Premier 1 First XV final and Senior 1 semi-finals this weekend

Above: The Wellington College and St Pat’s Silverstream First XVs? squaring off at the start of their midweek Traditional clash earlier in the season. They meet again on Sunday afternoon at Porirua Park in the Wellington Premier 1 final.

Playoff rugby continues? around Wellington this weekend, with the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup and Divisions 2 and 3 U85 kg grade semi-finals around the region on Saturday and then the big one for college rugby, the Premier 1 First XV final, at Porirua Park on Sunday.

Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup Semi-Finals

As the clich? goes, round-robin form often counts for little in knockout rugby. This adage could well be the case in the two Senior 1 semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.

The two semi-finals see top qualifier Paremata-Plimmerton host fourth placed finisher Hutt Old Boys Marist at Ngatitoa Domain and second placed Wainuiomata square off against Tawa’s second team at William Jones Park. Both are 2.30 pm kick-offs.

Beaten finalists last year, Paremata-Plimmerton are determined to go one better and also make a three-peat of second round titles for Western Bays sides after Tawa won the Jubilee Cup and Norths won the Hardham Cup last Sunday.

Paremata-Plimmerton enter tomorrow’s semi-final having coming off a hard fought 14-10 win over Wainuiomata at home in the last round. This was their eighth win in nine matches and their only blip was a draw with MSP. They qualified on top four points clear of Wainuiomata.? In the first round they finished mid-table with five wins and six losses. They bring a structured attack and a well-organised defensive game and have actually scored the fewest points of the four semi-fnalists (179) but have also conceded the fewest points (117).

Their opponents HOBM will hope to continue their steady rise in 2013. This is the same HOBM side that swept all before them in the first round Senior 2 competition and won every game in claiming that title. Stepping up a grade in the second round they continued their winning ways for the most part, dropping just three matches in nine. This included wins over fellow playoff teams Wainuiomata (17-11) and Tawa (40-29). They also only lost narrowly to Paremata-Plimmerton (8-10) when they met back in round four. The result of this semi-final is far from a foregone conclusion.

Similarly, Wainuiomata and Tawa have had similar seasons and little can separate these teams heading into their playoff match. Both won six and lost three of nine round-robin matches and they finished within a point of each other on the table. Tawa won their clash 26-24 in a 50-pointer when they met at Lyndhurst Park back in the opening week of round-robin matches, while Wainuiomata beat Tawa 28-19 when they clashed in the first round at the start of April. For their part, Wainuiomata will want to secure the club’s first Senior silverware since the 2010 Hardham Cup.

Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial HD Morgan Cup

It's the last round of matches ahead of next week's Senior 2 semi-finals. The third round was washed out so these games tomorrow are those that have been rescheduled from 22 June.

Much of the Senior 2 HD Morgan Cup semi-finals picture is already decided. Wests will finish on top and host one semi-final next weekend, while OBU and Avalon will meet in the other. However there are still games to be played, and the identity of Wests’ opponents next week to be found.

Johnsonville (19 points) are currently the team holding that fourth spot after wresting? it away from Stokes Valley last week. They go into their game against MSP on the St Pat’s artificial at 1.30 pm knowing that their fate is in their hands. However if they stumble it would open the door for a number of teams.

Two of those face off when fifth-placed Stokes Valley (17) visit sixth-placed Petone (15) at 1.15 pm. With both sides needing to win to bridge the points gap expect neither to leave anything on the field. Wainuiomata (15) will need to tip up OBU at William Jones at 12.45 pm and hope other results go their way, and are also hindered by their poor points differential; while both MSP (14) and Poneke (14), who visit Norths at Porirua Park at 1.15 pm are both still mathematically alive but both need considerable help if they are to sneak in.

The final game has no impact on the semi-final picture with Wests travelling to Avalon and both sides already qualified. However both will want to keep their momentum going heading into the playoffs, while also avoiding any costly late season injuries.

U85 kg Division

The penultimate week of the premier lightweight round-robin has three games on the slate. The MSP Blues put the Centurions RFC Cup on the line when they play the OBU Spartans at Prince of Wales at 3.00 pm, while second-placed Tawa Titans host Wellington at Lyndhurst at 1.15pm. The final game has the OBU Bunnies playing at 3.30 pm on the St Pat’s artificial for the second successive week, this time against the MSP Reds.? Eastbourne has the bye.

Its semi-finals time though in the lower divisions. In Division 2 top-qualifiers the Upper Hutt Stallions host Hutt Old Boys-Marist at Maidstone Park, while the Poneke Cav’s host Stokes Valley at Kilbirnie Park in the other. In Division 3 Avalon takes on the Poneke Ravens at Fraser Park and Johnsonville host Paremata-Plimmerton at Helston.? All four games are 3.00 pm kickoffs.

As well as these grades, there is a full slate of Senior 3, Colts Division 2, Reserve and President’s grade matches.

Premier 1 First XV Final

Top qualifiers St Pat’s Silverstream are expected to be tested by second placed Wellington College in this year’s final at Poriua Park on Sunday, kick-off 2.45 pm.

Together, these two schools have had a mortgage on the title for the past nine years, while the last two finals between the pair have been nail biters. In 2011 Wellington College prevailed 20-18 and last year Silverstream won 6-3 in driving rain.

Both these teams are coming off well-taken semi-final wins last Saturday, with Silverstream overcoming the challenge of Naenae 36-14 and Wellington College taking their chances to beat Scots College 27-0.

Wellington College also contested the annual quadrangular tournament this week in Nelson, beating Christ’s College 47-5 on day one and the defeating the home side 16-10 in the final. They head into Sunday’s final having won 10 and lost three of their 13 clashes this season. Their last loss was to Silverstream seven matches ago, 11-25 for the Ken Gray Memorial Trophy. In 13 matches, Wellington College have scored 447 points and conceded 174.

Silverstream are unbeaten in 11 matches this season, and defeated Wellington College 25-11 when they met in their annual mid-week Traditional match at Wellington College earlier in their campaign. Three of Silverstream’s seven round-robin matches were by winning margins of 50 points or greater, while they also kept their opposition scoreless in three matches. Their season points scoring record in all their 11 matches is 453 for and 73 against.

The past 10 winners have been: 2003 – Rongotai College; 2004 - Wellington College; 2005 - Wellington College; 2006 - Wellington College; 2007 - Wellington College; 2008 - Wellington College; 2009 - Wellington College; 2010 - St Pat’s Silverstream; 2011 - Wellington College; 2012 St Pat’s Silverstream.

The match is live on Sky Television. The prize for the winner is a place in the Hurricanes region semi-finals and a crack at National Top Four glory later this month.

On Saturday, St Pat’s Town and Porirua College’s meet in the Plate final at Evans Bay Park, kick-off 2.30 pm.