Close results mark second round opener

Above: The Northern United Women's team with the Rebecca Liua'ana Trophy first round title after their win over the HOBM Women today.

The slate was wiped clean for all teams that took the field today and perhaps for one that didn't, on the opening Saturday of championship Jubilee Cup and Hardham Cup rugby today around Wellington. 

In two Jubilee Cup matches that were played, the Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles won the Bill Brien Challenge Cup off Tawa in a four tries to two 30-15 victory at Lyndhurst Park and Oriental-Rongotai held on to beat Marist St Pat's 29-22 at the Polo Ground.

Both Jubilee Cup contests played today were marred by scrappy play in cold cloudy conditions and yellow and red cards, reducing the on-field personnel of all four sides at various stages. 

The third scheduled match between Northern United and Poneke at Jerry Collins Stadium was called off late last night.

A complaint was lodged by Petone in relation to a player eligibility issue involving the alleged breach of two Poneke players.

A hearing was held on Saturday morning and the decision of the committee has been reserved. An outcome is expected to be released on WRFU channels on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, all three first round Hardham Cup fixtures were close affairs, with opening round wins for the Wellington Axemen, Wainuiomata and Johnsonville - their first win of the season.

The Wellington Axemen held on to beat the Avalon Wolves 22-20 at Fraser Park, Wainuiomata defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 27-22 and the Johnsonville Hawks swooped on the Upper Hutt Rams to win 45-28.

There were three big wins and a narrow victory in the ninth and final round of the first round Women's competition, with Northern United collecting the Rebecca Liua'ana Trophy and Marist St Pat's sealing their spot in the top tier of the second round competition that starts in a fortnight.

Northern United defeated Hutt Old Boys Marist 87-5 in their game at the Hutt Recreation, Marist St Pat's beat Poneke 69-5, Ories beat Avalon 86-24 and Paremata-Plimmerton pipped Old Boys University 24-22.

It was also the first Saturday of second-round Colts Division 1 and 2 matches.

Northern United beat Petone 34-33, HOBM beat Tawa 25-5 and OBU beat the Upper Hutt Rams Colts 39-15 in the Division 1 John E Kelly Cup Cup. First round winners MSP met first round second Division winner Paremata-Plimmerton in the other match.

Avalon edged Wellington 29-28 in their Colts Vic Calcinai Memorial Cup game, while Wainuiomata pipped Ories 22-20 in theirs. 

There were two results that could be considered upsets in the opening round of the Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup. Ories beat MSP 26-25, to inflict their first loss of the year on them, while HOBM beat Tawa 34-23 in match between a lower ranked first round side and a higher one. The Norths versus Poneke match didn't go ahead (see Premiers above). 

it was a ding-dong affair at Fraser Park between the Wellington Axemen and the Avalon Wolves second XVs with the Axemen winning 48-43. Johnsonville made it two from two for their top sides today by overcoming the Rams 29-14 and Wainuiomata beat Paremata-Plimmerton 17-7 in the third Premier Reserve HD Morgan match.

In College Premiership rugby, there were four bonus point winners this afternoon, adding to Silverstream's 46-0 win over Wellington College on Wednesday. Kapiti College beat Porirua College 27-5, Scots College defeated HIBS 38-17, Wairarapa College overcame St Bernard's College 25-0 and St Pat's Town defeated Rongotai College 32-0 in their Traditional. 

In the Jubilee Cup, MSP leapt to a 17-3 over Ories, with outside backs Andrew Wells and Kerrod Foase both scoring early tries.

A turning point came when Alex Ropeti kicked the ball down the middle of the track, regathered but was then taken in a head high tackle in the corner. This resulted in a yellow card to a MSP defender and a penalty try. No. 8 Luca Rees scored his 18th try of the season soon after and it was 17-17 at halftime.

Ories plugged the corner and scored the game’s next two tries, through backs Malachai Unasa and Malo Tuitama, to extend their lead to 29-17. MSP lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi scored MSP’s bonus point try but the Magpies held on to win as the game finished with uncontested scrums and a MSP knock-on from a quick tap instead of a scrum 5 metres from the line.

Ories have now won five of their past six matches, while MSP have tasted defeat in four of their past five.

It was a similar start to the game for Hutt Old Boys Marist who punished early Tawa errors to scored three tries from dropped or unprotected ball – one each to their outside backs Chase Tiatia, Jerome Harimate and Albert Polu – to go 19-3 up.

Tawa’s pack wrestled some control and they scored a sweet try in reply off an attacking lineout with halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara running wide and offloading to a flying second five Kalim Kelemete to score to close the gap to 19-10.

The Eagles kicked two consecutive penalties to go into halftime leading 25-10 – but turning into the wind

Tawa pressed early in the second half but an in-goal melee resulted in a long break and a yellow card to HOBM hooker Ben Power and a red card to Tawa lock Hemi Fermanis.

The 14-man HOBM hit back to score a decisive try to second five Jayden Treviranus after a break up the middle into the 22 by replacement halfback Matt Poole. This extended their lead to 30-10 with 30 to play.

Tawa went wide from a seven-man scrum and sent right wing Ryan Preston in for a try, but that was as close as they came and the four tries to two scoreline in favour of the Eagles remained intact to fulltime.

In the Hardham Cup, Johnsonville deservedly took their first win of the season with a seven tries to four win over the Upper Hutt Rams away from home.

Johnsonville pounced early and raced to a 31-0 lead by halftime. The Rams got on the board early in the second 40 minutes, but so did Johnsonville, as the score advanced to 38-7. The Rams made a comeback and closed to 38-28, but the boys in blue had the final say and crossed for the game’s final try.

Down at Fraser Park it was much closer and came down to a late penalty attempt by Avalon forward Daniel Smith. Trailing 20-22, Smith lined up a winning penalty but he hooked it and the Wellington Axemen held on to win.

With Thomas Waldrom sideline, Liddy ah Wong scored the game’s first try, but Axemen lock Callum McCullough scored to close the gap to 8-7. Halfback Gareth Simpson stole an intercept and raced clear to double their lead by halftime.

Axemen first five-eighth Te Raina Richards-Coxhead scored to increase the lead to 19-8, but Avalon scored their second try and then centre Chris Aumua sprinted 60 metres to put Avalon up 20-19. Richards-Coxhead then kicked what proved to be the winning penalty for Wellington.

At Ngatitoa Domain, Wainuiomata outscored home side two tries to one in the first half with the wind to lead 12-7 at the break. Wainuiomata then advanced their lead through to 27-10, with centre Peter Umaga-Jensen prominent in scoring a brace. Paremata-Plimmerton hung in there and closed the margin of defeat to within a bonus point.