Finals Day previews

Most eyes tomorrow will be on the Petone Recreation Ground for the major WRFU Finals Day. Both the Jubilee and Hardham Cups will find their destinations for the summer, as will the grade and division crowns in the Women’s, Premier Reserve, and Colts with the eight matches starting at 12pm, and culminating in the big one from 2.30pm.      

Premier Jubilee Cup  

Norths vs Old Boys-University    

It all comes down to this; one final match to decide the champion for the season. Will it be resurgent Norths or defending champions Old Boys-University that walk away with the spoils this year?    

Both sides have 20 matches on the clock since the season kicked-off on St Patrick’s Day in Upper Hutt, and back then both experienced wins to start their campaigns albeit in quite differing fashion. Norths edged Petone 22-20 courtesy of a last-gasp converted try while OBU seemingly carried on from where they left off the year before in crushing Poneke 55-10.    

Norths would lose twice in the following weeks with reverses to HOBM and Poneke either side of a win over the Axemen. But from that point forward they swept aside all-comers registering nine straight wins and averaging 45 points per game to claim the Swindale Shield. The last of those victories was a resounding 64-36 triumph over old rivals MSP, but they had one hand on that trophy after beating OBU 50-45 the previous weekend. OBU made a dogged defence of their Swindale crown, chasing down early leaders HOBM but ultimately surrendering it to Norths.     The pair made it to the final after somewhat comfortable wins. Norths accounted for HOBM 41-26, while OBU took their home game on the road to the Hutt Rec and beat Oriental-Rongotai 34-19.   

Their previous meetings this year have been complete contrasts, with Norths prevailing both times. As mentioned above their Swindale meeting at Jerry Collins Stadium on a perfect winters day finished 50-45 to the hosts with no fewer than thirteen tries scored, while conditions were vastly different when they met two weeks ago at a boggy Nairnville Park with Norths slogging out at 13-10 win.    

The two sides also have contrasting memories of their last final on the Petone Rec. OBU’s are obviously happy ones after winning last year’s decider, while Norths’ last Jubilee Cup final appearance was here in 2011 where they lost to Oriental-Rongotai in conditions that deteriorated markedly during the game.    

Despite rumours of it during the week, TJ Perenara will not be pulling on club colours tomorrow. Norths do however get an injection of experience with Jackson Garden-Bachop starting at 10 in place of rookie Eli Moata’a in their only change to the 22 that beat HOBM last week. The Goats also get a professional addition with Wes Goosen lining up at centre meaning that Jared Verney drops to the bench. Their only other changes are positional with flankers Daven Candy and Sam Coventry swapping sides, and interestingly Greg Mullany and Dale Sabbagh switch places in the five-eighths.    

Eight OBU players – Goosen, Sabbagh, Te Wehi Wright, Teariki Ben Nicholas, Candy, Will Mangos, Agustin Escalona, and captain Jonathan Fuimaono – who started a year ago will do so tomorrow, while Coventry and Matt Fowler came off the bench last year. With it being eight years since Norths last title they have only one returnee from that starting XV in skipper Parekura Lalaga though Chris Middleton started in the drawn final in 2008, and no one involved tomorrow has more finals experience than replacement back Daley Harper who has four Jubilee Cup final starts under his belt; the 2006 win, 2008 draw and the two losses in 2009 and 2011.    

There are certainly a number of matchups to keep an eye that could each prove critical to the outcome. One is the loose forward battle between the Norths’ high-profile trio of Lalaga, Du’plessis Kirifi, and Faifili Levave, and OBU’s Ben Nicholas and understated pair of Candy – who scored twice in last year’s final - and Coventry, and this could prove pivotal if the weather is wet as expected. Elsewhere up front two large humans in Mike Ioapo and Fuimaono will battle at scrum time, and how Garden-Bachop and Mullany drive their sides around the park will be a significant factor.       

Three players, Norths pair Kienan Higgins and Junior Time-Tautoa and OBU’s Tai Neli, will start a Jubilee Cup final in their first year out of school.    

On the season Norths have won 17 of their 20 matches this year, and have lost just once (to Ories three weeks ago) since early April. In those they’ve scored 722 points, conceded 499, and scored 114 tries. Veteran midfield back Perry Hayman – on the bench tomorrow – is their top points-scorer with 149 though kicking duties have been shared around a number of players, with Time-Tautoa their leading try scorer with 12 after his double last Saturday.    

OBU’s record stands at W15 L5 and season tallies of 678 points scored, 406 conceded, and 101 tries. Dale Sabbagh leads their points-scoring chart with 178, while the trio of Will Mangos, Izzy Foai, and the now-retired Tomasi Palu head their try scoring with eight apiece.    

For the fourth successive year Richard Gordon will referee the Jubilee Cup. Gordon brought up his century on this ground earlier in the year with the McBain Shield match, and tomorrow is his 111th Premier match. He’s no stranger to either of these teams having refereed Norths three times and OBU four so far this season including that 50-45 clash at the end of the Swindale Shield. He’ll again be assisted by Nick Hogan and Vincent Ringrose who refereed last Saturday’s semi-finals.     

