College rugby Finals Day tomorrow at Silverstream

Above: Home team St Pat's Silverstream Second XV and Tawa College meet tomorrow in the final of the Premier 2 Murray Jensen Cup.

It might be a week later than initially planned, but tomorrow sees the conclusion of the local college rugby season. St Patrick’s College Silverstream is once again the venue, where twelve more grade winners will be determined.

Fourteen schools will have at least one team in action at Silverstream, with the host school leading the way with 5 and looking for a clean sweep of the day’s big prizes.

Premier (open age & weight)

The headline game of the day is the Premier 2 final for the Murray Jensen Cup, being played on the #1 ground between Tawa College and the Silverstream Second XV at 1.30pm.

Winners of this title in 2014, Tawa played in the Premiership last year and dropped back after losing their final grading match to Bishop Viard. They finished the round-robin in third with six wins, one draw, and two losses, and made it to this stage after winning away at Kapiti College 18-16, after having also beaten them in the final round of matches two weeks earlier.

The Silverstream Seconds have essentially been playing knockout footy for more than a month. Before the school holidays they sat mid-table after losing to their Town counterparts, but after the break they beat tomorrow’s opposition Tawa (22-15) and Wainuiomata (29-7) to make the semi-finals, and last week upset top qualifiers Paraparaumu 15-8 to make the decider and claim this title for the school for the first time since 2008.

In Premier 3 the Paul Cameron Cup will be contested by two First XV’s – Onslow and Naenae. The two finished 1-2 in the round-robin and meet here after contrasting semi-finals; Onslow won an 11-0 arm-wrestle over Hutt Valley HS, while Naenae (who didn’t even field a First XV last year) beat the Wellington College 2nds 36-24. Onslow seem the likely favourites, but their one competition loss so far came at the hands of Naenae who won their round-robin meeting 19-14.

The Onslow Cup is the prize in Premier 4 and will be fought out between the Scots and Porirua College Second XV’s, with the former playing in this game for the fourth consecutive year. Both sides won four of their seven round-robin matches, with Scots beating the Silverstream Thirds 32-20 and Porirua upsetting top qualifiers Newlands 19-14 in the semi-finals.

In Premier 5 the Wellington College Thirds will look to emulate their 1st XV and take a local title when they face the Kapiti Second XV for the Ross Findlay Cup. College avenged their only defeat of the competition in beating Otaki 30-5 last weekend, while Kapiti were made to work by the Town 4ths before prevailing 30-22.

Age Grade

Some of the future First XV stars will start the day off with the Under 15 Division 1 final for the Father Gus Hill Cup. Silverstream and Town have dominated this grade in recent years, winning each of the last five titles between them, and meet again for the second successive year. Both however didn’t have it all their own way last weekend; Silverstream narrowly prevailed over Scots 22-19 in their semi-final while Town squeezed past Wellington College 33-29 in the other, and their earlier meeting was a 15-12 scoreline in unbeaten Silverstream’s favour.

The Division 2 title will be played between Hutt Valley HS and Aotea. HVHS saw off Silverstream’s U15B team 29-12 in the semi-finals, while Aotea won away against Upper Hutt 19-15. Newlands and the Wellington College U15B’s will play for the Division 3 title on the #5 ground at 10am after they beat Porirua 40-19 and Mana 39-10 respectively in their semi-finals. 

Weight-restricted Grades

As is routinely the case, the weight-restricted grades produce some of the most keenly-contested matches at college grounds each week; though once again Silverstream provides sides in all three of the major finals.

The Under 80kg Arthur Reeve Cup will be played out between Silverstream’s ‘A’ squad and Wellington College. Stream went undefeated in the six-team double round-robin (averaging 60 points per game) and crushed Town 109-0 last weekend, while College beat Silverstream’s ‘B’ side 36-12 in their semi-final. Silverstream A have been relatively untroubled by their opponents in their two meetings, winning 50-0 and 34-8, but only have to look back at last year when they were the underdogs that won.

Silverstream have owned the Under 65kg grade in recent years, winning the Ina Hansen Cup each of the past six years and will contest the final again this year. However like last year they will be looking to reverse a round-robin loss – in this case to St Bernard’s by 7-22 – to claim the trophy. St Bernard’s went undefeated on the field during the year, and will be looking to maintain that. In their two semi-finals Bernard’s beat Town 26-22, while Stream eased past Taita 39-19.

In Division 2 the two top sides, Onslow and Tawa, will meet after both breezes through their semi-finals. Onslow beat Paraparaumu 35-7, while Tawa dealt to Hutt International by 61-17.

The true lightweights - the Under 55kg grade – also have two finals. The David Scott Cup is at stake in the Division 1 final and will be contested by Wellington College and Silverstream.College have made little race of things so far, going undefeated while scoring 550 points and conceding just 29 in the round-robin and thumped Onslow 72-0 in their semi-final.Stream beat Town 29-5 last weekend, but will need to improve vastly on their 0-60 and 10-39 losses to College if they are to win. The Division 2 final will be played out between St Pats Town’s ‘B’ team and Paraparaumu after both had comfortable wins in their semi-finals.

Schedule for the day:

10.00 am
#1 - Under 15 Division 1 – Silverstream vs St Pats Town
#2 - Under 65kg Division 1 – St Bernard’s vs Silverstream
#3 - Under 55kg Division 1 – Wellington College vs Silverstream
#4 - Under 65kg Division 2 – Onslow vs Tawa
#5 - Under 15 Division 3 – Newlands vs Wellington College B

11.30 am
#2 - Under 80kg – Silverstream vs Wellington College
#3 - Premier 4 – Scots 2nd XV vs Porirua 2nd XV
#4 - Under 15 Division 2 – Hutt Valley vs Aotea
#5 – Under 55kg Division 2 – St Pats Town B vs Paraparaumu

1.00 pm
#2 - Premier 3 – Onslow 1st XV vs Naenae 1st XV
#3 - Premier 5 – Wellington College 3rd XV vs Kapiti 2nd XV

1.30 pm
#1 - Premier 2 –Tawa 1st XV vs Silverstream 2nd XV