Wins for Ories, MSP and OBU as Jubilee Cup semi-finalists found

Above: Ories celebrate their match-winning try against Norths in their come-from-behind 37-33 Jubilee Cup win.

UPDATED: A dramatic last-play win today for Oriental-Rongotai over Northern United, a win for Marist St Pat’s over Poneke that denied them a bonus point and an OBU shutout of Tawa means the four Jubilee Cup semi-finalists have been found with a week to spare in Wellington Premier club rugby.

Oriental-Rongotai scored a try with the final play of the game to beat Norths 37-33, MSP scored two late tries to beat Poneke 43-25, the latter only scoring three tries, and OBU secured a bonus point 31-12 win over Tawa.

These results has the Jubilee Cup points table heading into next week’s final regular season set of matches as Norths 22, OBU 20, Ories 18, HOBM 17, Poneke 11, MSP 9, Tawa 4.

All there is to be decided next week is the order of finishing and the Andy Leslie Trophy for winning the round-robin series.

In the Hardham Cup there were wins today for Wainuiomata, Petone and Avalon.

Wainuiomata beat Johnsonville 46-36, Petone defeated the Upper Hutt Rams 36-26 and Avalon beat Paremata-Plimmerton drew 33-31.

These results mean that Wainuiomata and Petone are already guaranteed of home semi-finals next weekend, while Johnsonville, the Upper Hutt Rams and the Wellington Axemen are still in the hunt chasing the other two semi-final berths.

The Hardham Cup points table is Wainuiomata 22, Petone 20, Johnsonville 16, Upper Hutt Rams 14, Wellington 11, Paremata-Plimmerton 6, Avalon 6.

In the Ed Chaney Cup Premier Reserve competition, all seven teams are still in with chances of making the semi-finals next week. In today’s matches, MSP beat Poneke 27-17, Tawa edged OBU 21-17 and Norths pulled clear of Ories to win their match 45-36.

MSP hold a one-point lead heading into the final round and have already booked their home semi-final with their bye round next week, while both Norths and Ories can earn home semi-finals.

In the HD Morgan Premier Reserve competition, Petone beat the Upper Hutt Rams 54-14, Wainuiomata edged Johnsonville 26-24 and Paremata-Plimmerton beat Avalon 33-17.

Petone have already secured the top qualifier’s berth for the semi-finals with their fifth straight win today, but Johnsonville, Wellington, Wainuiomata and the Upper Hutt Rams all have plenty to play for next weekend.

In the Women’s competition, Oriental-Rongotai beat Northern United 43-36 in this morning’s feature Division 1 clash, meaning both teams are guaranteed home semi-finals ahead of next week’s final round-robin games.

Halfback Milly Mackey scored two of 6 tries as Paremata-Plimmerton beat MSP 36-17 to secure their semi-final spot, along with Petone who had the bye.

The Division 2 games today resulted in OBU beating Poneke 57-0 with first five-eighth Montana Heslop scoring a brace, and centre Marina Soloa scoring a double in HOBM’s 45-19 win over Avalon.

The Ories versus Norths fixture at the Polo Ground saw the home team Ories skip to a 21-0 lead and then 21-7 by halftime.

Prolific try-scorer Ayesha Leti-l’iga completed her hat-trick early in the second half as they extended their lead to 26-7. This was followed by quickfire tries to right wing Bernadette Robertson and captain and flanker Joanah Ngan-Woo as Ories led the previously undefeated Norths 38-14.

Norths were rueing poor discipline in the first half some wayward kicking that led to at least one of Leti-liga’s tries and a misfiring lineout that led directly to two tries directly off lineout turnovers.

Both teams scored again as Ories advanced the score to 43-19 with several minutes to play. The match came alive towards the end after Ories prop Raylene Lolo was sin-binned, and Norths right wing Dhys Faleafaga ran in three tries in five minutes to close the gap to 43-36. Norths still weren't done and they swung back on to attack and had a three-player overlap but cut inside and then conceded a penalty Ories held on to win a nail-biter.

In Colts Division 1 rugby, Norths and HOBM have both booked home semi-finals, with MSP, OBU and Tawa in the mix for the other semi-final spots next week.

