Rugby heats up on worst Saturday of the year

Above: Northern United midfielder Siaosi Anamani ponders an alternative playing career in the tight five and never being cold on the rugby field in his side's Hardham Cup match against Rimutaka at neutral Lyndhurst Park.?

By far and away the worst conditions of the year to date failed to dampen the rugby that was played around Wellington on Saturday, with a series of highly contested matches across all three club grades that were played.

Thursday night’s frightful storm, comparable with the famous Wahine storm and that which the 1961 ‘Hurricane’ Test between the All Blacks and France was played in at Athletic Park, lingered long into Saturday and made for a tough afternoon for all.

In the Jubilee Cup, Oriental-Rongotai, Hutt Old Boys Marist, Marist St Pat’s and Old Boys University emerged as third round winners.

Ories beat Tawa 18-13 in the battle of the heavyweights at Kilbirnie Park, MSP defeated Poneke 23-6 at the first ever Premier game on the new St Pat’s Artificial ground, Old Boys University defeated Wainuiomata 26-8 at the Hutt Recreation Ground and Hutt Old Boys Marist blanked Petone 20-0 at the Petone Recreation Ground.

HOBM (on 13 points) and Ories (12) are the two unbeaten teams after three rounds, ahead of OBU (11) and Tawa (10), both with two wins from three. Poneke (3), Wainuiomata (1) and Petone (1) are all winless.

MSP (6) were the only Jubilee Cup side to win with a four-try bonus point, their victory over Poneke also hugely important for their campaign.

In the Hardham Cup, Wellington, Northern United, Upper Hutt and the Wests Roosters all won their third round games today.

Northern United beat Rimutaka 48-5 at Lyndhurst Park and Upper Hutt defeated Old Boys University B 47-22 at Maidstone Park.?

Norths and Upper Hutt are both on maximum 15 points after three rounds.The Wellington Axemen are the third unbeaten side of the Hardham Cup after they defeated Johnsonville 21-0 at Ian Galloway Park.

In the other match, the Wests Roosters accounted for Avalon 43-17.

The Wellington Axemen probably just need one more win from their last four regular season matches to earn promotion to next year’s Swindale Shield, ahead of either of the current Premier sides Wests or Rimutaka.

There were four close battles in the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup, the third club grade to play today.

Promoted sides HOBM and Ories both suffered their first losses of the second round. HOBM went down 3-15 to Petone and Ories missed out 11-12 to Tawa with Tawa’s goal kicker winning the match with a later wide-angled conversion.

Paremata-Plimmerton beat Upper Hutt 26-3, and were thus the only team in this grade to win with a bonus point.

In two other desperate struggles, Wainuiomata defeated Norths 11-8 and Poneke eclipsed MSP 17-11.Six of the 10 teams in the Ed Chaney Cup have had two wins from three, two teams have one one from three and two are winless.

In one completed John E Kelly Colts Division 1 fixture, first round champions beat Norths 26-15. Petone beat Ories by default.

The Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup, Premier Women’s, U85 kg, Senior Reserves and President’s grades were all cancelled today. These matches will be caught up at a later date.

In College First XV Premier 1 rugby, three of the four games that were scheduled took place. Rongotai College No. 1 was under water this morning, their game against St Pat’s Town has been re-scheduled for Tuesday at 3.00 pm.

In the televised top-of-the-table match, St Pat’s Silverstream made no race of it against Scots College, winning 43-0. They are now frontrunners on their own.

In two games on the St Pat’s Artificial, HIBS beat Porirua College 15-7 in a close match and Wellington College sauntered past Naenae College 48-0.

These two latter games acted as curtain-raisers for the Jubilee Cup encounter that followed between MSP and Poneke, which was blown wide open after just five minutes when MSP hooker Sefo Setefano scored two early tries and they led 10-0 playing into the wind.

Led by halfback Peter Sciascia and openside flanker Issac O’Connor, MSP maintained their dominance for the next 75 minutes and held off the red and blacks who could only kick two penalties.Across the road on Poneke’s home ground at Kilbirnie Park,? Ories were that much more accurate than Tawa and edged ahead three tries to two. All three of their tries involved first five-eighth Fa’atonu Fili and left wing Afa Fa’atau.

Fa’atau scored twice,? his first after Fili caught Tawa napping by taking a tap penalty instead of kicking for goal was ultimately the difference in a tight game.

Tawa have only lost twice in 14 matches this season and both have been at Kilbirnie Park. They lost 8-9 there in the first round to Poneke.

HOBM scored two first half tries with the wind at their backs, to forwards Jason Risdon and Polonga Pedro, and led 20-0 at halftime. They held on throughout a scoreless second half.

Old Boys University made use of their Otago and Highlanders connection to beat Wainuiomata across the river at the Hutt Rec.

Highlander Lima Sopoaga and cousins and former Otago players Adam and Joe Hill all featured prominently in the win that announced the Billy Goats as serious title contenders. In the curtain-raiser to this match, the Collegiate All Americans beat the NZ Universities U21 side 34-11.

To read full Jubilee Cup Round 3 match reports click here