Four teams qualify for Jubilee Cup

Four teams have qualified for the upcoming Jubilee Cup round with two full rounds to spare in the first round competition after another afternoon on Wellington’s club fields.

Leaders Old Boys University, Northern United, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Marist St Pat’s have all officially qualified for the coveted championship round after 11 rounds of 13 of the Swindale Shield.

The race for the ‘top 7’ is still very much on, however, six teams still in contention and fighting for the reaming three spots.

These six teams are Petone, Tawa, Poneke, Oriental-Rongotai, the Upper Hutt Rams and, at a stretch, Wainuiomata who are within 10 points of the current seventh-placed cut-off.

Just Avalon, Paremata-Plimmerton, the Wellington Axemen and Johnsonville are guaranteed to be heading to the Hardham Cup in June and July.

In today’s 11th round set of matches, played in fine, mild conditions for this time of year, it was Marist St Pat’s that took the most convincing win of the seven winners this afternoon.

MSP defeated neighbours Poneke 42-28 for the Horan-Millar Trophy, coming back from a 12-22 deficit late in the first half to score a try to the nephew of Kevin Horan, openside flanker Tom Horan, just before the break and then scoring twice more immediately after the break to see them move ahead 30-22. Poneke twice narrowed the margin with penalties, but Ryan Setefano scored to put them ahead 35-28 and then replacement prop Ian Leota scored at the end to deny what could be an important second losing bonus point for Poneke.

There were some outstanding tries scored in this match, but on the flipside there were injuries too, including starting Poneke Hurricanes halfback Finlay Christie who departed early in the contest.

Over at the Polo Ground Northern United beat Oriental-Rongotai 32-15 for the To'omaga Alex Iona Memorial Cup. Norths led 10-0 early and then 15-3 when outstanding flanker Du-Plessis Kirifi scored again. Ories No. 8 Luca Rees scored before the break and it was 15-10 to Norths at halftime. Perry Hayman, in his 100th game, kicked a scrum penalty, before wings Liki Siliga and Junior Time—Taotua scored more tries for Norths. Rees scored his second try at the end, his 11th of the season.

At the Hutt Recreation Ground, the HOBM Eagles retained the Billy Herbert Trophy against the Avalon Wolves with a hard-fought 29-20 win.

The game was delayed for several minutes at the start after an injury in the first game. HOBM scored two early converted tries, including one to new second five-eighth Albert Polu who was in the St Pat’s Silverstream side last year. Avalon cut this to 14-13 before a third try to HOBM prop Brett Manaia made it 19-13. Avalon scored another converted try and Polu his second to advance the score to 24-20, before flanker Jordan Gillies scored late to seal the win for the Eagles.

At William Jones Park, Tawa won the Chris Stirling Cup with a convincing 43-22 win over Wainuiomata.

Playing into the wind, Tawa scored three tries to lead 19-0 late in the first half. Wainuiomata scored a seven-pointer on halftime to lock Bevan Clark, before Tawa crossed for their bonus point try and a 26-7 lead. This became 36-12 and then then 36-17 before both sides scored again at the end.

At Ngati Toa Domain, Old Boys University had a hard-fought 31-20 victory over Paremata-Plimmerton. Will Mangos stunned the hosts from the kickoff when he collected a fumble and stormed 40-metres to score. Paremata-Plimmerton quickly regrouped and some determined and structured forward play earned two kickable penalties which Blake Neve slotted to close the gap to 7-6.

Junior Makapelu profited from sustained Goats attack to make it 14-6, but a knock on by OBU winger Nathan Blundell was dramatically hacked forward by Sean Hedges who out sprinted all chasers to the ball. Neve's conversion made the halftime score 14-13.

Turning with the breeze, OBU started to gain the ascendancy in the territorial stakes and this coupled with a superior scrum saw the students battle ahead 31-13. No.8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas scored a try from a pushover scrum and second-five Greg Mullany also thrust through from close range.

Paremata-Plimmerton halfback Richard Judd played a blinder and his energy behind an honest pack saw  Paremata-Plimmerton have the final say.

At the Petone Recreation Ground, home side Petone earned its second consecutive big win without conceding any points themselves, beating the Wellington Axemen 55-0 and retaining the Bill Francis / Jack Taylor Trophy.

Petone were dominant up front against the Axemen, their set-piece and in particular their scrum paving the way for five first half tries and a 29-0 lead. No. 8 Tupou Sopoaga finished with a hat-trick and Villiami Fine a brace in his 50th game.

