Eastern suburbs teams on top at end of explosive fourth round
Poneke and Ories are both unbeaten after four weeks of the Jubilee Cup and will both qualify for the semi-finals with two weeks to spare should they win again in next week's fifth round.
On the day that saw many of the Wellington's stars make appearances, including All Blacks Piri Weepu, in his fourth match of the season for Wainuiomata, Neemia Tialata for Petone, Conrad Smith for OBU, and Cory Jane and Victor Vito off the bench for Upper Hutt and MSP, the rugby was explosive and the tries came thick and fast.
In Jubilee Cup matches, played in fine but cold conditions, Northern United came back at the end to upstage Petone 25-23 in a thriller. In front of a large home crowd at Porirua Stadium, Hurricanes centre Alapati Leuia?skipped through the bootlaces tackle of Petone flanker and New Zealand U20 World Cup winner Brad Shields to score the winning try with about three minutes left?on the clock.
At Kilbirnie Park, home side Poneke also earned a come from behind win over Upper Hutt, left wing Ben Huntley crossing with just under 10 minutes?remaining?to give his side a 27-24 win.
Across the road at Evans Bay Park, Ories ended MSP's mid season revival by winning 31-6, out scoring the home side three tries to nil and?only the boot of first five-eighth Trent Vatselias troubling the scoreboard next to MSP's name.
At the Hutt Recreation Ground, Hutt Old Boys Marist overcame Wainuiomata 21-10, coming back in the second half after conceding a two tries to nil deficit in the first 40 minutes.
In the Hardham Cup, two of the B teams, Poneke and Norths, continue to linger near the top of the ladder, while top dog Old Boys-University continued its winning run with a 23-11 victory over the Wests Roosters.
In the upset of the round, Hutt Old Boys Marist B grabbed its first in the second round by beating Avalon 19-16 in the early game at the Hutt Recreation Ground.
Poneke B are in second place with a 25-19 victory over Rimutaka in the early match at Kilbirnie Park, while Tawa earned a massively important win for its chances of both making the top four and avoiding relegation by beating Norths B 13-5 in a scrappy match at Ngati Toa Domain.
In the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup, Petone and Johsonville continue to set the pace, both unbeaten after a month of the second round. Petone grabbed a fourth consecutive bonus point win in its 29-14 victory over Paremata-Plimmerton and Johnsonville pipped Wainuiomata 25-23. Elsehwere, OBU moved into third place with a 79-5 slaying of winless Avalon, while Stokes Valley won for the second time in 2011, 28-0 over Tawa.
In the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial, the Wellington Axemen cometh, slicing through Petone 20-0 for?their fourth straight win. HOBM also remain unbeaten at the top of the Senior 2 table after?a 16-12 toppling of Johnsonville.
Upper Hutt grabbed its first win of the second round, beating Poneke 41-24, while Norths made it three from four by beating MSP 27-17.
In two notable results in Premier 1 College First XV rugby, St Pat's Town upset Wellington College 24-20 and Scots College pushed St. Pat's Silversteam all the way before losing 14-17.
Jubilee Cup
The show rolls for Ories, who won their fourth consecutive Jubilee Cup match and are surely now semi-final bound.
Ories beat MSP three tries to nil on the back of another superior performance up front that reduced MSP to golden oldies scrums late in the match.
Hurricanes flanker Mark Reddish, playing at lock, opened the scoring with a converted try to see his side go 7-0 up. This became 14-0 when flanker Paul Halafihi scored a second converted try. MSP clawed their way and first five-eighth Trent Vatselias kicked two penalties to narrow the gap to 14-6 at halftime.
Ories’ flying left wing Ambrose Curtis then banged over four consecutive penalties after the break to extend their lead to 26-6, ahead of right wing Afa Fa’atau sealing victory with their third try late in the match.
Across the road, Poneke came back to clinch their fourth straight victory when Huntley crossed to put them ahead 27-24. Upper Hutt were left lamenting yet another close loss that has characterised their season, after doing all the hard work to get their noses ahead in the second half through a second try of the match to left wing Jared Churchwood and a penalty to fullback Jason Woodward.
Earlier, Upper Hutt had opened up a 7-0 lead when second five-eighth Keelan Poi crossed the chalk, before Poneke openside flanker Masefau Leluniu scored a brace of tries to put the streetkids ahead 12-7. Next it was the turn of Upper Hutt to score again, Churchwood pouncing on a Poneke mistake at the back and racing away for his first try.