Kick-off is at 2.30pm.    

Premier 2 Hardham Cup    

Wainuiomata vs Petone    

After last year’s double round-robin format the Hardham Cup final returns this year, and features two teams in Wainuiomata and Petone that are more accustomed to being in the Jubilee Cup. Nonetheless there’s local pride and bragging rights at stake.    

Wainuiomata had their struggles during the Swindale Shield winning just three games and finishing 10th, despite accumulating 13 bonus points along the way. However in the Hardham round-robin they are unbeaten and last weekend accounted for Johnsonville 27-19 at William Jones Park.    

Petone were perhaps the architects of their own misfortune and a crippling run of injuries to miss out on the Jubilee Cup, coughing up competition points in late defeats and one draw. Even then they needed just one solitary competition point in the last two weeks to make the Jubilee round but that was beyond them and they dipped out at Ories’ benefit. They have won 5 from 6 in the Hardham, but needed extra-time to beat the Upper Hutt Rams 32-24.   

Their most recent meeting saw Wainuiomata prevail 29-15 at home, while their Swindale meeting took place at the Petone Rec and saw the visitors grab a late 26-all draw courtesy of a Ben Tupuola try. In fact Petone haven’t beaten their neighbours in their last five attempts against them.  

Somewhat bizarrely however, this match takes place with the backdrop of today’s NPC Cup warm-up match between Wellington and Auckland. While no players from Norths or OBU are involved no fewer than six Petone players and Wainuiomata’s TJ Va’a are, and something that makes people question where the union’s priorities are.    

That has in turn caused some complications for the Villagers, with of those six James Blackwell and Mateaki Kafatolu (who played 40 minutes last week) not named in their 22 for tomorrow while NZ U20s prop Kaliopasi Uluilakepa, Losi Filipo (returning from injury), and Carlos Price will all start and Bruce Kauika-Petersen will come off the bench. Jacob Gooch and Dylan Williamson start in place of Blackwell and Kafatolu, with Willie Tufui and Jarrod Adams to provide some thump off the bench.    

Wainuiomata won’t have Va’a either with his return to rugby being closely monitored. They again have Peter Umaga-Jensen and make just a couple of changes to the side that beat Johnsonville with Isaiah Mamea returning to midfield with Mike Lealava’a switching to the wing, while up front Henry Smith plays in yet another final – though his first in Wainui colours – where he’ll butt heads with Petone’s Eugene Smith in the highest-mileage positional matchup of the day. Two-time Best & Fairest winner Ben Tupuola is amongst their subs.    

Daniel Mangin will again referee this final, having also had the previous one in 2016. Last Saturday’s two semi-final referees – Jamie Fairmaid and Colin Te Pohe – are his assistants.    

Kick-off is at 2pm on the #2 ground.        

Women’s    

Women’s preview by Steven White   

The first Premier title of the day will, however, be decided on the main ground from 12.30pm when Oriental-Rongotai and Northern United meet to decide this year’s championship for the brand new Tia Paasi Memorial Trophy, and with little doubt that they are the two best teams in the competition this year.    

Ories are in their sixth successive final and looking to defend the title they won 63-8 over OBU last year, and pick up their third title in that span. In all they’ve lost just once in the past two seasons, and made no race of their semi-final in raising a century against Paremata-Plimmerton.  

For all their history Norths it’s the first time since 2015 – when they won – that they’ve even made the final. Two years ago they dipped out to Ories in the semi-finals (when Wainuiomata were champions) and last year were upset by OBU at the same stage. This year however they claimed the first-round Rebecca Liua’ana, have also lost just once, and made the decider after beating last year’s Division 2 winners Petone 50-5.    

Those sole losses they’ve suffered have come at the hands of each other. Norths won the first clash 34-22 at home with Ories returning serve 43-36 at Polo in this part of the season. And if you go back to their three previous meetings in the final, that ledger stands at 2-1 to the Porirua side, having won in 2013 (18-5) and 2015 (24-22), against Ories’ 2014 32-24 triumph.        

Predictably Ories have an unchanged starting XV from last Saturday. Norths have a surprise inclusion with veteran flanker Aimee Sutorius having flown in from Christchurch to line up tomorrow. Their only other change is the addition of wrecking ball Dora Laupola in the front row.  

As far as key players go Ories have their try-scoring machine Ayesha Leti-l’iga and it’ll be seen whether she can add to her record on 41 tries in 12 matches so far this year. They’ll also have recently named Black Fern Joanah Ngan-Woo and their host of current and recent Pride players including Alicia Print, Janet Taumoli, and Amanda Rasch. Norths have their own mix of youth and experience to call on; the former in the form of St Mary’s College pair Dhys Faleafaga and Julie Tusa and the latter in Helen and Brenda Collins, Sutorius, Leah Conley, Patsy Schwalger, and skipper Sanita Levave.    

