Northern United and Wainuiomata seal top spots in Premier grades

First round winners Northern United and Wainuiomata have sealed the top qualifier’s positions for next week’s Wellington club rugby semi-finals in the respective top 7 Jubilee Cup and bottom 7 Hardham Cup competitions.

Norths have won the Andy Leslie trophy for winning the Jubilee Cup round-robin for the first time since 2010, pipping Old Boys University 13-10 at Narniville Park.

Wainuiomata edged the Wellington Axemen 23-22 at Hataitai Park to finish top in the Hardham Cup.

In other Jubilee Cup results today on a gritty, windy final afternoon of the regular season for 2018, Tawa came back to score a late try and draw 17-17 with Oriental-Rongotai at the Polo Grounds and Poneke finished their season with a flourish, beating Hutt Old Boys Marist 50-26 at Kilbirnie Park.

The order of the top four didn't change, meaning Norths will host Hutt Old Boys Marist at Jerry Collins Stadium and Ories will travel to Khandallah attempting to end the defending Jubilee Cup champion’s season in the Jubilee Cup playoffs in seven days’ time.

Ories were left to rue conceding a late try to Tawa that cost them home ground advantage next week.

Ories had come back from a 0-12 deficit to lead 14-12 and later 17-12, following two tries to No. 8 Luca Rees and a penalty to fullback Trent Renata. But Tawa scored late and missed the handy conversion that would have ended their season on a winning note.

Wainuiomata will play fourth-placed qualifier Johnsonville in next week’s Hardham Cup major semi-final, while Petone will host the Upper Hutt Rams.

The other two Hardham Cup results from today resulted in second-placed qualifier Petone beating Johnsonville 31-5 – with hooker Eugene Smith scoring in his 200th Premier match – and the Upper Hutt Rams defeating Paremata-Plimmerton 19-12.

The Wellington Axemen finished fifth in the Hardham Cup and were the unlucky team to miss out. A try off a penalty that hit the upright and bounced back inside the field of play that led to a try and a strong second half saw them leading 15-13 heading into the final 10 minutes.

Second five-eighth Eremia Tapsell had a second half blinder and scored a terrific long-range solo try from broken play and then made another break that led directly to another try.

But Wainuiomata came back at the end and replacement loose forward Ben Tupuola crashed over after a converted build-up and then fullback Peter Umaga-Jensen made a big break and second five-eighth Michael Lealava’a scored in the far corner to seal the match. Tapsell was involved again in a consolation try at the death.

As an aside, this game also saw the return to action after almost two years off by Hurricanes contracted player TJ Va’a. He opened the scoring with a 48 metre penalty and generally had an assured match for the 50 minutes he was on the field, often keeping the defence guessing and a cross kick of his very nearly leading to a spectacular try. His only blip – and it could have proved costly if the chance was grasped only for desperate scrambling defence saving th day - was having a kick charged down early in the second half.

The Wellington Axemen were also the unlucky team to finish fifth and miss out on the Premier Reserve Division 2 HD Morgan Memorial semi-finals, with Wainuiomata rumbling over after an attacking scrum and series of pick and goes with about 5 minutes to play to give them a 15-12 win.

Wainuiomata will play top qualifier Petone in the HD Morgan Memorial semi-finals, despite Petone losing their first game of the second round to Johnsonville, 12-34. Second placed Johnsonville will play the Upper Hutt Rams who beat Paremata-Plimmerton 43-5 today.

All seven teams were still alive heading into this afternoon’s final round of the Premier Reserve Division1 Ed Chaney Cup. In games today, Ories beat Tawa 32-23, Norths beat OBU 22-21 and Poneke beat HOBM 32-16.

The semi-finals involving three eastern suburbs teams will see Ories (1) play Poneke (4) and MSP (2) play Norths (3).

The Division 1 Les Mills Colts John E Kelly Cup results from today’s last round saw Norths take top spot with a 26-24 over Tawa. Norths (1) will host OBU (4), who accounted for last year’s champions Petone 54-5. First round winners MSP beat HOBM 36-7 today and these two teams will meet again at MSP in the semi-finals.

In Colts Division 2, Ories (1) will host OBU Black (4) and Poneke (2) will meet Wainuiomata (3), after Poneke’s 44-8 win over Wainuiomata in today’s last round. Ories and OBU Black both had 50 plus point wins over Wellington and Avalon respectively.

In Women’s Division 1 rugby, top qualifier Ories will host Petone (4) in one Tia Paasi Memorial Cup semi-final and Norths (2) and Petone (3) will contest the other.

Today’s two matches saw Ories beat MSP 75-5 and Petone beat Paremata-Plimmerton 29-5 with Black Fern Jackie Fereti scoring a brace. Norths had the bye.