A penalty to first five-eighth Jeremy Te Huia put Poneke in front again 15-14 at halftime, before a third try, to lock Cam Garvie, pushed them ahead 22-14. But with a series of close games behind them this year and Cory Jane coming on as a second half substitute, there was always going to be a twist at the end of this encounter.
At the Hutt Recreation Ground, home side the HOBM Eagles were rocked early by Wainuiomata who scored two unanswered unconverted tries. Right wing Blaze Tuisila ignited the game with a try out wide, and then No. 8 Glen Angus pounced on an Eagles error from the back of a defensive scrum to scamper in near the corner.
HOBM were slowly wrestling control in the physical exchanges but were struggling to win their own ball, particularly at lineout time. So they settled for a penalty to new first five-eighth Brandyn Laursen that closed the gap to 10-3 after about 25 minutes.
Piri Weepu, who started his career at HOBM, had a chance to close the margin with a penalty on halftime. He missed and the score remained unchanged at the break.
The Eagles scored a try to No. 8 Deon Carney and Laursen kicked a penalty after halftime to put them ahead at 11-10 for the first time.
With Wainuiomata halfback Frae Wilson in the sinbin, his opposite Nick Risdon took a quick tap penalty and offloaded to second five-eighth Alexis Time who raced in to score what was the winning try. Laursen’s conversion and a subsequent penalty pushed the score out to 21-10, giving the Eagles a vital win and leaving Wainuiomata realistically needing to win their last two games or they’re at the beach when the semi-finals start.
Norths v Petone
The Norths – Petone game at Porirua Park had it all: a customary fast start by Norths, followed by a comeback by Petone complete with a blistering solo try by up and coming midfielder Nick Grigg, a penalty try midway through the second half, then an immense period of Norths pressure and finally a winning try with time fast running out.
Despite the win, Norths took a casualty when outstanding No. 8 Mana Faraimo left the field during the second half with what looked like a serious knee injury. It was Faraimo who busted clean up the middle from inside his own half to help create the first try of the match to left wing AJ Va’alepu in the 9th minute. The assault was carried on by centre Leiua who put through a stab kick for Va’alepu to run on to.
Another break into open space led to a penalty to first five-eighth Dudley Parsons and Norths now led 10-0.
But Petone struck back with a stunning try to second five-eighth Nick Grigg, who literally ran through half the Norths team off the top of a lineout on halfway. Grigg got the ball going forward on the advantage line and glided into a hole, sidestepped, swerved and finally out sprinted the defence to score the try of the match.
First five-eighth Hayden Cripps added the extras to close the deficit to 10-7, and after a slow start, Petone’s forwards, with Shield at blindside and Neemia Tialata at loosehead prop, were getting into their groove against the Norths pack, also containing John Schwalger at prop, the dynamic Api Naikatini at blindside and Dean Brunsdon at openside who stood out in the second half.
Next, Norths right wing Daley Harper ran back a kick and combined with fullback Inoke Rasabale to set up camp inside Petone’s goalline. The cavalry arrived and Harper burst through from close range to score, only for a forward pass to be called. This was the first of several chances for Norths throughout the match that went begging, including two missed conversions from handy angles, which could have proved extremely costly.
Rasabele almost went in again in the left hand corner after another clean break and hard running into space by No. Faraimo, before another half break by Grigg gave Petone field position and a penalty to Cripps making it 10-10.
Penalties were mounting against Norths as the first half developed and Cripps kicked his second penalty to put Petone ahead 13-10 after 35 minutes.
But Norths struck with their second try just before the interval, halfback Nene Va’alepu diving over to score after Petone couldn’t control the deep kick-off into the corner. Naikaini tapped back an attacking lineout, the forwards picked and drove and Va’alepu had a clean dart at the line to put the Bulldog raiders ahead 15-13 at the break. His conversion from in front was missed though.
The second of Petone’s recent U20 World Cup winners Michael Kainga joined the fray as Petone re-took the lead with a Cripps penalty almost immediately from the second half re-start.
Five minutes later Norths went ahead 20-16 after a period of concerted pressure and strong build-up by the forwards, Brad-Thorn like lock Eldon Paea and all three loosies prominent. It was Brunsdon who flicked a short pass to Faraimo who scored the try. Again the conversion to the right of the poles was missed by Va’alepu.