At Helston Park, the Upper Hutt Rams beat Johnsonville 40-29, after Johnsonville had raced out of the blocks and leapt to a 17-0 lead. The Rams weathered the early storm and came back to score 33 unanswered points. They led 19-7 at halftime as the Hawks had two players handed yellow cards at one stage, and later 33-17 and 40-22.

Marist St Pat’s firmed up their favouritism for winning this year’s first round Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield by defeating third placed Poneke 52-10 this afternoon. MSP led 19-3 at halftime.

Northern United are just behind in second after edging Oriental-Rongotai 34-29, with OBU now in third after beating Paremata-Plimmerton 57-10.

Elsewhere, discipline cost Tawa in their 14-16 defeat to Wainuiomata, two yellow cards aiding in Wainuiomata’s narrow win, Johnsonville and the Upper Hutt Rams drew 22-22, HOBM beat Avalon 45-33 in a lively encounter and two intercept tries in the final five minutes by Wellington saw them narrow their loss to Petone to 29-36.

 In the sixth round of the Women’s Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy, there were three completed matches this afternoon after the Avalon Wolves had defaulted to the OBU Impalas on Friday afternoon.

In the feature match of the day, Ories bounced back from their defeat to Norths last weekend by beating Paremata-Plimmerton 44-10. Ories put the afterburners on in the second 40 minutes after they led just 12-10 at the turnaround.

Northern United slipped past Poneke 92-0, with St Mary’s College captain Dhys Faleafaga scoring five tries and kicking five conversions for 40 points and centre Christina Lafaele crossing for a hat-trick of tries.

Petone beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 29-17 after leading 14-0 in the other match. Marist St Pat’s had the bye.

The Marist St Pat’s Colts made it six wins from six in the Les Mills Paris Memorial Trophy Colts competition, beating Tawa 25-19 this afternoon.

Old Boys University and Northern United are second equal after OBU defeated defending champions Petone 57-5 at Te Whaea today and Norths beat Ories 36-32 at the same venue on Friday night. The Upper Hutt Rams beat HOBM Green 20-15 in today’s other Division 1 Colts fixture.

Paremata-Plimmerton won their sixth straight match in the Colts second division JRD Cup, beating OBU Black 28-7.

The Upper Hutt Rams (20 points) lead Eastbourne and Avalon (19) in a tightly contested U85kg Restricted competition race.

The Rams beat MSP Red by default today, while Eastbourne defeated the Wests Roosters 20-13 and Avalon beat the Horowhenua-Kapiti side 22-14.

In college rugby, it was largely a sorry state of affairs for the three Wellington teams competing in the Hurricanes pre-season competition at Porirua Park.

In the first game, an undersized Wellington College were steamrolled 40-3 by an impressive Napier Boys’High School outfit. Napier scored three early tries to race to a 17-0 lead and Wellington College did well in the end to keep the scoreline down as they attempted to get back in the game. At the same time, the Napier second XV sent the Wellington College second XV on their way with a 73-7 win.

In the second game on Jerry Collins Stadium, Napier Old Boys Marist club feeder school St Pat’s Town were much more competitive against Palmerston North Boys’ High School – in the first half at least – but fell away in the second and went on to lose 8-42. PNBHS scored the game’s first try on 25 minutes and led 13-0, before St Pat’s Town scored their only try of the match on halftime. PNBHS scored a runaway try early in the second spell and that was game over.

Up on Porirua 2, national champions Hastings Boys’ High School beat Scots College 22-12 after leading 12-0 at the break.

On Friday night at Westpac Stadium, St Pat’s Silverstream beat Gisborne Boys’ High School 26-14. Silverstream skipped out to a 14-0 lead after 20 minutes with tries to Jacob Beattie and Chris Hemi. Beattie was the recipient of a fine pass from prop Luke Chisholm while Hemi burst 20 meters untouched from a lineout. Gisborne gradually fought back and after a sustained assault on the Silverstream line Jordan McFarlane powered over to make it 14-7 at the interval.

The key moment of the match was a breakout try to Silverstream's reserve halfback Swayde Brightwell. Gisborne was camped inside the Silverstream's 22, but a fumble was collected by wing Sivarn Owens-Agnew who dashed 80 metres before unloading to Brightwell who battled over despite the presence of three Gisborne defenders. Gisborne kept pressing and a quick tap by halfback Quintony Ngati reduced the deficit to five.

In college Premiership grading matches, Kapiti College beat Upper Hutt College 29-12, Rongotai defeated Aotea College 48-21, HIBS beat Tawa College 31-15 and St Bernard’s beat Hutt Valley High School 20-19. HIBS and St Bernard’s are back in the Premiership after a hiatus. The draw is expected to be released over the next couple of days.