Petone Grab Fourth Semis Spot

Swindale Shield champions Petone will join Northern United, Avalon and Poneke in next week?s Jubilee Cup semi-finals. Petone will play top qualifier Norths in one semi final at Porirua Park, while third placed Poneke will travel to Fraser Park to take on Avalon in the other.

This followed the final round-robin set of games that saw Norths flex their muscles yet again in beating Old Boys-University in a high-scoring game, Petone waltz past Tawa and Avalon sneak past Poneke in what transpired as a prelude to their playoff clash.

Despite yet another error-ridden performance, Petone made light work of Tawa at the Petone Recreation Ground. Petone shut down Tawa up-front and led 16-3 at the break, with tries to wing Willie Moala and centre August Collins. The Villagers then pulled away early in the second half, with Moala and Collins both scoring again.

Petone?s win extinguished any hopes of Marist St. Pats making the playoffs in the competition they have practically made their own in recent times. MSP had to beat Hutt Old Boys Marist with a bonus point and then hope for a Petone loss, to have any chance of adding to their Jubilee Cup record, where they have lifted the cup six times in the last 10 years.

MSP though, could only eke out a one-point win over HOBM in this week?s feature match at Rugby League Park, and were lucky just to win at all as they were largely bereft of attacking options throughout. With the exception of hulking No.8 Peniasi Tokacece and a hard-running midfield, containing Galu Letiu and Joe Wright, they lacked any serious attacking penetration and never looked like coming up with the required four tries.

They showed more urgency early in the second half, when they mounted a comeback after trailing at the break by nine points, but too often promising movements or favourable field position turned to nothing with a succession of aimless kicks which gifted the ball straight back to HOBM and they also suffered huge lapses in concentration, particularly at the break-downs. HOBM were guilty of these things themselves, but they also scored three salient first half tries, which proved the difference.

One of these tries was excellent. HOBM turned the ball over in the midfield and halfback Nick Risdon scuttled through a hole and then slipped a deft pass to veteran flanker Martin Wallis, who made no mistake in scoring under the bar. Other tries were scored by hooker Luke Gibb and blindside Polonga Pedro ? his ninth of the season, the most by a forward this year.

Elsewhere, 2000 people were on hand at Porirua Park to see Norths warm up for their home semi final by beating OBU. OBU took Norths on with an open running game and Norths obliged with plenty of fanfare of their own. Their loose forward trio of All Black Jerry Collins, Iliki Naikatini and, in particular, Tui Meavao was outstanding, while Avalon scored an important psychological win against Poneke before their return encounter next week.