Ed Chaney, HD Morgan Memorial and John Davies Cups to be decided tomorrow

This Saturday sees the curtain fall on the club rugby season with the last three finals and winners to be decided; the two Premier Reserve division titles along with the Reserve Grade division 1 crown.

Elsewhere there’s representative action (to be covered separately), national championship qualifiers, and following last week’s weather-related postponement the full slate of lower grade college rugby semi-finals.

Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup

Saturday’s Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup final will see the Poneke and Hutt Old Boys Marist second XVs clash at the neutral Petone Recreation Ground.

The season finale is being played at Petone, because the Hutt Recreation Ground is unavailable Saturday, having been booked by rugby league.

The top tier of the Premier Reserve competition produced a pair of upsets in the semi-finals. Poneke got the better of previously unbeaten top-qualifiers the Upper Hutt Rams in their clash, while Hutt Old Boys Marist beat neighbours and rivals Petone.

Poneke fullback Michael Sage said his team is predicting a tough battle against the Eagles.

“Both games we’ve had this year have been close,” Sage explained. “We snuck through with a penalty on full-time for a win in the first round [32-31] – and then went down closely in the second [26-30] just two weeks ago. As the old saying goes if we win the contest up front then we’ll be well on our way. The weather has had a strong hand in matches over the last couple of weeks so it would be great if the weather turned up on Saturday too. Regardless of that though, everyone in our camp knows if we play our best then we’ll get the job done.”

Poneke just scraped through to the Ed Chaney Cup semi-finals.

“Scraped in is almost an understatement – we actually narrowly missed out on the semi-finals to Norths, only to discover on the Sunday evening that they’d been docked a few points for fielding ineligible players. That bumped us into the semis against the unbeaten Upper Hutt. Our boys were all quite pleased about that though as we’d lost in last minute plays in our previous two matches against Upper Hutt and were keen to make amends – which we did on Saturday, this time holding on to prevail 10-9. It was the most satisfying win of the season for sure, but everyone’s amped now for the final.”

Hutt Old Boys Marist’s captain is openside flanker Dan Corderoy, who said his side is buoyed by last Saturday’s 29-9 semi-final win over higher ranked Petone.

“For such a miserable day I thought the semi -final was a great game of rugby from both sides. Our boys really fronted up on defence but still showed their ability to use the ball and score tries. Our first five-eighth, Aidan Jordan, kicked well and kept us in the Petone half and our lineout was dominant enough to keep possession and even steal some from Petone.”

Corderoy said the Eagles are motivated for this one.

“The boys are holding up well, there is only one player that has an injury that might keep him out of the final, so we are in pretty good shape. 

“The guys are really keen for the game on Saturday, before this season we had lost three semi-finals in a row, so the boys and coaches are fizzing to play in a final.”

In the 2013 semi-final, HOBM lost 17-15 to Paremata-Plimmerton, in 2014 they went down 26-20 to Petone and in 2015 they lost to Marist St Pat’s 20-18.

Reflecting on the two close matches against Poneke already this year, Corderoy said the Eagles are expecting another tightly contest match.

“We are expecting another close game in the final. It’s going to take trust and attitude to beat Poneke. We have to trust our skills, game plan and the boys we play alongside. I know it’s a cliché but attitude in the final will be huge, whoever wants the win more will probably take the cup home.”

Both Corderoy and Sage are expecting plenty of support in the final.

“I know we will get good support, there was a bit of disappointment when we found out we could not play at the Hutt Rec, but Petone is not far so we are expecting a good crowd, said Corderoy.“You don’t get to play in a final often so I know the boys will get a lift when they hear the crowd cheer as they run out, or make a break, or score a try.”

Poneke’s Sage echoed those thoughts. “We’ve played on the road the last couple of weeks so we know how to lift regardless of the support levels – but with the transfer both sets of supporters will have some travelling to do. At the end of the day its finals football so there’ll be some spectators there for sure – but we’ll prepare for this week just like any other.”

Win or lose, both sides will celebrate the end of another long, hard season back at their respective clubrooms on Saturday night.

“It’s the Poneke FC prize giving this Saturday night and it would be great to take some more silverware home to the clubrooms, enthused Sage.“ I’m sure some of the boys will know how to drink out of the Ed Chaney by the time we get back to the clubrooms if everything goes well but we’ll wait to see how things pan out on Saturday.”

Corderoy agrees that taking a drink from the Ed Chaney Cup will be good reward, adding: “it will be a big night, Hemi Tanuvasa has already promised the team a tray of jugs, but I’m sure he won’t be the only one.”

