Wellington Axemen and Paremata-Plimmerton to meet in Senior 1 final.

Weighed down by mud, Wellington No. 8 Vaea Fifita streaks away to score the Axemen's third try with the last play of the game to seal a 19-9 Senior 1 Ed Chaney semi-final win over Tawa

For Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup and Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial playoff scores visit Draws & Results across the top of this page

The Wellington Axemen will play Paremata-Plimmerton in next week's Wellington club rugby Ed Chaney Cup Senior 1 final after the Axemen beat Tawa 19-9 in one semi-final this afternoon at Hataitai Park and Paremata-Plimmerton beat Poneke 17-10 in the other at Ngati Toa Domain.

Top qualifiers Wellington out muscled Tawa in the mud to win their playoff three tries to nil, but it was far from easy for the Axemen who only sealed their win late in the match in the puggy conditions.

Wellington scored the only try of the first half, with tighthead prop Tevita Falu'kakala crashing over under the posts after about 30 minutes. But Tawa fullback Sinave Washburn kicked a penalty to narrow the deficit to 7-3 at the halftime turnaround and he then kicked two further penalties early in the second half to put Tawa ahead 9-7.

With the sun disappearing behind the hill and the field cutting up badly, the Axemen really had to dig deep to retake the lead. What followed was 20 minutes of gripping playoff rugby, with Wellington dominating territory and keeping it tight through their ball-playing forwards and Tawa defending gamely and winning several big turnovers. Tawa also held Wellington out with 14 players for a time, with their flanker marched 90 metres to the sin-bin.

Finally, with several minutes left on the clock, Wellington's pressure told and muddied hooker Tala Kitekeiaho drove over to score the try that put the Axemen back in the lead. First five-eighth Hilton Mexted landed a tricky conversion and they were up 14-9.

Next it was Tawa's turn to regain ascendancy and they went close to scoring a late equaliser. But Wellington held them out and No. 8 Vaea Fifita ran away to score the match winning try with the last play of the game.

Next week's Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial final will be contested between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Petone.

In today's semi-finals, fourth placed qualifier Petone upset top qualifier Old Boys University 13-10 and second placed HOBM defeated third placed Marist St Pat's 22-12.

In two other HD Morgan Memorial playoff games, it was a thrill a minute at the Polo Ground where sixth placed Oriental Rongotai beat Northern United 60-47, and Avalon beat the Wests Roosters 55-20 to finish ninth.

Two lower grade finals today were won by MSP.

The crack MSP Blues U85kg team beat the Tawa Titans ?26-6 to win the U85kg Division 1 Paul Potiki Shield.

The MSP internationals defeated neighbours the Poneke Ruffnuts 21-13 to win the Reserve Grade final on Evans Bay Park. The MSP Internationals played much of the game with 14 players, with a player red carded midway through the first half. They led 16-3 at halftime and pulled clear in the second spell.

In College First XV rugby, recently crowned Welliington Premier 1 champions St Pat's Silverstream missed out to visiting Gisborne Boys' High School 7-24 in their Hurricanes region semi-final.

Six days after their epic Wellington Premier 1 win over Wellington College, Silverstream played like they were out of gas, making too many errors throughout.

Gisborne, who had the services of old boy and Hurricanes midfielder Charlie Ngatai as their water boy, kicked a penalty and scored a converted try to lead 10-0 after about 15 minutes.

Silverstream hit back with a converted try early in the second half to close the deficit to 10-7, but that was close as they got.? A turnover and lightning raid saw their No. 8 score up the right hand side of the field, which was converted to make it 17-7, and they added their third try soon after on the other side of the field after skirting with the touchline.

Gisborne will now play Napier Boys' High School in the Hurricanes region secondary school final after Napier beat Palmerston North Boys' High School in the other semi-final. Gisborne and Napier will play their final as the curtain-raiser to next Friday's Ricoh Wellington Lions versus Manawatu Turbos ITM Cup opener in Palmerston North.

The results of Wellington Premier 2 First XV rugby on Saturday mean Hutt Valley High School and Mana College will meet in next week's final of that grade.

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