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Eagles soar to three-point lead; Axemen qualify for next year?s Swindale Shield

Hardham Cup | 29 June 2013 | Steven White

Above: Nothing could separate MSP and Ories at Evans Bay Park, the two teams fighting out a 27-27 draw.?

UPDATED SUNDAY: The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles have soared to a three-point lead at the top of the Jubilee Cup standings after reeling in a big deficit and beating Old Boys University for their fourth straight win, while the Wellington Axemen have officially qualified for next year’s Swindale Shield after beating Avalon and also winning their fourth straight game in the second round.

At 3-19 down at halftime, HOBM were staring down the barrel of defeat against Old Boys University. A counter-charge after halftime and three tries to halfback Nick Risdon helped them rein in the Billy Goats and to a 37-22 win at home at the Hutt Rec.

With three rounds remaining, HOBM (on 18 points) lead the standings ahead of Tawa (15) who returned to the winner’s podium with a powerful victory over Poneke. Welcoming to their stable former Norths record points scorer and Samoan international James So’oialo, who scored a try and kicked their goals, Tawa outscored Poneke five tries to three.

Tawa took an early advantage when Poneke wing Sosi Tuimavavae battered back a ball into the in-goal and they were awarded a penalty try. Tuimavavave atoned with a length of the field intercept try, but Tawa pulled ahead before halftime with tries to flanker TJ Fermanis and So’oialo.

Their season on the line, the red and blacks fought gallantly in the second spell, but Tawa extended their lead at the end. Winless after four matches, Poneke? (3 points) are realistically gone from semi-final contention.

Another significant result in the scheme of things, was Marist St. Pat’s’ comeback against previous frontrunners Oriental-Rongotai to give them a 27-27 draw.

Ories seemingly sauntered to a match winning 17-3 lead after the King of Evans Bay Park, first five-eighth Fa’atonu Fili, had kicked a long-range penalty and scored and converted a try off a tighthead scrum win and second five-eighth Trevor Marama had skipped through to score untouched.

But this is the Jubilee Cup and this is MSP they were playing. The home side came back with a penalty and then a try to Jacob Taitauave. Ories flanker Pau Halafihi was sinbinned before halftime and the Red Machine was in the game at 10-17 down.

After the break right wing Sam Scown scored two consecutive tries, the second after collecting a grubber kick put through by halfback Peter Sciascia. Prop Bryce Blair scored and incredibly MSP now led 27-17.? But with time left, Ories orchestrated a try through captain and prop Whetu Henry and Fili kicked a penalty to lock the game up. The draw leaves Ories in third (14 points) and MSP in touch in fifth (9).

At the Petone Recreation Ground, Wainuiomata (5) grabbed their first win of the Jubilee Cup and kept Petone (2) winless and anchored to the bottom of the table with a 17-13 win.

In an extremely hard-fought match between the two desperate rivals, Petone out-scored Wainuiomata two tries to one, but the boot of wing Tyler Tane proved the difference.

Tane kicked the first of his four penalties before first five-eighth John Monu scored from a turnover and break by the speedster Jason Love and Wainuiomata led 14-3 at halftime.

Petone came back through tries to second five-eighth Nick Grigg and wing Jeremiah Isopo but couldn’t crack the defence at the end of the game after dominating possession and territory in the last quarter.

In the Hardham Cup, the Wellington Axemen played precision rugby to beat Avalon 49-24 at their home fortress of Hataitai Park, to sit alongside Upper Hutt as the two unbeaten teams of the Hardham Cup after four rounds after the latter beat Northern United today.

Seven individual players ran in tries for the Axemen in their win that sealed their place back in the Premier ranks for 2014, at the expense of Rimutaka and possibly the Wests Roosters as well after both of them lost their matches today. ?

New Zealand’s second oldest continuous rugby (behind Nelson RFC), Wellington fell on hard times a decade ago when they were relegated to Senior 1 - at the expense of HOBM who came up and are now leading the Jubilee Cup. Their stocks fell further when they became a Senior 2 club, before rebuilding recently and fighting their way back.