The first title up is on the #2 ground at 12.00pm with the final of the Division 2 Izzy Ford Trophy (which is also new this year) between Old Boys-University and Hutt Old Boys Marist. It’s been hard to separate these two all season; their meeting in the first-round ended in a 12-all stalemate, something which ended the Impala’s Division 1 hopes for round two, and then split their two meetings in the round-robin stage with HOBM taking the first 34-20, but OBU the second by 55-10 just two weeks ago.    

Experienced veteran Scott MacLean will referee the Tia Paasi Memorial Trophy decider with the up-and-coming Monique Dalley in the middle for the Izzy Ford final.      

Premier Reserve  

Across in the far corner of the Petone Rec the #3 ground in front of the cricket club will play host to the pair of Premier Reserve finals.     The Division 2 HD Morgan Memorial final between Petone and Johnsonville is up first at 12.10pm. Last year’s Division 1 champions, Petone finished fifth in the first-round Harper Lock Shield but because their Premiers missed the Jubilee Cup, they were unable to defend that title this year. They’ve dropped only one game this round, but that was to Johnsonville two weeks ago. Johnsonville finished a credible eighth in the Harper Lock and have been their clubs standout side this year. Petone ran away with their semi-final to win 44-17 over Wainuiomata, while Johnsonville beat the Upper Hutt Rams 24-7.    

Following that is the grade’s major final, the Division 1 Ed Chaney Cup decider between Oriental-Rongotai and Marist St Pats. Top qualifiers Ories prevailed in a low-scoring affair last weekend over Poneke by 13-6, and like their Premier side found their feet after a slow start to the season where they finished seventh in the Harper Lock Shield. Winners of the first-round Harper Lock Shield, MSP are looking for the season double and progressed from beating Norths 32-14 last weekend. They have dropped just two matches all season, but one of those was to Ories 25-26 to open this part of the season, and will want to avoid the fate that befell OBU last year when they lost his match chasing their own double.    

Matt Thomas (Ories v MSP) and Vinnie Wylie (Petone v Johnsonville) are the referees for the two matches.        

Colts    

Starting at the same time as the Women's Division 1 final is the Division 1 John E Kelly Memorial decider which will be played out on the #4 ground from 12.30m between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Old Boys-University, which we previewed in detail on Wednesday. The two clubs are no strangers to this stage, having met in the 2013, ’14, and ’15 finals, with OBU returning after being beaten in last year’s final and after their fifth title this decade.    

The Division 2 Vic Calcinai Memorial that follows later on #4 at 2.20pm final is an all-eastern suburbs affair between Oriental-Rongotai and Poneke where a number of players will be familiar with each other from their days in the Rongotai College 1st XV. Ories were top qualifiers after being somewhat unlucky to be the team relegated from Division 1 at the end of the Paris Memorial and accounted for OBU Black 35-28 last Saturday. Poneke have spent the season in Division 2 and beat Wainuiomata 43-18 to book their place, and in the only meeting between the two Ories prevailed 28-20.    

Former Paremata-Plimmerton fullback Ryan McLean - who recently took charge of his first Premier game - will referee the Division 1 match, with Tomas Roche handling the Division 2 game.      

There is one grade final taking place away from the Petone Rec spotlight with the Reserve Grade Division 1 decider for the Paul Donoghue Memorial up at 2.30pm at Helston Park. Two of the longer standing names of the grade – the Johnsonville Cripples and Poneke Ruffnuts – meet for the title after both beat Upper Hutt Rams opposition in the semi-finals.       

Should any of the finals above end up tied at the end of normal time then ten minutes each way extra-time will be played. If it’s still tied after this then a 10-minute “golden point” period will be played, and if still tied after this it then goes to most tries scored in the final. If that’s equal it goes to who had the better points difference from the round-robin stage.      

College    

While there are the goings-on at the Petone Rec, the round-robin of the College season wraps up.  

The top four in the Premiership have already been decided going into tomorrow’s final round. Silverstream should wrap up an unbeaten campaign and top spot at home against Kapiti College, and Scots will warm up for their home semi-final next week when they take on Wairarapa College. St Pats Town are scheduled to face Porirua who will hopefully front after defaulting last Saturday, Hutt International and St Bernard’s will sort out places in the pecking order when they meet in Trentham, and Rongotai and Wellington College meet in their annual Traditional match.    

The top four have also been found in Premier 2 with this round to decide next weekend’s playoff draw. Aotea remain on top despite a second successive defeat in this competition and now only have a one point edge over Tawa (who they play away tomorrow), and the Silverstream 2nd XV who beat them last time out and face lowly Taita at home (1pm). Hutt Valley HS complete the playoff quartet and finish the round-robin against Upper Hutt. The remaining two matches are between side who finish their seasons, with the Wellington College 2nds at home against their St Pats Town counterparts (1pm) and Paraparaumu and Onslow will look to avoid the wooden spoon when they meet up the coast.    

Unless stated all matches are 2.30pm kick-offs.