Wellington Development and Centurions teams miss out to Canterbury, Auckland opposition

The Wellington Development side and the Centurions U85kg team both lost their home representative fixtures today.

At the Petone Recreation Ground, Wellington Development missed out to Canterbury Development 22-31.

At Evans Bay Park, the Centurions U85kg side lost to the Auckland U85kgs 3-21.

Canterbury Development 31 - Wellington Development 22

Canterbury Development 31 (Poasa Waqanibau, Mark Maitland, Dylan Nel tries; Brooke Retallick 3 pen, con; Brett Cameron con, pen) beat Wellington Development 22 (Finnbarr Kerr-Newell, Teegan Minkley, Hemi Fermanis, Greg Mullany tries; Mullany conversion). Halftime 21-10.

The Wellington Development side were left to rue a shocking start against their Canterbury counterparts, on their way to conceding a 0-18 deficit midway through the first half.

Ill-discipline was the root cause of their problems, with Canterbury capitalising on a succession of penalties to score two first half tries and kick three penalties before the halftime turnaround. 

Supporters had barely taken their seats when Canterbury’s forwards drove from a lineout penalty and went wide to fullback Mark Maitland who sliced clean through to the score the game’s opening try.

Playing with a moderate wind, starting first five-eighth Brooke Brooke Retallick kicked consecutive penalties to extend their lead to 11-0.

Things went from bad to worse for Wellington when Canterbury raced in for their second clinical try of the afternoon, going wide off the top of a lineout on the far side and right wing Poasa Waqanibau crossing in a flurry to the right of the poles.

Wellington was finally able to build some pressure and replied with a try in the corner to fullback Teegan Minkley following an attacking scrum.

Wellington scored their second try soon after with captain and prop Finnbarr Kerr-Newell crashing over from a penalty and lineout drive after Canterbury’s try-scorer Waqanibau had been sin-binned.

Canterbury went close to scoring again just before the break, with Wellington flanker Will Mangos sin-binned in the process. Retallick banged over his third penalty and the red and blacks led 21-10.

Wellington enjoyed their best period of the match in the third quarter. Injecting fresh legs off the bench, they were able to exert significant pressure on Canterbury. Centre Aukuso Tuitama was twice involved in breaks that almost led to tries and eventually replacement first five-eighth Greg Mullany scored. A comeback win was on the cards.

But that was as close as Wellington got, with replacement pivot Brett Cameron soon extending Canterbury’s lead to 24-15 with their fourth penalty.

Canterbury also got good use out of an extended bench and their forwards starting getting their rolling maul working, which led to field position and their replacement loose forward Dylan Nel peeling off an attacking scrum and crossing for the match-winner with just a few minutes to go.

Wellington fought hard to fulltime and the reward was a consolation converted try to replacement Hemi Fermanis.

Wellington plays Tasman Development at Porirua Park next weekend in their final match of the 2016 season.

Auckland U85kgs 21 - Centurions U85kgs 3

The Centurions lost their unbeaten record for 2016 falling to Auckland 21-3.

Played at a windswept Evans Bay Park Artificial, a torrid and scrappy affair was won by an Auckland side that applied considerable pressure defensively and punished Wellington’s ill-discipline.  

Except for a try on fulltime, the only other five-pointer scored in the match was midway through the first-half. From a scrum Auckland jolted the ball free from the Centurions’ grasp and fullback Tim Eggers finished an overlap from the spillage.

Auckland kicked three penalties and missed a further three attempts. First five-eighth Tim Neighbours played an assured game using his prodigious punt to good effect.

After a promising start the Centurions went away from their structure, hassled by the line speed of the Auckland defence and hampered by poor handling and a malfunctioning lineout.

Shortly after halftime halfback Matt Fowler kicked Wellington's solitary penalty. The best of Wellington's players were busy No.8 Yianni Hilder, fiery lock Jared Martinovich and openside Michael Findlay who recovered from a case of laryngitis to have more impact than his voice.