Upper Hutt came back from a 6-14 deficit to score 20 unanswered second half points in beating Northern united 26-14 in the Hardham Cup feature match at Porirua Park.

A shadow of their glory days, Norths made the full catalogue of mistakes and struggled for any sort of consistency in their play. Even the PA system and the music entertainment has fallen silent at Porirua Park.

Two sinbinnings didn’t help their cause, and immediately following the first try of the match to evergreen fullback Peato Lafaele, their hooker John White-Silva was sinbined.

Starting the second half off with a one-man advantage, Upper Hutt halfback Kayne Hammington sparked his team into life and he finished off a great team try himself, closing the score to 14-13. Norths then regained ascendancy and should of scored again if not for desperate defence and the key play of the game that saw Upper Hutt first five-eighth Ben Aoina strip the ball from a Norths attacker and set up a long-range counterattack that led to three points and a 16-14 lead and to Norths replacement lock Telea Seumanutafa being sinbinned.

The knockout blow came five minutes from fulltime when Hammington kicked over the top of a ruck and fullback Jordon Simpson-Heft ran on to collect the bouncing ball and score the try. Aoina’s conversion and a subsequent penalty on fulltime denied Norths a bonus point.

The Wests Roosters were also denied any points from their match with neighbours Johnsonville, who have leapfrogged them on the points table by beating them 39-16 at Helston Park.

It was tit-for-tat throughout much of the contest, with Johnsonville taking a 15-10 by halftime and Wests coming back to lead 16-15. From there it was all Johnsonville who scored 24 unanswered points. Two sinbinnings to Wests players proved crucial and allowed Johnsonville to win comfortably.

The final match of the Hardham Cup saw OBU B beat Rimutaka 20-17. OBU B pulled away from a 3-0 halftime lead to outscore Rimutaka three tries to two in the second half. While Rimutaka are winless through 15 matches this season, OBU B’s second win places them mid-table and they can still make the playoffs.

In the Premier Women’s Victoria Tavern Trophy, Northern United recorded the second highest score of the season after HOBM’s 127-0 win over Rimutaka, beating Poneke-MSP 121-0. The other two matches saw Ories defeat OBU 27-5 and Wainuiomata beat Avalon 34-14. Both these were with four-try bonus points.

After three rounds, Norths and Ories are unbeaten and equal on 15 points, with defending champions Wainuiomata on 10, OBU 5 and Avalon and Poneke-MSP on 0.

In round 4 Ed Chaney Cup Senior 1 results today, Paremata-Plimmerton edged HOBM 10-8 to put them into the lead with Tawa who enjoyed a 66-12 win over Upper Hutt.

In another close match, MSP beat Ories 22-21, while Wainuiomata beat Petone 18-8 and Norths got their first win of the second round, beating Poneke 31-17.

Tawa and Paremata-Plimmerton are out in front on 15 points, but below them just seven points separates positions third to tenth in the Senior 1 grade.

After a week off last week owing to the inclement weather, the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup resumed today. The Wests Roosters made it three bonus points from three in beating Johnsonville 46-6, while Avalon are also unbeaten after beating MSP 46-17.

In other games, OBU climbed to third by defeating Norths 34-8, Petone edged out Poneke 17-12 and Stokes Valley defeated Wainuiomata 24-10.

In round six Premier 1 First XV results today, Porirua College caused the boilover of the round, upsetting St Pat’s Town 19-13.

In other games, leaders St Pat’s Silverstream grabbed their sixth straight win in defeating HIBS 38-3, Wellington College pipped Scots College 32-27 in the battle for second and Naenae College beat Rongotai College 26-8.

Results in the Colts Division 1 competition saw first round champions OBU Green defeat Poneke 26-12 and HOBM Green beat Norths 21-14. In two close matches, Wellington edged Petone Blue 25-24 and Johnsonville beat Ories 13-5.