In today’s matches, Norths bounced back from their defeat last week to HOBM to beat OBU 29-20, HOBM edged Paremata-Plimmerton 36-31, MSP pipped Tawa 29-16 and the Upper Hutt Rams beat Petone 45-17 in a dead rubber.

In Colts Division 2, Poneke beat Johnsonville 32-10 to move into second behind Ories who beat the OBU Black outfit by default.

In a Paul Potiki Shield U85kg result to hand on Saturday evening, the Tawa Titans beat the OBU Bunnies 44-18.

A last play try to second five-eighth Alex Ropeti propelled Ories into their seventh Jubilee Cup semi-final in the past eight years, halting Norths winning streak at 13.

Down 33-30, and deep into referees time, Ories strung together at least a dozen phases and over two minutes of continuous possession before winning a penalty. From a scrum, Ropeti charged at opposite Kienan Higgins who appeared to have restrained the Ories second-five, but a second surge of momentum powered Ropeti over. 

Earlier Norths burst out to a 26-8 lead on the back of two tries for Higgins. Ories rallied and a Ropeti intercept nudged the visitors ahead 27-26.

Norths relentlessly hammered the Ories line, but it took a 30-metre solo break by openside flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi to reclaim the lead.

Ories No.8 Luca Rees scored twice to boost his season tally to 20 tries. John Tuia was outstanding in the seven jersey in a high-quality spectacle that suggests both are serious Jubilee Cup contenders. 

At Lyndhurst Park, the OBU pack slowly got on top of Tawa’s and lock Will Mangos scored the first try after a series of pick and goes to give them a 10-0 lead. Tawa cut this lead to 10-7 by halftime when halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara took a quick tap and set up their first try.

Early in the second half, OBU won a penalty and attacked the corner from a lineout. Dutch prop Alex Barendregt scored to make it 17-7. The run of play remained tight, but OBU pulled clear with a third try to make it 24-7. Tawa replacement prop Tolu Fahamokioa scored to cut the lead but OBU scored again to seal their win and knock Tawa out of the running.

At Evans Bay Park, two late tries ended denied Poneke a losing point and ended their tilt at this year’s Jubilee Cup.

Leading 31-25, MSP blindside flanker James Tuia scored his second try of the game from a series of pick and goes to make it 38-25 and then centre Billy Proctor scored a try at the end to ensure a positive end of the season for MSP, who have their bye next weekend.

Tuia had earlier scored the game’s first try after a break by second five-eighth Isaia Petelo, putting them ahead 7-6. MSP doubled their lead to 14-6 with a converted try to first five-eighth James Proctor, but Poneke went ahead with consecutive tries to first five-eighth Pakai Tuira and wing Nick Robertson. MSP fullback Andrew Wells scored before halftime to put MSP ahead 21-18 and end a whirlwind first half.

MSP then scored two more tries after the interval to go ahead 31-18, wing Willie Schultz and prop Steve Moli crossing, before a third try to Poneke made it 31-25 with still over 20 minutes to play.

In the Hardham Cup, Petone pulled clear of the Upper Hutt Rams at the very end of their match to earn their 36-26 win. The match ended with the Rams trailing 26-31 and hot on attack. But a turnover a 95-metre break by replacement Petone wing Caylem Box resulted in the match-sealing score to flanker Jacob Gooch from the next phase.

Petone had led 24-14 at the end of an entertaining first half, two yellow cards to Petone players and two intercept tries to the Rams wingers being a feature of the first half. The Rams scored first in the second half to close to 24-19 but Petone was able to hold their composure and stay ahead throughout the remainder of the contest.

At William Jones Park, Johnsonville were well and truly in the match when holding a 12-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. 

Wainuiomata came back to kick a penalty and then score three tries, including tries to right wing Eden Monu and centre Isaiah Mamea, and they went ahead 20-12. Johnsonville closed the gap to 22-17 by halftime, but Wainuiomata can thank superior goal-kicking and Johnsonville's ill-discipline in conceding two yellow cards that saw them pull 10 points clear at the end.

At Ngatitoa Domain, visitors the Avalon Wolves pipped Paremata-Plimmerton 33-31 after being locked up at 18-18 at halftime.

Avalon opened the scoring, Pare-Plm came back to lead 15-5 and then Avalon came back to make it all square at the interval. The lead changed hands at least three times in the second half before the Wolves finished on top.