Wins for HOBM, Wainuiomata, Poneke and Pride teams in local rugby

UPDATED: The curtain came down on the 2016 Wellington club rugby season today in typically dramatic fashion with three lower grade finals that were all only decided late in the piece.

The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles came from behind with a late long-range try to pip Poneke 25-20 and win the Premier Reserve Division 1 Ed Chaney Cup final on the neutral Petone Recreation Ground (report below).

Across the hill at William Jones Park, home side Wainuiomata defeated Oriental-Rongotai 23-15 to win the Premier Reserve Division 2 HD Morgan Memorial Trophy. Wainuiomata clung to a 18-15 lead with the clock winding down,  scoring the match-sealing try in the final few minutes.

At Kilbirnie Park, the Poneke Ruffnuts defeated the Johnsonville Cripples 27-25 in the final of the Reserve Grade competition. Poneke led the Johnsonville side 24-10, but withstood a second half comeback.

The Wellington Pride battled hard to beat Waikato 25-17 in their first home Women’s NPC match at Porirua Park (report below). Beaten up at scrum time, hammered in the penalty count and sustaining three yellow cards, the Pride put in a determined defensive effort to defeat Waikato.

At Wellington College, the home First XV was also asked to hold out a stirring comeback by Napier Boys’ High School, winning 39-31 (report below). Wellington College will play Hastings Boys’ High School in the final of the Hurricanes competition next week at Palmerston North, after Hastings dispatched St Pat’s Town 57-3.

In the WelTec Premiership semi-finals today Tawa College beat Kapiti College 18-16 and the St Pat’s Silverstream second XV beat Paraparaumu College 15-8.

There were two Festival Series matches played today, with the Wellington U19s beating the Wellington Samoans 31-26 (report below) and the Wellington Maori side beating the Wellington Barbarians 29-24.

Wellington Pride (25) Waikato (17)

The day’s rugby started in the morning at Porirua Park, with the Wellington Pride Development beating the Wellington U18s 24-22. The Development side led 12-10 at halftime, but the U18s edged in front midway through the second spell, before the Development scored consecutive tries to take victory.

It was happy days early on for Pride supporters in the Farah Palmer Cup match that followed, when fullback Georgia Daals made a booming line break and set up a converted try for debutant prop Brooke Tauaneai.

First five-eighth Amanda Rasch soon kicked a penalty and the Pride were leading 10-0. Sadly, Rasch was to leave the field right at the end with a shoulder injury.

Waikato got their tails up and hit back with their first try to wing Huia Harding after a counterattack from deep inside their half. The try came after a long period of sustained pressure on the Pride’s line and after being unable to crack the chalk from close range.

The Pride made their next visit into the 22 count; lock Sanita Levave crossing from a set-piece lineout drive in the corner. Waikato didn’t contest the set-piece and Levave dived through and helped herself to a try. However, the Pride dropped the ball from the next re-start and allowed Waikato to build more pressure and score in the corner to make it 15-10 to Wellington at halftime.

The key try of the match came just after the oranges. Waikato centre Honey Hireme spilled the ball in her own 22, a supporting player cleaned up but Wellington flanker Kiri Mei ripped the ball clean off her and dived over the line to score a try that extended their lead to 22-10.

The rest of the match for the Pride was all about hanging on. Having lost try-scorer Tauaneai to the sin-bin late in the first half, the Pride were to lose both Rasch and her Ories club teammate and centre Bernadette Robertson to the sin-bin – both for repeated offside play.

Following her earlier error that led to Mei’s try, Waikato centre Honey Hireme was the most dangerous player on the paddock in the second half, making several big runs to try and inspire her side to a comeback win. The Pride’s defence hung on well, but it finally buckled when Waikato took advantage of two extra players in the backline and strolled through to score to close the gap to 22-17.

But the Pride dug deep and held on for an important win in a match that they will be grateful just to take the competition points from. Next week they play Manawatu in Palmerston North.

Ed Chaney Cup Final: HOBM (25) v Poneke (20)

In the Ed Chaney Cup Premier Reserve Division 1 club rugby final at the neutral Petone Recreation Ground it was elation for HOBM and heartbreak for Poneke at the end, when HOBM replacement forward Chris Vailolo finished off a 60-metre counterattack and flashed in to score the match winner and his second try of the match.

Poneke were leading 20-18 at the time and looked to have the ascendancy in the closing stages of a tight tussle, with the boot of flyhalf Sam Fox regularly peeling of good territory for the red and blacks.

A pinpoint Fox penalty and touch-finder into the corner had provided for a try to Poneke openside Sam Ready off the back of a lineout. Prior to that, HOBM had kicked consecutive penalties to pull ahead 18-15.

Poneke had started the match strongly through their forwards, dominating territory and possession. But a sole Fox penalty was all they had to show for this.

