Ories and MSP to meet in Jubilee Cup final

All Black and MSP flanker Victor Vito strides out against Norths in last Saturday's 33-6 semi-final win.

Jubilee Cup semi-final results; Ories 45 v Wainuiomata 17; MSP 33 v Norths 6

Hardham Cup semi-final results: Poneke 50 v MSP B 0;? Old Boys University 15 v Wests Roosters 14

Premier 1 First XV semi-final results: Wellington College 18 v St Pat’s Town 12; St Pat’s Silverstream 23 v Scots College 20

Premier Women’s semi-final results: Wainuiomata 30 v Eketahuna 8; Norths 29 v OBU 15

John E Kelly Colts Div 1 semi-final results: Wellington 27 v MSP 15; OBU 30 v Petone 8

UPDATED SUNDAY: It’ll be an all eastern suburbs final next Sunday at the Hutt Recreation Ground after top qualifier and defending champion Oriental Rongotai and 2008 and 2009 winners Marist St. Pat’s each earned emphatic home semi-final wins on Saturday.

At the Polo Ground a dynamic Ories blasted past a gallant Wainuiomata 45-17, outscoring the visitors seven tries to three and having the game won late in the first half when they scored three tries in quick succession and raced to a 26-0 lead.

After conceding a try off a turnover in just the third minute, Wainuiomata came hard at Ories over the next 25 minutes, dominating possession and territory. Their halves pairing of Frae Wilson and Piri Weepu dictated play and their ball playing loose forwards and locks Genesis Mamea, Sape Misa, Greg Lealofi, James Saolele and Shahn Eru were all prominent, but Ories’ defence held on and the green and blacks were unable to penetrate.

Ories soaked up the pressure and hit back with a 100-metre try, halfback Sean Hay clearing into centre field, All Blacks wing Julian Savea leading the chase and forcing another turnover and centre Paulo Aukuso scoring soon after up the right hand touch. From the re-start Ories ran the ball back, fullback Matt Proctor finding space and offloading to Savea who raced up the left hand touch for another try. Savea’s brother Ardie then got in on the act, crossing after another high-octane raid up field and the semi-final was as good as won.

Wainuiomata kept in touch when Ories and All Blacks second five-eighth Ma’a Nonu got himself deliberately off-side and conceded a penalty try, making it 26-7 at halftime.

Five minutes into the second half Ories extended their lead to 31-7 when fullback Proctor scorched in to score their fifth try after a chip ahead and sprint to the line. Wainuiomata got themselves on the board again with hard working lock Eru scoring a try after a lineout penalty and copybook forwards drive.

But the Savea brothers put the semi-final beyond doubt, with Julian scoring his second after a sizzling break and offload by Nonu and Ardie also bagging his brace to complete another super impressive all-round game from the all-action openside flanker. Wainuiomata kept fighting and they were rewarded with their third try on fulltime to replacement wing Falalima Siinei.

At Evans Bay Park, MSP pulled clear of Norths in the second half to win 33-6 with Wellington Lions training squad lock Lua Lokatui scoring two of four tries and first five-eighth Fa’atonu Fili kicking 13 points including two dropped goals.

It was close early on, with both sides losing players to the sin-bin in the first half. A try to MSP second five-eighth Isaiah Petelo was the difference in the first 40 minutes and MSP led 7-6 at halftime.

Fili extended MSP’s advantage to 10-6 early in the second spell before Lokatui scored the first of his tries and Fili converted to give the home side a 17-6 advantage. A Fili dropped goal and a second try to Lokatui extended the lead to 25-6, before a try to replacement wing Johnny Gbenda Charles made the game safe at 30-6 ahead. Just for good measure, Fili knocked over his second dropped goal and Norths’ record of winning the Jubilee Cup every two years was officially broken.

Top qualifier Poneke and Old Boys University will meet in the Hardham Cup final at the Petone Recreation Ground next Saturday at 2.30pm, after Poneke pulled clear of Marist St Pat’s B to win 50-0 at Kilbirnie Park and Old Boys University pipped the Wests Roosters at the post 15-14 at Kelburn Park.

Poneke outscored MSP B seven tries to nil, with six of them coming in the second half. MSP kept Poneke socreless until well into the first half before Poneke eventually took at 10-0 lead into the turnaround.

Hurricanes first five-eighth Charlie Ngatai, fullback Michael Sage and flanker Galu Taufale scored two tries each and wing Peter Shand one.

Ngatai scored from a chargedown early in the second half and Shand ran back a clearing kick from halfway to extend their lead to 24-0 and make the game safe. ?

The other semi-final was much tighter. The Roosters almost had the game won until a late converted try put OBU ahead with time almost up. With Wests ahead 14-8, replacement halfback OBU Ben Oakley scored to close the score to 14-13 with the conversion to come. Recovering from a poor day with the boot, first five-eighth Nic Cudby slotted the winning conversion for a one-point win.

The students then held off a desperate late flurry from Wests before winning back possession and booting it out with the last act of play to win the semi-final.

In the Premier 1 First XV college semi-finals, unbeaten Wellington College beat St Pat’s Town 18-12 and St Pat’s Silverstream beat Scots College 23-20. Wellington College took an 18-0 lead and then held on as Town came back with two unanswered tries, while Silverstream came from behind to edge out Scots after trailing 17-16 deep into the second half. In a replay of last year’s college final, Wellington College and Silverstream will meet in the Jubilee Cup curtain-raiser next Sunday at the Hutt Rec.

Wainuiomata and Northern United will meet in next week’s Premier Women’s final next Saturday at 12.30pm after Wainuiomata beat Eketahuna 30-8 at William Jones Park in one semi-final and Norths defeated Old Boys University 29-15 at Porirua Park in the other.

In the playoff for fifth and sixth Stokes Valley defeated Ories 28-10.

In the John E Kelly Colts grade semi-finals, top qualifier Wellington beat MSP 27-15 and will meet OBU in next week’s final after the students’ 30-8 win over Petone in the other top four playoff match at Te Whaea.

The Wellington Axemen beat bottom placed Ories 39-8 to qualify top for the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup semi-finals with next weekend’s final round to spare, while Paremata-Plimmerton beat Petone 22-21 at Ngatitoa Domain and leapfrog into the top four with one round to play.

Tawa are in outright second after their 27-18 win over Avalon,? and Poneke have moved from sixth to fourth after their 14-6 win over Hutt Old Boys Marist. In the other game Upper Hutt edged OBU 10-7 in the lowest score of the day.

In the highest score of the day, Ories ran through the Wests Roosters 83-19 in their Senior 2 National Mutual Cup fixture at the Polo Ground.

At the top of the Senior 2 table, OBU beat previously unbeaten HOBM 30-24 in their top of the table clash at the Hutt Recreation Ground and MSP blitzed Poneke 42-17 at Kilbirnie Park to create a three-horse race for the top two home semi-finals in a fortnight’s time. With one week of round-robin matches to play, HOBM are on 35 points, OBU 34 and MSP 32.

Petone, on 27 points and with an 11-point buffer to fifth placed Norths, are guaranteed to finish in at least fourth place after beating Stokes Valley 25-6 at Delaney Park. In the other Senior 2 match Norths ran through Avalon 54-33.

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