OBU, Norths and Ories win well in Jubilee Cup

Defending champions Old Boys University, first round winners Northern United and in-form Oriental-Rongotai all won well in today's second round of the Jubilee Cup.

OBU came off their opening round bye to lower the Hutt Old Boys Eagles 40-22 at the Hut Recreation Ground, Northern United maintained their winning momentum from a fortnight ago to beat Marist St Pat's 35-22 at Evans Bay Park and Ories won their second match to start the second round in beating Poneke 41-27 at the Polo Ground.

There were two draws out of three in the Hardham Cup this afternoon.

Wainuiomata got up late to draw with the Upper Hutt Rams 29-29 at William Jones Park and Paremata-Plimmerton and the Wellington Axemen finished all square at 13-13 at Ngatitoa Domain. 

Petone came off their bye in the opening round to beat the Avalon Wolves 24-3 in the third Hardham Cup fixture played today.

Tawa (Jubilee Cup) and Johnsonville (Hardham Cup) had their byes.

Jubilee Cup 

Old Boys University defeated Hutt Old Boys Marist for the seventh time in a row, and won back the Bill Brien Challenge Cup that they had held earlier in the season and that HOBM had taken off Tawa last week.

OBU played with the breeze in the first spell and led 20-12 at the interval. Greg Mullany, this week named in the Cook Islands national team for their World Cup qualifying campaign, was a standout. He kicked eight goals from as many attempts and created the first try, taking the ball to the line with authority and unloading swiftly for Izzy Foai.

HOBM took a 12-10 lead with tries to Jermoe Harimate and Anthony Utanga. The hosts used the breeze effectively and gained some control in the forwards.

However a fumble from the kickoff, straight after the Eagles second try, gifted Te Wehi Wright a five-pointer as OBU turned with the lead.

The mistake allowing Wright to score was indicative of the Eagles afternoon. This was an unusually sloppy display. Down 23-15, the Eagles conceded a yellow card and another spillage allowed Wright to collected a double.

HOBM closed to 30-22 when Fereti Soloa crossed the chalk, but Mullany's fourth penalty and a late runaway for Matt Flower applied the polish to an efficient Billygoats win.

In addition to Mullany, the students best were Paddy Carter, Cody Quinn, Will Mangos and Adrian Seumanufagi. For HOBM, Sheridan Rangihuna tried to provide some direction and Jordan Gillies and Lise Soloa battled bravely.

Oriental-Rongotai earned their second bonus point win to start the second round on the back of a dominant set-piece and four out of five tries scored through the outside backs against Poneke.

The Ories lineout provided a regular source of ball for the home side and their scrum had Poneke's under pressure throughout the match, providing the impetus for their backs to score the tries. Centre Malo Tuitama scored one and helped set up anoher to inside centre Alex Ropeti, while right wing Andrew Ellis and fullback Trent Renata scored key tries.

Ellis scored on the stroke of halftime and Renata converted from the sideline to out Ories in front 21-15. Tuitama scored his second try soon after halftime, combining with halfback Adam Deck off the back of a scrum to extend the lead to 28-15, while it was Renata that later sealed victory for a then 13-man Ories side with a try by running hard through the first five-eighth channel from an attacking lineout.

Renata also kicked two second half penalties that kept Poneke at bay, despite two sin-binnings against Ories and tries to lock Cole Stewart and Greg Foe.

Playing into the wind, Ories had scored two first half tries, to Tuitama (his first) and openside flanker John Tuia. Both these tries were set up from attacking lineouts inside Poneke's 22. Poneke scored first half tries to hooker Andrew Jones and centre Kurt Sickler after collecting a wild Ories pass in mid-field and scampering away. Poneke held a 15-14 lead, before Ellis touched down in the corner with the last play of the first half.

At Evans Bay Park, it was a steely second half defensive effort that Northern United supporters will remember from their 35-22 win over Marist St Pat's.

Norths led the contest 21-17 at halftime and then scored again early in the second half through flanker and captain Parekura Lalaga, extending their lead to 28-17.

MSP hit back soon after through fullback Andrew Wells who ran in a solo try from his own side of halfway, closing the gap to 28-22. The next 20 minutes was classic Jubilee Cup rugby, with MSP throwing everything at Norths for long periods and Norths hanging on. Eventually the dam broke, but not for the home team,  as Norths came away with the seven-pointer to seal victory.

