Wellington U18, U20 sides miss out in finals; Wellington Development finish season on a high

There were defeats to two of Wellington’s three sides this afternoon at Arena Manawatu in Palmerston on Finals Day of the Hurricanes Youth Council competition.

The Wellington U20s missed out to the Manawatu U20s 15-17 and the Wellington U18s lost to the Hawke’s Bay U18s 11-24 in their finals, while the Wellington Centurions beat the Wairarapa Bush U18s 20-3 in their U18B division final.

In the two other representative matches today, the Wellington Pride went down 0-46 to the Auckland Storm in the Women’s NPC and the Wellington Development side enjoyed a 50-10 lakeside win against Bay of Plenty Development.

The Pride were up against a motivated Storm side who led them 17-0 at halftime and racked up their four-try bonus point just after the interval.

The Wellington Development side scored seven tries against their Bay of Plenty opposition at Taupo, with seven different players crossing the line. They led 22-5 at halftime.

Whetu Henry, Shahn Eru, Pau Halafihi, Simon Tevita, Nick Grigg, Jeff Makapelu and Hamish Buick all crossed the whitewash, while first five-eighth Brandyn Laursen kicked five of six conversions and kicked a penalty.

They also did it down on Personnel, with just four travelling reserves and at least a couple of players playing out of position for some of the game. Thus concludes the Wellington Development XVs season.

The Wellington U18s and the U20s were both guilty of making numerous handling mistakes and turning the ball over far too often in what were difficult, blustery conditions.

The U18s trailed 6-9 late in the first half, before two quick tries to Hawke’s Bay gave them a 21-6 lead at the turnaround and ultimately won them the match.

Hawke’s Bay repelled several Wellington raids throughout the second half, before extending their advantage to 24-6 with a fourth penalty.

Wellington finally hit back, through wing Aleks Noble-Campbell, but it was too little too late and a second Hawke’s Bay team had a win over a Wellington one inside two days.

There was a grandstand finish on the main field inside FMG Stadium where the Wellington U20s scored an 82nd minute try through replacement prop Jacob Tauituave to close up the deficit to 15-17.

With the last play of the match, first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop had the chance to level up the scores with his conversion about 15 metres in from touch and thus share the title but pushed his kick wide in the strong wind.

Manawatu had previously scored two tries and come back from a 0-10 deficit to lead 14-10 midway through the second half, both tries created from the constant pressure they were able to create at the breakdown and Wellington’s distinct lack of patience and ball control.

Manawatu first five-eighth Otere Black, whose sinbinning with five minutes to play could have proved costly, extended their lead to 17-10 on 66 minutes leaving Wellington having to play catch-up rugby into the wind.

Earlier, Wellington centre Aukuso Tuitavia flashed in to score the opening try in just the 5th minute. Second five-eighth Tyler Tane extended Wellington’s lead to 10-0 with a well-struck penalty on 15 minutes.

The rest of the first half was hotly contested, but both sides were guilty of conceding numerous penalties and aside from two long-range Tane penalty misses Wellington never really looked like scoring again despite dominating territory.

Dominating Manawatu’s lineout ball, Wellington went wide early in the second half to wings Sosi Tuiamavavae and Andrew Ellis and fullback Andrew Wells and looked like breaking through on at least three occasions.

Manawatu kept Wellington out on each occasion and used the wind for territory, leading to their fullback Michael Gattshe breaking through to score the first of their two tries.

Over on the far field, The Wellington Centurions side completed back-to-back wins over Wairarapa Bush to win the U18B title.

The Centurions scored four unconverted tries and won 20-3. Captain and No. 8 Sam Wasley scored two tries. They led 15-0 at halftime.

Scores:

Wellington Development XV 50 (Whetu Henry, Shahn Eru, Pau Halafihi, Simon Tevita, Nick Grigg, Jeff Makapelu, Hamish Buick tries; Brandyn Laursen 5 con, pen; Hamish Buick con) beat Bay of Plenty Development 10. HT: 22-5

Women’s NPC Round 6: Wellington Pride 0 lost to the Auckland Storm 0-46. Ht: Auckland 17-0

Hurricanes YC U20A Final: Wellington U20 15 (Aukuso Tuitavia; Jacob Tautiave tries; Tyler Tane con, pen) lost to Manawatu U20 17. Ht: Wellington 10-0

Hurricanes YC U18A Final: Wellington U18 11 (Aleks Noble-Campbell try; Josh Robertson-Weepu 2 pen) lost to Hawke’s Bay U18 24

Hurricanes YC U18B Final: Wellington U18 Centurions 20 (Sam Wasley 2, Keanu Moran, Tua Vaai tries) beat Wairarapa Bush U18 3

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