Off the Ball for 2 July

Above: You can't stop her, and you can barely hope to contain her. Oriental-Rongotai try-scoring machine Ayesha Leti-l'iga was at it again on Saturday, scoring 7 of her teams 12 tries as they overwhelmed Petone 72-17. That takes her season tally to a faintly ridiculous 29 in just nine matches, surpassing the 23 she scored last year. 

Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max, Lovelocks Sports Bar,  Motor Doctors and Sarah Kilner Real Estate 

Looking at some of the news in briefs, milestones, happenings, statistics and observations from the weekend of rugby just gone and what’s coming up this week.

Saturday was perhaps the tensest round of Jubilee Cup rugby seen in a while with the outcome of all three matches decided in the 80th minute. Norths got up over HOBM courtesy of Junior Time-Tautoa's eighth try of the season but there was no similar joy for MSP or Ories. Andrew Wells was astray with a penalty that would have seen them snatch victory over Tawa while the Magpies came up short in their attempt to go 70m to grab victory over OBU.

A ‘quieter’ week around the rugby circles coming up, with no mid-week First XV traditionals.The Marist St Pat’s and Petone women play their third round Tia Paasi Memorial Cup fixture on Wednesday evening at the Evans Bay Park Artificial, kick-off 6.30pm.

Prior to that on Wednesday afternoon there is a full round of secondary school girls matches and also a Premier 2 fixture between Tawa College and the St Pat’s Silverstream 2nd XV.

Saturday sees the fifth round of the Jubilee Cup and Hardham Cup round-robin matches, with much to play for for several teams with the semi-finals firmly on the horizon.

The Hurricanes then play the Blues at Westpac Stadium this Saturday night at 7.35pm.

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In losing to the Brumbies 12-24 on Saturday, it is the first time that the Hurricanes have failed to score 15 points in three Straight Super rugby games. Chris Boyd has lost three in row for first time as head coach.

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The last time OBU failed to score a try was 127 matches ago – against Ories in 2012. Ories won 21-0 that day, and Jonothon Fuimaono, Te Wehi Wright, Paulo Aukuso and Tuakana Metuarau were survivors from that game that played their fixture on Saturday. It is unclear if any of those players knew that when OBU centre Will Mangos burst through to score under the posts on 60 minutes to put the Goats ahead 11-10. They went on to win 18-17.

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Some local first XV unbeaten streaks by region:

• Auckland: Saint Kentigern College 19
• Wellington: St Pat’s Silverstream 19
• Canterbury: Christchurch Boys’ High School 17 (includes one draw)

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The big First XV match of the year in Wellington so far is this coming Saturday at St Pat’s Silverstream, where the home school takes on Scots College in a top-of-the-table clash at 2.30pm. Both sides are coming off big away wins, Silverstream beating HIBS 74-10 and Scots defeating Kapiti College 57-7. Both have six straight bonus point wins so far. Silverstream have scored 370 points and let in 44 (average winning score 61-7) and Scots have scored 277 and conceded 72 (average 46-12). This is also the final round of the First XV Premiership prior to the school holidays, so both will empty their tanks on Saturday.

Staying with school rugby, the 2018 Co-ed Cup finalists have been decided, with defending champions Porirua College to face Aotea College in the decider early next term. In the semi-finals, Porirua edged Wainuiomata High School 24-22 and Aotea beat Onslow College 49-10.

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There was drama on the field at Jerry Collins Stadium on Saturday as Norths came back from 6-20 down at halftme and then later11-34 to beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 35-34. Tensions were heightened up in the stand too, where many lost track of the score. The problems stemmed from Porirua Park’s malfunctioning scoreboard that clearly needs repairing or replacing. The Radio Sport Commentators, the ground announcer, Club Rugby and at least one group of spectators all had differing scores! But referee Gordon was on the button and Junior Time-Taotua’s try in the corner was the winning of the game.

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A prop wearing #12 in a Premier match? Well that happened at Nairnville on Saturday. With OBU wearing their alternative white kit that jersey simply wouldn't fit Izzy Foai who instead wore the #17 usually associated with the reserve prop, leaving the person occupying that role - Mark 'Stump' Franklin - with little choice what number to don.

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A speedy recovery to Wellington referee Marius Du Toit who snapped his collarbone when he took a tumble during the Petone vs HOBM Colts match.

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Spare a thought for the Petone Premiers who are already undermanned through injury and sustained further blows just before kick-off against Wainuiomata on Saturday.

Starting lock Jack Ross sustained a knee injury in the warm-ups and was replaced in the starting line-up by Johnson Taeao, who started the game after playing almost 70 minutes for the Premier Reserves. Starting blindside flanker took the field but succumbed to a shoulder injury after 3 mnutes and was replaced by Jacob Gooch who had played 80 minutes for the Premier Reserves. Replacement inside back Jared Kahu also sustained a knee injury in the Premier Reserves game and was replaced Zac Hrstich on the bench. Carlos Price completed Petone’s bench after playing 80 minutes for the Colts in their loss to HOBM. Wainuiomata won the match 33-15.

The changes meant that seven of Petone’s 22 players in this match had a first name starting with ‘J’. It will be another season at least before they get to play for the Jubilee Cup again though.

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In this week's Mike Buckley watch, the former MSP wing scored another four tries for his Napier Old Boys Marist side on Saturday in a big win, taking his tally to 33 tries for the season for his team in Hawke's Bay Premier rugby. 

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A big week for St Mary’s College and Northern United fullback Julie Tusa, who starred for her school and scored a try in their 70-12 win over Feilding High School on Tuesday and then scored three of the first four tries for Norths and added a fourth after the break before getting herself sin-binned in their 51-14 win over Marist St Pat’s.

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The Old Boys University – Marist St Pat’s Colts match was called off late in the first half on Saturday for alleged fighting. The rest of the grade awaits the ramifications of this.

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Upper Hutt Rams No. 8 Josh Houston-Tupou had a storming second half on Saturday, scoring to consecutive tries after the interval to wrestle control of the match over the Wellington Axemen and see them come to take a crucial Hardham Cup win. Later in the evening he was awarded his Upper Hutt Rams blazer.

Hutt Old Boys Marist Women’s lock Moni Faaifo played her blazer game on Saturday against Avalon, the former Wainuiomata player earning her 40th start for the HOBM team. Norths lock Ngarangi David played her blazer game for the Norths Women’s team as well.

No.8 Luke Taualupe played his 50th match for the Ories Premiers

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The less said about the Hurricanes' loss to the Brumbies the better, but both TJ Perenara and Julian Savea scored tries to take their Super Rugby career tallies to 46 tries each. One of them could reach the milestone of 50 career Hurricanes tries this season. 

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In international rugby over the weekend, Samoa ended their horror run of losses to crush Germany 66-15, while the Mullany brothers and the Cook Islands lost their RWC qualifier 3-26 to Hong Kong.