Earlier, Norths had started the scoring with a try to openside flanker Du'Plessis Kirifi, before MSP halfback Ken Kapeli stole the ball from an attacking Norths scrum and set up an 80 metre try to No. 8 Matt Peni. Norths scored twice more in the first half, including from a penalty try, but MSP kept in touch with a slicing try second five-eighth Isaia Petelo. 

Hardham Cup

There was drama at the end of the Paremata-Plimmerton versus Wellington Axemen clash at Ngatitoa Domain.

With scores locked up at 13-13, Paremata-Plimmerton won a long-range penalty and fullback Blake Neve called for the kicking tee.

He smashed the penalty kick from 42 metres out. Both assistant referees put their flags up to signal the penalty had gone over and the home side started celebrating a win. But referee Pinfold ruled Neve had put too much juice on his kick and that the ball had gone over the top of the uprights not through and between the posts, thus signalling that the penalty had missed.

Wainuiomata used their get out of jail free card against the Upper Hutt Rams, who thought they might have done enough to win when leading 29-22 late in the encounter.

But a late try, converted by fullback Justin Wilson put the scores level at fulltime.

Earlier, Wilson had opened the scoring with a penalty, but the Rams replied with a try to fullback Todd Svenson to give them a 10-5 lead after half an hour. Wainuiomata No.8 Greg Lealofi scored off the back of a scrum to give the green and blacks a 10-5 halftime lead.

Lealofi scored his second try from a pushover try to extend the lead to 17-5, shaking the Rams into action and they mounted a comeback that saw them take the lead later in the second half.

The third game saw Petone lead the Avalon Wolves 7-0 with time in the first half almost up. With the wind at their backs, Petone closed the first half with a second try to take a 12-0 lead into the oranges at the Petone Rec.

Avalon kicked a penalty after the break, but Petone were able to score twice more in the second half and their second round campaign was away to a winning start. Captain Jarrod Adams scored two tries, while Josh Onekawa and Taurima Morris scored the other tries.

Premier Reserve

The Marist St Pat’s Premier Reserve side returned to the winner’s circle with a comfortable 52-5 win over Northern United in their second round Ed Chaney Cup Premier Reserve match this afternoon. MSP, who were unbeaten in the first round but lost last week, lead 24-0 at halftime.

Over at the Polo Ground, the Poneke Premier Reserves scored first but tries with the wind in their favour to put Ories up 12-5 at halftime.

Poneke scored first in the second half, followed by Ories off the back of a scrum and then Poneke again. But both Poneke’s seond half conversions were missed from handy angles and that was the difference.

The HOBM Eagles second XV proved their win over Tawa last week was no aberration, beating Old Boys University 36-29 in the third Ed Chaney Cup match this afternoon.

In the HD Morgan section, the Upper Hutt Rams defeated Wainuiomata 20-17, Wellington beat Paremata-Plimmerton 27-15 and Petone crushed Avalon 74-12.

Les Mills Colts

In the second weekend of John E Kelly Cup Division 1 matches, first round winners Marist St Pat's battled to a 25-22 win over last year's champions Petone.

Old Boys University Green came back from 0-10 down to beat Hutt Old Boys Marist Green on the back of a dominant scrum. Former Wellington College lock and former Scots College five-eighth Malo Manuo were both prominent in the 19-10 win for OBU.

Norths beat the Upper Hutt Rams Colts 24-12 and Tawa edged Paremata-Plimmerton 16-13 in the other two Division 1 fixtures.

In two contrasting Friday night Division 2 JRD Cup Fixtures, Johnsonville clipped Avalon 62-12 and Wainuiomata overcame OBU Black 17-15.

College Rugby

Scots College's bonus point 36-15 win over St Pat's Town was a notable First XV Premiership result today in the fourth round set of matches.

The Scots backs ran freely with the sun on their backs and won convincingly.

In the other games played today, HIBS beat Porirua College 36-5, Wairarapa College beat Kapiti College 60-17 and the beleaguered Wellington College side beat St Bernard's 29-17 with a bonus point. The fifth match of the round was played on Wednesday, with St Pat's Silverstream thrashing Rongotai College 65-0.

In Premier 2, HVHS beat the Silverstream second XV 33-20, the St Pat's Town second XV and Onslow College drew 14-14, Tawa College edged the Wellington Collge second XV 22-19, Aotea College trounced Upper Hutt College 76-0 and Paraparaumu College defeated Taita College 30-5.