he was unable to convert from near the touchline.

Next it was So'oialo's turn to transform a difficult penalty kick into points and retake the lead, but his whopping 51-metre strike fell short of its target.

The start of the second half remained a tense affair, with opportunities rare and territory and discipline at a premium.

For their part, Norths continued to infringe and Slade obliged once more, nailing his fifth penalty in six attempts to put his side 15-11 ahead five minutes into the second half, after Norths infringed on an attacking MSP scrum on the 22.?

The final continued to ebb and flow, mostly in the middle of the field, a tense affair finally exploding with the sinbinning of earlier try-scorer Seumanutafa.

A melee broke out near the halfway line and Seumanutafa was shown yellow for throwing the first punch.

However, it was Norths who surged on to attack after this incident, MSP fullback Mike Kingsbeer saving the day with blue and white jerseys bearing down on him from all angles after a kick and chase.

This led to a 5-metre scrum and a subsequent penalty under the posts for Norths. Turning down a gift three points, Norths halfback Tomasi Palu took a quick tap and then scored himself out wide two phases later to put his side back in front by one point.

But with 14-men on the track for at least another eight minutes and MSP now more desperate than ever, their lead was going to take some protecting over the remaining 15 minutes.

And so it proved, the MSP pack pushing Norths off their own ball on their 22-metre line, winning yet another penalty and Slade obliging to make it 18-16 to MSP.

Seumanutafa arrived back on the field, but he couldn't prevent a slicing run up the centre of the field off the back of a midfield scrum by No. 8 Alex Tulou. Tulou was brought to ground 30 metres short but referee Wayne Dickson's whistle went up, this time for an offside offence and up stepped Slade once more.

His final kick of the afternoon from the 15 metre line and on the 22 went the way of six others and up went the flags for a 21-16 lead.

With under five minutes left, Norths battled hard to try and create the match winning score, but were handed another blow when prop John Fata was sinbinned, this proving a bridge too far for Norths and a delighted MSP celebrated long and loud at the final whistle.