Norths, MSP big winners in Jubilee Cup opener

An emphatic come from behind win for Northern United, a clinical team performance by Marist St. Pat's, two closely fought other Jubilee Cup games and a Hardham Cup humdinger highlighted an absorbing opening weekend of second round club rugby matches across Wellington.

Fresh from scoring a record 18 tries to help his side through to an unbeaten Swindale Shield winning run, fullback Buxton Popoalii helped ignite Norths to a sizzling 45-23 win over Oriental Rongotai at Porirua Park when it looked to many that they might have been heading for their first defeat of the season.

Trailing 10-23 midway through the second half, Popoalii and his electric Norths teammates flicked the switch and scored four unanswered tries and 35 points to completely overrun Ories.

As part of this match winning burst, Popoalii scored two tries and added a 45-metre dropped goal, while fellow points scoring sensation James So'oialo also scored a try as part of a 17-point personal haul.

At home at Evans Bay Park, defending Jubilee Cup champions MSP were equally ruthless against Upper Hutt in a clinical display of attacking rugby for their 49-0 victory.

Six different try scorers featured in MSP's impressive win, that saw their cohesive young forward pack and slick backs combine superbly in the attacking zone to shut Upper Hutt out of the match by early in the second half.

At the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve Old Boys-University held on to beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 27-22 after a tense second half that followed a flurry of early scoring by both sides.

At the Petone Recreation Ground, Petone held off Poneke 25-21, with the boot of first five-eighth Hayden Cripps proving the difference in a tight encounter after both sides had scored two tries.

There was plenty of action in the first round of Hardham Cup matches, with all three of the ‘B' teams giving early warnings that they won't be making up the numbers over the next two months.

Northern United B had the most successful afternoon of this trio, tipping over 2011 Swindale Shield hopefuls Avalon 29-23 while Hutt Old Boys Marist B held on to draw with Tawa 25-25 and MSP B pushed Wainuiomata close before going down 12-13.

In the Hardham Cup feature match, the Wests Roosters overtook Johnsonville late in the match to win 21-20 in another tense encounter.

At Porirua Park, all eyes were on the Norths Premiers to see their response to Ories' third try of the afternoon, scored by lock Mark Reddish off a break by fullback Robert Millar, which saw Ories re-establish an earlier 13-point lead over the first round champions.

With Reddish's opposite Api Naikatini cooling his heels in the sinbin, the game's momentum was with the visitors who were no doubt bracing themselves for a comeback but perhaps not as swift as what happened.

Norths closed the gap to 18-23 through a penalty and a try to winger AJ Vaaleepu, gained parity through a Popoalii try, hit the lead through a Popoalii dropped goal, and then scorched away with tries to first five-eighth-turned winger So'oilao, Popoalii again and lock Mana Faraimo and at 45-23 it was all over.

After a close start at Evans Bay Park, MSP capitalised on a barrage of pressure in the 20th minute when fullback Apoua Stewart ran back an Upper Hutt kick in play and linked with first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili, centre Chris Slade and halfback Anthony Bradshaw to all but score the first try. With Upper Hutt stretched at the breakdown, Fili ran around the back of a ruck to score it near the corner.

Fili then kicked a long-range penalty, before more quick recycling inside Upper Hutt's 22 saw blindside flanker Sio Tuia cross untouched to the left of the uprights. Slade added the first of his five conversions and MSP Led 18-0 after half an hour.

MSP's momentum was curbed towards the end of the first half when prop Solomona Sakalia was sinbinned and Upper Hutt battled hard to get back into the game. The visitors, minus Alby Mathewson who was originally down to start at halfback, should have got on the scoreboard at this point but a straightforward penalty shot was missed and a knock-on in the right hand corner prevented a try.

MSP scored a decisive try early in the second half, winning the second half re-start and pouring into Upper Hutt's 22 and replacement Kiki Stowers coming up with the try several phases later. Slade converted from the sideline to put them ahead 25-0.

This was followed by a great try scored in the corner by left winger JP Tocker, after the MSP forwards drove on debutant lock Ben Nansett off a lineout and then spun the ball through the backs to Tocker. Slade's conversion from the opposite touchline made it 32-0.

The victory assured and the bonus point now in the bag, MSP added to their tally with two more swiftly taken tries, to right wing George Cook and Slade himself, while Fili also potted a dropped goal for good measure.

It was two-way traffic through the tunnel at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve, where OBU and HOBM went try for try with each other throughout the first half, ahead of just one try being scored after the interval and the home side holding on gallantly.

OBU led 27-17 at the break after a flurry of scoring in the first 40 minutes had seen the lead change hands several times. HOBM set the tone when first five-eighth Dan Snee intercepted a pass and set up a 70-metre try for fullback Mike Kingsbeer.

OBU came back through a try to openside flanker TJ Ioane, answered by a second to the Eagles to winger Brad Hines and converted from the sideline, replied to by a try by OBU first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga, after which Snee went over to make it 17-17.

The students were good for their 10-point lead late in the half when Sopoaga took a quick tap penalty and halfback Nick Kavanagh crossed for their third try.