Their season on the line, Petone weren’t lying down and it was the Villagers who hit back with the next try to go ahead 23-16. This try was a penalty try from an attacking Petone scrum near the line and referee David Walsh, in his 150th premier game, was unhesitant in awarding the penalty try under the bar.
There was almost 25 minutes now remaining as Norths regrouped and set up camp hot on attack inside Petone’s territory. But what followed between the 60th and 70th minutes was determined Petone defence and more than a couple of missed chances for Norths. First there had been a butchered try out wide when Leiua threw a terrible pass into touch instead of to his man after a break by replacement prop Steve Fa’atau.? This was followed by a series of scrums and pick and drives close to the line and then hooker Aidan Cains being held up over the line. Perhaps the Jubilee Cup gods were watching over Petone?
But with the scoreboard ticking over like a time bomb for Norths’ supporters, Leiua finally scored the winning try,? running up the big blindside from yet another attacking scrum, from about 30 metres out. With the line in his sites, Leiua busted through Petone’s would-be tacklers and skirted through for the match winning try. This was Leuia’s 46th Premier try in 41 games for Norths.
Hardham Cup
In the curtain-raiser to the Norths – Petone Jubilee Cup, inexplicably transferred to a muddy Ngati Toa Park given also that Porirua Park is a billiard table, Tawa probably won their most important victory of the year in beating Norths B 13-5.
If Tawa had lost this game and Norths had grabbed the four points on offer, the pressure would have been immense for them to win their last two matches to stay ahead of the relegation zone.
As it stands, a potentially tense 2006-style Hardham Cup relegation battle could be unfolding, with Avalon, Tawa, the Wests Roosters and Rimutaka currently separated by just three points and chasing three spots on offer for next year’s Swindale Shield. OBU, with four straight wins, are as safe as a student who has seen the answers before the big exam.
Tawa laid the platform for victory early in the match in a scrappy encounter against Norths B, scoring two unconverted tries and taking a 10-0 lead after about 20 minutes. Fullback Randall Bishop crossed in one corner early, before right wing Maka Ioane showed a combination of strength and ballerina skills to score in his corner from a dart from a blindside scrum.
Following Ioane’s try, Norths hit back almost immediately with a five pointer to flanker Clint Dysart after Tawa couldn’t control the kick-off, making it 10-5.
Play ebbed and flowed, Bishop adding a penalty to extend the lead to 13-5 on halftime after another strong period of attack by Tawa that was kept out by Norths.
The second half was a tense struggle in heavy underfoot conditions that made fluid play difficult. No further scoring was possible. For Tawa, second five-eighth Junior Togia and tighthead prop James Coburn and No. 8 Milo Mekaio made continuous thrusts at Norths’ advantage line but it held throughout.
In similar conditions at Ian Galloway Park All Black centre Conrad Smith rolled himself out for the first half against the Wests Roosters.
With Smith on the field, the students managed to edge ahead of Wests 9-6 in a first half penalty dual between OBU first five-eighth Mike Newell and replacement Wests halfback Sean Winters.
OBU pulled clear to 16-6 early in the second half with the first try of the match to left wing Luke Fiso, converted from the sideline by Newell.
A second converted try to busy No. 8 Thomas Fleming gave the visitors a 23-6 advantage and the result was safely in the bank. Wests closed the gap with a late unconverted try and head into their last two matches against Poneke B and Tawa once more on the brink.
Poneke B got up to earn the competition points in a close game with Rimutaka that see-sawed throughout. Both teams shadowed each other. Rimutaka broke open the game in the first half by scoring an intercept try to go 14-7 ahead, but were undone by a sinbinning and a second converted score to Poneke making it 14-14. Both teams then scored five-pointers and the score progressed to 19-19 and a grandstand finish beckoned.
But two late penalties to Poneke first five-eighth gave them the 25-19 victory.
In another roller-coaster result in the Hardham Cup, HOBM B pipped Avalon 19-16 to register their first win of the second round and Avalon’s second defeat to a ‘B’ team.
Meanwhile in women’s rugby, the semi-finalists have been found for next week’s Victoria Tavern Trophy competition. Top qualifier Eketahuna will host Stokes Valley and Wainuiomata will host Northern United.
In last round games, Eketahuna beat Stokes Valley 42-12 and Norths beat Wainuiomata 22-12. In the other game, OBU beat MSP by default.
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Steven White, 19 Mar 2019
Adam Julian, 19 Mar 2019
Steven White, 12 Mar 2019
Adam Julian, 04 Mar 2019
Steven White, 12 Feb 2019
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