Pride and Development teams and Tawa 7s playing tomorrow

The Wellington Development side will need to put in a Fine performance to beat Canterbury B in Christchurch tomorrow. 

The Wellington Pride and Wellington Development teams are in action tomorrow, home and away, and club rugby returns with the first sevens tournament of the summer at Lyndhurst Park.

The Wellington Pride play at home for the third and final time in this year’s round-robin campaign when they take on the Taranaki Whio at Jerry Collins Stadium at 1.00pm.

After losing to Hawke’s Bay in their season opener, the Pride have won their last four matches in a row and have already qualified for a home semi-final next weekend.

Based on form so far, they will be favoured to beat Taranaki and qualify top for the semi-finals.
Taranaki are winless, having scored 22 points and conceded 317 in their five fixtures so far.

Taranaki have returned to the competition this year after a five-year hiatus. The last time they met was at Petone in 2013 and the Pride won 49-3.

The Pride have made a handful of changes for this match, but nothing wholesale, as they want to maintain momentum heading into the semi-finals.

At loosehead prop, Petone’s Elieta Taito replaces her clubs teammate Angel Uila to make her first start for the Pride, Similarly, Petone’s Mary-Lee Sa’u makes her first Pride start at lock, with Jonah Ngan-Woo moving to blindside flanker. Alicia Print trades places with Rosie Stirling at hooker. The backs are unchanged except at fullback with SIeni Mose replacing Timena Tuamaii. Features of the bench include the inclusion of Dhys Faleafaga and Marcelle Parkes.

Last Saturday the Wellington Development side finished their match strongly against Hawke’s Bay to win 59-31 and record their opening victory in their four-game campaign.

Tomorrow they play their third match against Canterbury at Linfield Park in Christchurch at 1.00pm.

Canterbury B has been competing in the South Island B competition against Southland, Otago and Tasman B. Last week, Canterbury played Otago, but the result is unavailable as neither union has updated their website and emails have been ignored. 

There is no such thing as a weak Canterbury team and last year they beat Wellington 37-24 in this corresponding clash at the Petone Rec.

Wellington Lions squad members Greg Foe, Will Mangos, Tietie Tuimauga, Palai Turia and Leni Apisai are all involved in this match tomorrow.

Next week the Wellington U18 Girls travel to Napier to contest the Hurricanes Youth U18 Girls Tournament. 

The Tawa Sevens tournament runs at Lyndhurst from 9am to approximately 4.30pm when two champions will be found in the men’s and college sections. In a late change, the Fiji Schools team replace Aotea College in the colleges pool.

Twelve teams are playing in two men’s pools of four teams each and a four-team college-aged pool. These are:

⦁ Men’s Pool A: Upper Hutt Rams, Johnsonville, Tawa, MSP Red
⦁ Men’s Pool B: Northern United, MSP White, Old Boys University, Wellington Axemen
⦁ College Pool: St Pat’s Town, Fiji Schools, St Pat’s Silverstream, Tawa College

The updated draw is below.

Wellington Development team to play Canterbury B:

1. Alex Barendregt (OBU)
2. Sitiveni Paongo (Tawa)
3. Tietie Tuimauga (Johnsonville)
4. Naitoa Ah Kuoi (MSP)
5. Alex Dalzell (Wellington)
6. Luke Taualupe (Ories)
7. Greg Foe (Poneke)
8. Matt Peni (MSP)
9. Matt Fowler (OBU)
10. Pakai Turia (Poneke)
11. Villami Fine (Petone)
12. Kienan Higgins (Norths)
13. Ollie Sapsford (Wellington)
14. Malachai Unasa (Ories)
15. Andrew Wells (MSP)
RESERVES
16. Leni Apisai (Norths)
17. Marcus Roil (Petone)
18. Jonathan Fuimaono (OBU)
19. Will Mangos (OBU)
20. James Tuiatua (MSP)
21. Logan Henry (Petone)
22. James Proctor (MSP)
23. Fereti Soloa (HOBM)

Wellington Pride team to play Taranaki 

1. Elita Taito (Petone)
2. Alicia Print (Ories)
3. Janet taumoli (Ories)
4. Mary-Lee Sa’u (Petone)
5. Sanita Levave (Norths)
6. Joanah Ngan-Woo (Ories)
7. Gina Williamson (OBU)
8. Jackie Patea-Fereti (Petone)
9. Ana-Maria Afuie (MSP)
10. Accacia Te Iwi Mate (Petone)
11. Ayesha Leti-L’iga (Ories)
12. Amanda Rasch (Ories)
13. Bernadette Robertson (Ories)
14. Monica Tagoai (Ories)
15. Siene Mose (Petone)
RESERVES
16. Rosie Stirling (HOBM)
17. Dora Laupola (Norths)
18. Marcelle Parkes (MSP)
19. Dhys Faleafaga (Norths)
20. Fa’ausa Makisi (Ories)
21. Kiri Mei (Avalon)
22. Tyler Bentley (HOBM)

Tawa Sevens draw (updated Friday):

9.00am: Upper Hutt Rams v MSP Red
9.18am: Northern United v Wellington Axemen
9.36am: Johnsonville v Tawa
9.54am: MSP White v OBU
10.12am: St Pat’s Town v Tawa College
10.30am: Upper Hutt Rams v Johnsonville
10.48am: Northern United v MSP White
11.06am: Fiji Schools v St Pat’s Silverstream
11.24am: Tawa v MSP Red
11.42am: OBU v Wellington Axemen
12.00pm: St Pat’s Town v Fiji Schools
12.18pm: Upper Hutt Rams v Tawa
12.36pm: Northern United v OBU
12.54pm: St Pat’s Silverstream v Tawa College
1.12pm: Johnsonville v MSP Red
1.30pm: MSP White v Wellington Axemen
1.48pm: St Pat’s Town v St Pat’s Silverstream
2.06pm: Winner Pool A vs 2nd Pool A Cup Semi-final 1
2.24pm: College pool Fiji Schools v Tawa College
2.42pm: 3rd Place Pool B vs 4th Place Pool A Plate Semi-final 1
3.00pm: 3rd place Pool A vs 4th Place Pool B Plate Semi-final 2
3.18pm: Winner Pool B vs 2nd Pool A Cup Semi-final 1
3.36pm: College 1st placing vs College 2nd Placing College Final
3.54pm: Winner Game 20 vs Winner Game 21 Plate Final
4.12pm: Winner Game 18 vs Winner Game 22 Cup Final