HOBM lock Jeremy Thrush finished off some good phase play early in the second half to close the deficit up once more, but that was the end of the scoring as the game tightened up and OBU held on into the wind for their fourth victory in a row.

The Petone-Poneke clash at the Petone Recreation Ground could also have gone either way as both teams shadowed each other throughout.

After conceding an early converted try to Poneke fullback Ben Huntley, Petone flyhalf Cripps kicked two penalties to narrow the gap to 6-7 and then No. 8 Shaun Mahoney scored to put the visitors ahead 11-7. Both sides then exchanged penalties and Petone led 14-13 at the halftime break.

Their first round clash that doubled as Petone's 125th anniversary game was won with a try on fulltime. But this time round they were having none of that and blindside flanker Piers Gordon scored their second try to put them ahead 19-13 playing into a steadying northerly wind.

Poneke were happy to revisit memories of this first round clash when fullback Ben Huntley scored his second to make it 19-18. Both kickers traded further penalties and Petone again led by a solitary point at 22-21, before Cripps had the final say, kicking his fifth penalty towards the end.

Hardham Cup

In the early encounter at Porirua Park, the Norths Senior 1sts overtook Avalon with a late try to seal their victory and make Avalon's path back up the Premier ranks that much harder from now on.

Avalon had come back to lead 23-22 late in the second half after Norths had jumped out to a clear advantage early on, ahead of Norths' match winner five minutes from fulltime that also gave them a bonus point win.

HOBM B were unlucky not to seal a win over Tawa in their match away at Lyndhurst Park after leading 20-8 early in the second half. But, as has been their pattern in some earlier games, Tawa mounted a second half comeback and were able to draw level at the end.

In the match between keen rivals the Wests Roosters and Johnsonville, the home side the Roosters earned a late come from behind 21-20 victory.

Wests had grabbed an earlier 9-0 lead with fullback Declan Mckeefry slotting three penalties, before Johnsonville stormed to a 14-9 lead through two converted tries to left wing Sam Toala off an attacking lineout move and to lock Rob Tait, scoring under the posts. First five-eighth Corey Burt then added a penalty and Johnsonville held a deserved 17-9 lead.

Another penalty to Burt wasn't enough for their first victory of the season however as the Roosters came back with a 12-point scoring spree to snatch the points.

In the early game at Evans Bay Park, Wainuiomata toiled hard for their 13-12 win over a determined MSP B side.

After scoring one try and battling to an 8-0 lead at halftime, Wainuiomata dominated possession and territory in the second spell but couldn't put the home side away due to a stream of handling errors in the backs and some solid defence.

Instead it was MSP who scored first in the second half, their backs breaking out from a scrum deep inside their own territory, fullback Ben Tuiatua finding space up the southern touchline and linking with centre Isaia Petelo, who in turn passed back on his outside to Tuiatua to score the try in the corner.

The sideline conversion was missed, but at 5-8 down with 25 minutes still to play MSP were still right in the hunt. But fresh legs off the bench and the shifting of playmaker Frae Wilson from halfback to the standoff position helped create fresh impetus for the visitors. After another long period on attack they finally scored another try through lock James Saolele who barged over after a series of drives at the line, making it 13-5.

MSP weren't through and came back strongly at the end, with halfback Nick Wanden skirting through to score a converted try under the uprights to close up the gap and earn his side a valuable bonus point.

Previously, the scoreboard operators had remained idle throughout much of the first half, with both sides testing each other out for long periods before Wilson put right wing Isaiah Mamea over to score untouched in the corner off an attacking scrum. Wilson then kicked a penalty just before the halftime interval.

Other grades

A rampant running forward pack led the Northern United Women to a hard fought 24-5 win over Wainuiomata in a Victoria Tavern Women's Premier fixture that was dominated by a high penalty count.

With regular captain Jess Saolele out this week, it was left to Tia Sa to lead the team from the front. Front rower Sa is an extremely dangerous attacking player, with damaging runs, and bone crunching tackles. She was well supported by her fellow front rower, Moana Aiatu, veteran flanker Vanessa Masoe-Patelesio, and their new powerhouse locking duo of Sanita Levave and Leitu Sa who gave the scrum some much needed go forward.

Norths with their new look backline, due to injuries, had four of the seven backline starters under the age of 21 and playing out of position. Sammy McIntosh, playing at first five, showed her class, with her play on attack and defence and was the pick of the backline and she scored 14 points.

In the first round of Senior 1 Ed Chaney games there were bonus point wins for Old Boys-University, Paremata-Plimmerton and Stokes Valley.

OBU were the most convincing winners of the day, beating Avalon 57-10, while Paramata-Plimmerton defeated Rimutaka 38-32 in a high scoring thriller and Stokes Valley edged out Tawa 29-26 in another tight match.

In other matches, Ories beat Norths 39-19 and Poneke beat Petone 19-14.

In Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial first round matches there were wins without bonus points for each of MSP (over Wainui, 29-22), HOBM (over OBU 19-18), Poneke (17-5) over Petone, Wellington (20-8 over Wests), and Upper Hutt (18-10 over Paramata-Plimmerton.

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