College sport Finals Day at Silverstream on Saturday

(Above): The crack St Pat’s Town U15 team packing down recently. If they beat Rongotai College in Saturday’s final by more than 34 points they will bring up 1,000 points for the season. They head off to the National U15 Tournament in Auckland on 2 September – having finished 5th in New Zealand last year.

The College Sport Wellington school Finals Day returns to St Pat’s Silverstream after being held at Rongotai College for the last two years. Although the major prize – the Premier 1 title – has already been decided, along with both Girls divisions, there are still no fewer than 14 grade and division titles to be decided on a full day of action across all five fields at Silverstream.

The host school is the most well-represented with five teams in action; though no fewer than 16 schools have at least one team playing in a final this year.

Premier Grades

The senior prize on offer on the day is the Premier 2 grade Murray Jensen Cup, pitting Wairarapa College against Hutt Valley High School on the #1 ground at 1.30pm.

Wairarapa are newcomers to the Wellington competition this year, and have been the form side of the round-robin with their only loss a 26-28 reverse to Tawa College and accounted for Aotea College 29-10 in the semi-final last Saturday. Hutt Valley HS won this title last year and were perhaps unlucky not to be in the Premier 1 grade having narrowly lost their last grading game to Rongotai College. After defeating St Bernard’s 27-5 in their semi-final they will look to defend their title and atone for the 0-40 loss to Wairarapa in the round-robin three weeks ago.

The Premier 3 final is for the Paul Cameron Cup. Like Wairarapa, Paraparaumu College come into the game having dropped only one game in the round-robin, a 32-33 loss to Upper Hutt College. They return to the final of this grade looking to go one better than last year where they lost to Tawa and come into the gameon the back of a 47-25 win over near-neighbours Kapiti College in the semi-final. They will face the St Pats Town 2nd XV,whosesemi-final was a very contrasting 6-0 arm-wrestle with their Rongotai College counterparts. When the two sides met earlier in the yearParaparaumu prevailed 44-9

The Premier 4 final for the Onslow Cup will be between top-qualifiers, the Scots College 2nd XV, and second-qualifiers Onslow College;while the Tawa College 3rd XV and Aotea College 2nd XV will contest the Premier 5 title.

Age Grades

The St Pat’s Town U15 side has been one of the more dominant teams in all college grades this year, winning all their games with an average scoreline of 54-5! On Saturday they will face Rongotai College for the Father Gus Hill Cup looking to complete an undefeated season in local competition, but will want to avoid any complacency going into the match. For their part Rongotai won convincingly over Wellington College last weekend to book their place in this game, though Town produced an emphatic 73-5 win when the sides met earlier in the year.

The Under 15 Division 2 final is between Wainuiomata High School and Naenae College, while Newlands College and Scots College will meet in the Division 3 final.

In the Under 14 grade the Division 1 final for the Grahame Duffy Cup is between Silverstream and Wellington College, who’s earlier meeting was a narrow 10-7 win to Silverstream; while Silverstream’s second side will play Kapiti College in the Division 2 final


Weight-restricted grades

The Under 80 kg competition made a return this year after not being played the past two years due to a lack of entries. On Saturday Silverstream? and? Upper Hutt College meet to contest the Arthur Reeve Cup, with Silverstream having won their previous match this year by 17-7.

The Under 65kg Division 1 final for the Ina Hansen Cup will be fought out between Silverstream, who have won all 8 games with an average scoreline 63-7, and Wellington College. The Division 2 final will be contested by the Hutt Valley HS and Wainuiomata High School sides.

In the real lightweights of the Under 55kg grade, the Division 1 final will be between Silverstream and St Pat’s Town for the David Scott Cup, with the Division 2 final between Aotea College and the Wellington College second side.

Schedule for the day

10.00 am
Field 1: Under 65kg Division 1 – Silverstream v Wellington College
Field 2: Under 14 Division 2 – Silverstream 2nds v Kapiti College
Field 3: Under 55kg Division 1 – Silverstream v St Pats Town
Field 4: Under 55kg Division 2 – Aotea College v Wellington College 2nds
Field 5: Under 15 Division 2 – Wainuiomata HS v Naenae College

11.30 am
Field 1: Under 80kg – Silverstream v Upper Hutt College
Field 2: Under 14 Division 1 – Silverstream v Wellington College
Field 3: Premier 5 – Tawa College 3rd XV v Aotea 2nd XV
Field 4: Under 15 Division 3 – Newlands College v Scots College
Field 5: Under 65kg Division 2 – Hutt Valley HS v Wainuiomata HS

1.00 pm
Field 2: Under 15 Division 1 – St Pats Town v Rongotai College
Field 3: Premier 3 – Paraparaumu College 1st XV v St Pats Town 2nd XV
Field 4: Premier 4 –Scots College 2nd XV v Onslow College 1st XV

1.30 pm
Field 1: Premier 2 – Wairarapa College 1st XV v Hutt Valley HS 1st XV

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