HOBM weathered the storm and hit back with consecutive tries to No. 8 Levi Ekavati and to Vailolo. The Eagles then lost Levi’s brother, second five-eighth Eroni, to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle.

Once more, Poneke’s pack went to work attacking HOBM’s line, and the Eagles scrambled to get out of jail. But their exit play turned to disaster when Poneke ran it back and crossed in the far right corner. Fox converted from the sideline and it was 12-10 at halftime to HOBM.

The match opened up again for Poneke early in the second half, when they counter-attacked in broken play and scored again to push themselves ahead 15-12. A pair of penalties to HOBM halfback Aidan Jordan and then Ready’s try for Poneke set up a tense finish and Vailolo was on hand to score the match winner.

The win was HOBM’s first Ed Chaney Cup victory since 1971.

Wellington U19s (31) – Wellington Samoans (26)

It was an exciting game, with nine tries in total, as both teams seldom put boot to ball, resulting in a fast-flowing, attacking game of rugby which saw the U19s prove too strong.

The Samoans got off to a flying start, crossing the U19s' line twice early on. Oriental-Rongotai props Nu'u Lene and Steve Fa'atau combined to send fullback Ryan Setefano in for the first try of the game, before No 8 Lise Soloa intercepted a miscalculated U19s pass to run 45 metres and put the Samoans up 14-0 after 25 minutes.

The U19s game plan to keep the ball in hand eventually paid off, spreading the ball to the left wing of Losi Filipo in their own in-goal, who beat several defenders on his way to a brilliant 100-metre try to bring the score back to 14-7 at the half.

Samoans flanker Athun Masun had a bad start to the second stanza, receiving a yellow card for intentionally knocking the ball out of Kemara Hauiti-Parapara's hands, and the U19s halfback responded with a try just as Masun's 10 minutes in the sin bin was about to come to an end.

The midfield combination of Lester Maulolo and Levi Harmon was potent for the U19s throughout the match, and their combination gave the U19s another five points just a minute after Hauiti-Parapara's score. Maulolo tore apart the Samoans defence inside his own half to send Harmon over the line to give the U19s their first lead of the day.

Substitute U19s wing Willie Fine then jigged his way over for two tries to cap off a brilliant 31-point blitz by the U19s which was enough to see off the Samoans, despite late tries to substitutes Josh Robertson-Weepu and Jacob Taituave.

U19s replacement prop Ivan Fepuleai was a standout when he got on the field, as was flanker Jimmy Hewitt and Filipo. The Samoans tired with only four substitutes, though Setefano was the best of his bunch.

Wellington College (39) v Napier Boys’ High School (31)

Wellington College have won through to the Hurricanes final for the first time since 2013 after overcoming a stubborn Napier Boys' High School.

Wellington surged ahead 25-7 after half an hour, but Napier rallied to close the deficit to a solitary point before Wellington reclaimed control in an entertaining match.

Lock Taine Plumtree made the first line break in the fourth minute. Napier was penalised for offside and Reece Plumtree kicked the opening penalty. Kicking was source of Napier's first try. The ball was chipped out towards right wing Daniel Sharplin who gathered acrobatically before touch to score in the corner. Centre Mitch Drew converted from the sideline and the visitors led 7-3.

Inexplicably, Napier failed to kick the ball ten-metres from re-starts four times and dispatched one kick-off over the dead ball line. Elementary mistakes of this nature allowed Wellington to gain complete control. Tries to Adrian Seumanufagai, Qualen Asi and Ish Perkins saw the hosts burst to an 18 point lead.

The Perkins try was a real cracker involving ten players running and linking over the course of 60-meters. Drew was a constant threat for Napier and he busted through two soft tackles and darted 25-metres to make it 25-12 five minutes before halftime. Napier lost first-five Zarn Sullivan to the sin bin for a high tackle, but Sharplin snatched an intercept and sprinted 40-metres to make it 25-19 at the break.

The first 10 minutes of the second-half was scoreless and forgettable. Napier fullback Brayden Cunningham livened proceeding when he wriggled through three tackles and burst from 22 to 22. Quick ruck ball followed and hooker Tyrone Thomson muscled over. Ahead 25-24 Wellington decided to keep the ball tighter and had success piercing holes close to the ruck. Second-five Stone Warren-Robertson invariably broke the first tackle every time he touched the ball and a bust he made created an overlap for wing Connor Fuli to finish. Fuli won the game with his second try which was a stroll over after aggressive runs by Asi and openside Gus McPherson.

Napier finished with a consolation try. Wellington will play Hastings BHS in the Hurricanes final in Palmerston North next Saturday. The Super 8 champions trounced St. Pats Town 57-3. Hastings have won all 16 matches this season.