Ories, Petone and the Upper Hutt Rams win silverware

The Oriental Rongotai women’s team, the Upper Hutt Rams Hardham Cup side and Colts and the Petone Colts Premier Reserves and Women’s were big winners in today’s non-Premier Wellington club rugby matches.

At Maidstone Park, the Upper Hutt Rams put on a try scoring clinic to beat the Avalon Wolves 98-12 and win the Hardham Cup with a week to spare. Openside flanker Daniel Schrijvers and right wing Max Pearson both scored hat-tricks. The Upper Hutt Rams Premier Reserves also beat Avalon in the early game at Maidstone, to win the HD Morgan Memorial Cup with next week’s final round to spare.

As reported elsewhere, the Old Boys University Billygoats won the Jubilee Cup final at the Petone Recreation Ground, defeating Hutt Old Boys Marist 32-19.

In the two other Hardham Cup contests, the Dane Coles-inspired Poneke side beat Paremata-Plimmerton 39-28 and Johnsonville beat the Wellington Axemen 33-26 – coming back from a big deficit in the second half.

In the other five finals played at the Petone Recreation Ground, the Oriental-Rongotai Women beat the Old Boys University Impalas 63-8, the Petone Women beat the Paremata-Plimmerton Women 36-27 to win the division 2 title, the Petone Premier Reserves defeated Old Boys University 321-19, the Petone Colts defeated Old Boys University Green 36-20 and the Upper Hutt Rams Colts defeated the Kapiti Colts 16-14 to win the Colts Division 2 competition.

Reports of three of these finals are below:

Women’s final: Oriental-Rongotai (63) – Old Boys University (8)

Oriental-Rongotai ran away in the second half of the Victoria Tavern Trophy Women’s final to beat Old Boys University.

Ories turned a 16-0 halftime lead into a convincing nine tries to one victory. Left wing Ayesha Leti’l’iga scored a second half hat-trick, to finish the season with 26 tries and to become the single season Ories try-scoring record holder. Leti-l’iga also equalled the known all-time Wellington club rugby single season record set by Wellington Axemen wing Michael Knight in 1970.

Superior physicality and growing confidence with ball in hand saw Ories fly home in the second half. Openside flanker Lillian Mapu was one of their standouts, and it was her that set the tone for the floodgates opening when she finished off a barnstorming run by captain and prop Raylene Lolo.

OBU hit back with a try in the right hand corner to wing Kendall Templeman off an attacking scrum following an earloier run to just short of the opposite corner flag by lock Georgia Scott.

But the closing 30 minutes of the final was all Ories, the injection of Amanda Rasch off the bench and extra intensity all round helping to spark several spectacular tries. Leti-l’iga crossed for her first try, followed by tries to centre Fa’asua Makisi, replacement wing Helena Lawrence, Leti-l’iga (2) and first five-eighth Kauna Lopa.

Earlier, Old Boys University were right in the match throughout the first stanza. They were competitive in the breakdowns and first five-eighth Tara Horsnell and the midfield Burgess pairing were all dangerous as they ran hard and direct.

The Impalas were almost over the line twice in the first 20 minutes, the most promising chance coming from a penalty and a lineout in the corner, followed by another penalty and quick tap by evergreen hooker Hiria McCrae.

However, the first points of the final finally came in the 25th minute, a long-range try to Ories.

From a scrum 60 metres out, livewire first five-eighth Lopa kicked ahead into open space for OBU fullback Montana Heslop to collect. Heslop, however, made a meal of the bouncing ball and Ories fullback Mena Tumaai pounced and scampered clear and put Ories ahead 5-0.

Ories made two more long-range raids, finding increasing space on the outside. Both of these led to penalties in front of the sticks and halfback Reijeli Uluinayau kicked both to put the O-Tide up 11-0.

Then, on the stroke of halftime, OBU made a hash of scrambling from their own line, Ories had an attacking 5-metre scrum and one minute of frenetic play later No. 8 Jonah Ngan-Woo scored in the corner to make it 16-0 at halftime.

The title win to Ories is their second in four years. 

Colts Division 1 final: Petone 36 – Old Boys University 20

The Petone Colts reversed a 20-3 halftime deficit to beat Old Boys University 36-20 in the final of the John E Kelly Memorial Cup. The Villagers were the top qualifier for the decider and captured the prize for the first time since 2007.
 
Initially, OBU made all the running bullying the Villagers scrum and stretching the host's defence with some ambitious attack inside their own half.
 
Petone Fullback Ben Brooking opened the scoring with a penalty, but tires to No.8 Chris Hicks, from a powerful scrum drive, and dynamic hooker Jimmy Hewitt were rich reward for the students.
 
Petone’s first-half play was selfish and ponderous - a stark contrast to the vibrant and powerful collective effort of the second. Quick tries after the break to Brooking and huge tighthead prop Kaliopasi Uluiolakepa reduced the gap smartly to 20-15.
 
OBU enjoyed a period of pressure, but failed to add to their tally, knocking on repeatedly and turning down possible shots at goal.
 
When the impressive Uluiolakepa rumbled over for his second try to make it 20-20 and Brooking nailed a sideline conversion, the momentum had well and truly swung.
 
Petone iced the triumph with tries to No.8 Viliami Vake and loose head prop Jordan Gogo.

Premier Reserve final: Petone (21) – Old Boys University (19)

Petone avenged two earlier season defeats to deny Old Boys’ University 21-19 in the final of the Ed Chaney Cup.
 
The game ended controversially when OBU, trailing 21-14, had a series of scrums, five-metres shy of the Petone line. OBU squeezed Petone backwards, but the referee refused to signal a penalty try. Eventually Michael Bryan bustled over to leave wing Jack Green the chance to extend proceedings into extra time. Green narrowly missed the slightly angled conversion from 20-metres out and Petone prevailed.
 
An aghast Green pleaded with the referee to change the call. From some angles the ball appeared to have gone over the tiny posts. Green had missed two earlier shots from a handy range.
 
There was no doubt about Jared Kahu’s 45-metre angled penalty with about ten minutes left. The halfback’s punt nearly landed on the road of Udy Street as Petone edged ahead 16-14. It was a telling strike as a short while later Petone No.8 Ethan Wilson scored a try in the corner following side to side attack.
 
It was a tight tussle for the entire 80-minutes. Petone started brightly and led 7-0 after a converted try to fullback Zach Hrstich. Green kicked two penalties to make it 7-6, but Petone led 13-9 at the interval following two penalties to Kahu.
 
OBU reserve prop Alex Barendregt scored the first try of the second-half to make it 14-13, but despite a superior set-piece, OBU’s ball security let Petone off several times. Petone flankers Jack Coles and Jarrod Hrstich tackled themselves to a standstill and Kahu’s poise under pressure both in general play and off the tee was vital.