Five representative games in Wellington on Saturday

UPDATE: Above - Te Wehi Wright, who scored a hat-trick in this game, in action for the Wellington U20s against Manawatu U20. Wellington won this game 50-0.

For more visit: http://www.wrfu.co.nz/news/news-2010/1295-big-wins-for-wellington-u20s-and-u18s-on-saturday?

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Five Wellington representative teams are playing at home, across two different venues, and a sixth, the Wellington U18s, are playing away as part of WRFU representative fixtures on Saturday.

The two feature games at Westpac Stadium see the Wellington Pride host the Auckland Storm in round four of the women's NPC and the Ricoh Wellington Lions entertain North Harbour in round 11 of the ITM Cup.

The women's NPC match kicks off at 3.10pm and is a replay of last year's final. The Pride go into this match with two close losses to Otago and Waikato and a bonus point win over Hawke's Bay behind them, while Auckland have had a narrow victory over Canterbury and a big win over Manawatu in their two competition games so far.

The Ricoh Wellington Lions will all but book their ITM Cup semi-final spot with two rounds to spare if they beat North Harbour, a team they haven't lost to in their past five matches. Strugglers North Harbour are winless so far and they also haven't won a game away from home for two years, so they will be desperate to topple the Lions on their home patch.

The Wellington U18s Centurions side open the first of three games at the Petone Rec on Saturday at 12.30pm against the Taranaki U18s. The Centurions are the second Wellington team in the four-team Hurricanes U18 competition, also featuring Manawatu. The Centurions lost to the Wellington U18s 72-6 in their tournament opener last Saturday and Taranaki lost to Manawatu 17-28.

The Wellington U20s host Manawatu in round three of the Hurricanes region U20 competition from 2.00pm. Both Wellington and Manawatu have had wins over Taranaki and losses to Hawke's Bay, so this match is a virtual semi-final to decide who will play Hawke's Bay in the final in Palmerston North on 6 October.

The Wellington Maori and Horowhenua-Kapiti B kick-off their round five RDO Cup match at 2.30pm on the side field at Petone, with the Maori team chasing their fourth win of the competition. Wellington Maori beat Horowhenua Kapiti B 37-24 when they met two weeks ago at Paraparaumu. After this, they play Wanganui B at Maidstone Park in their final match of the RDO Cup next week.

The scheduled Wellington Development versus New Zealand Defence Force match on Saturday has been cancelled. The Development side still has three games to play in coming weeks, against the Wellington Samoans, Tasman Development and Canterbury Metro.

In the sole away match involving a Wellington team this Saturday, the Wellington U18s play Manawatu U18 at FMG Stadium at Palmerston North in their Hurricanes U18s competition clash.

WRFU home games on Saturday are:

• Wellington Development v Defence Force - CANCELLED?
• Wellington Pride v Auckland, Westpac Stadium, 3.10pm
• Wellington Centurions U18 v Taranaki U18 at Petone Recreation Ground, 12.30pm
  
• Wellington U20s v Manawatu v U20 at the Petone Recreation Ground at 2.00pm
• Wellington Maori v Horowhenua Kapiti B at the Petone Recreation Ground (#4) at 2.30pm
• Ricoh Wellington Lions v North Harbour at Westpac Stadium, 5.35pm

WRFU away game on Saturday:

• Wellington U18s v Manawatu at FMG Stadium, Palmerston North, 2.00pm

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Hurricanes U16 tournament next week

The Hurricanes region U16 tournament at the Petone Recreation Ground next Monday, Tuesday and Thursday features the Wellington U16A and Wellington U16 Development sides in action. In Pool A, the Wellington U16As play Taranaki on Monday at 2.30pm, Manawatu on Tuesday at 1.00pm and Hawke's Bay on Thursday at 11.00am.

In Pool B, the Wellington Development team plays Wanganui on Monday at 1.30pm and then Poverty Bay in a friendly match at North Park on Tuesday, ahead of finals day against a winner/loser from the opposite side of the draw on Thursday.

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