In Division 2, the penultimate round-robin games resulted in the OBU Impalas beating HOBM 59-10 after leading 26-5 at halftime and Avalon defeating Poneke 55-10. There is another week of regular season games next week before OBU and HOBM meet in the final the following week.

Norths and Ories each have four teams in next week’s semi-finals, with both clubs hosting three playoffs each.

At Nairnville Park, Northern United’s victory was earned in the first-half when they took a 10-3 lead to the interval, battling against the fierce breeze.

OBU camped inside the Norths 22 for the first 15 minutes, but Norths defence was resolute.

Norths finally entered the OBU 22 and burly winger Liki Siliga crashed over supporting a series of strong fowards thrusts after 20 minutes.

OBU first-five Dale Sabbagh reduced the deficit to 5-3, but the last play of the first spell was telling.

Norths prop Gerard Faitotoa baraged aside half a dozen Billygoats, storming deep inside student terriorty. A few phases later Faitotoa employed a subtle sleight of hand defending the ball gently to an unmarked Pakekura Lalaga who crossed unmarked in the corner.

The first 20 minutes of the second-half was scoreless as both teams struggled to adjust to the tricky conditions. 

Norths second-five Perry Hayman eventually slotted a 35-metre penalty to make it 13-3.

Norths should have plugged the corners with the assistance of the increasing northerly at their backs, but errors left the door ajar for OBU.

With seven minutes left Izzy Foai tapped and scored from a penalty and Sabbagh was on target to make it 13-10. 

Hayman missed an almost identical kick to his eairler penalty success as the score stayed 13-10 with five minutes remaining. 

The contest concluded 40-metres shy of the Norths goal line following nearly 20 phases by OBU.

This victory was a triumph for the Norths defence, with openside Du'Plessis Kirifi and lock Chris Middletown a tower of strength. Fala Tuala showed the worth of his experience and Siliga, built like a tight forward, often got involved in the tighter exchanges.

Rookie first-five Eli Moata'a, in just his fifth match, was a mixed bag. Some excellent kicks were undone by some rash judgement. The 18 year old will grow in stature from such a tough outing.

OBU lacked their usual accuracy outmuscled narrowly in the hustle. Lock Augstin Escalona thrived and No.8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas had some robust if infrequent carries.

Norths also won the Bill Brien Challenge Shield off OBU.

At Kilbirnie Park, Poneke captain Greg Foe opened the scoring with the first of his two tries, before first five-eighth Pakai Turia set up their second try to wing Brian Coclough to see them go up 14-0.

HOBM responded with a try to barnstorming midfielder Jayden Treviranus and then scored another to outside back Chase Tiatia to draw level at 14-14, which was the halftime score.

The scoring accerated after halftime, with Jordan Gillies crossing virtually from the opening kick-off but Poneke striking back through centre Alex Morrissey and Foe for his second which took Poneke into a 28-19 lead. Tiatia bagged his brace to close the gap to 26-28, but Poneke sailed home with the wind to win comfortably.

For HOBM, loosehead prop Simon Malaeulu was playing his 200th Premier match and first five-eighth Glen Walters his 100th.

At the Polo Ground, Tawa had the wind in the first half and scored tries to right wing Tom Maiava and halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara to lead 12-0 at the interval.

Ories came back through to tries to No. 8 Luca Rees, his 21st and 22nd tries of the season. Fullback Trent Renata kicked both conversions and added a penalty and Ories seemed to be on track to host a home semi-final. However Tawa left wing Thomas Temu scored at the death but the conversion was missed and the sides finished all square.

At Helston Park, Petone were playing into a fierce wind but scored two tries to go 10-0 up at halftime. The first of these was to centre Taurima Morris and the second was scored by Eugene Smith in his 200th match.

Johnsonville closed the gap early in the second spell with what would be their only try, to blindside flanker Joel Knight, before a Caelym Box try that extended Petone’s lead to 17-5 sealed victory. The Villagers added further tries to fullback Adam Simpson and lock James Blackwell.

At Maidstone Park, the Rams opened their account with a try to loose forward Daniel Schrijvers and kept their noses in front throughout the remainder of the contest. For Paremata-Plimmerton, loose forwards Peni Tapau and Tane McMillan Parata found the chalk.

In U85kg Paul Potiki Shield matches, leaders Avalon beat the Tawa Titans 21-9 and Eastbourne defeated the OBU Bunnies 36-12.

The HOBM Barbarians kept their winning season going with a 52-7 win over Petone and the Stokes Valley Rhinos pipped OBU in two First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup matches to hand.