Teams:

Hutt Old Boys Marist
1. Kahu Ward, 2. Tasi Fidow, 3. Brett Manaia, 4. Ben Taui, 5. Chris Vailalo, 6. Jason Hoffman, 7. Daniel Corderoy, 8. Levi Ekevati, 9. Taylor Edwards, 10. Adrian Jacobs, 11. Patricio Taafua, 12. Eroni Ekevati, 13. Sala Soloa, 14. Brian Lima, 15. Matt Poole RESERVES: 16. Bevan Wood, 17. Jonny Ratima, 18. Rei Manaia, 19. Chad Bryant, 20. Jordan Gillies, 21. James Kussel, 22. Simi Siu

Poneke
1. Daly Meiklejohn, 2. Ash Swinburne-Luke, 3. Aresmin Schaumkell, 4. Pat Phillips, 5. Charlie Siale, 6. Sam Ready, 7. Asim Talim, 8. Jarrod Bryan, 9. Jack Casey-Potter ©, 10. Sam Fox, 11. Sam Ah Mein Momomemausu, 12. Saimoa Siale, 13. Rez Casteal, 14. Kurt Sickler, 15. Michael Sage RESERVES 16. Jordan Hoerara, 17. Cormac Ryan, 18. Boaza Atetu, 19. Simon Davis, 20. Dom Richbell, 21. Matt Green 22. Etene Gucake

Premier Reserve HD Morgan Memorial Cup

In contrast to the Ed Chaney Cup, both the home sides prevailed in the lower division last Saturday. Wainuiomata eased past Paremata-Plimmerton, while Oriental-Rongotai beat Avalon for the second time in as many weeks, to set up tomorrow’s final at William Jones Park at 2.30pm.

These two actually meet in this game for the second successive year, only that last year’s encounter was at the Polo Ground, which Ories won narrowly 22-20. Wainuiomata will be looking to overturn that result this year and should go in as favourites; they’ve also won both the sides’ two contests this year by 22-12 and 52-17.

Teams:

Wainuiomata
1. Jordan Mika Naama, 2. Dion Lealofi, 3.Anthony Mamea, 4. Dan Cherry, 5. Kane Gush, 6 Aaron Gage, 7.Matt Jacobs, 8. Matt Sole, 9.Uale Mai, 10. John Gregory, 11. Jason Love, 12. Eden Monu, 13. Erich Tuisila, 14. Derek Alatina Lealiifano, 15, Mike Williams RESERVES 16. Kade Tiatia, 17. laipise Alailefaleula, 18 . Jason Calcinai, 19. Sana Mene, 20. Malakai Tupou, 21. Wayne Aiomata, 22. Kurt Samuel

Oriental-Rongotai
1. Tao-Roi Lupo, 2. James Tuiatua, 3. Lauina Faatau, 4. Ola Vaai (c), 5. Tom Aitken, 6. Meseka Ioane 7. Sa Samuelu, 8. Siaosi Lavea, 9. Ropeti Fa'atoafe, 10. Sone Fina'I 11. Salima Va'ai, 12. Peme Leiataua, 13. Tukia Purcell, 14. Va'a Perenise, 15. Teara Henderson RESERVES 16. Sani Fa'amausili, 17. Lautoa Tupufia, 18. Victor Groom, 19. Ioane Poasa, 20. Steve Tavoi, 21. Ekuale Taua'a, 22. Lui Visesio-Skelton

Reserve Grade John Davies Cup

Two of the more storied teams in lower-grade club rugby will contest the Reserve Grade title. The Poneke Ruffnuts will look to crown their 20th season with victory at Kilbirnie Park (and to add to the first round title they shared with Stokes Valley), but will have to get past the Johnsonville Cripples to achieve that.

Both sides had to battle to reach the decider, Johnsonville beat Stokes Valley by 13-12 while Poneke and Marist St Pats couldn’t be separated at either full-time or after extra-time; the Ruffnuts only progressing from the 27-all draw by virtue of having beaten their neighbours in the round-robin.

Kick-off in all three finals is at 2.30pm.

College

Locally, College Sport Wellington have made the decision to push finals day back to next week following last Saturday’s complete cancellation of all games, meaning tomorrow is all about semi-finals.

Amongst those games in Premier 2 Paraparaumu College host the St Pat’s Silverstream 2nd XV while just down the road Kapiti face Tawa, both at 2.30pm; in Premier 3 Onslow College take on Hutt Valley HS and Naenae College host the Wellington College 2nd XV both at 1pm, and in the Under 15 grade Silverstream hosts Scots College at 10am with St Pat’s Town and Wellington College at Evans Bay Park at 11.30am.