Ories, Avalon unbeaten in Wellington women?s rugby

Above: Avalon halfback Mary-Jane Ale gets a pass away as her Wainuiomata opposite Suzanne Yee and referee Bruce Burdon look on.

Oriental-Rongotai and Avalon are the two unbeaten sides in the Premier Women's competition after third round Fleurs Trophy matches played around Wellington on Saturday.

Backing up their hard-fought second round victory over Norths, Ories secured their third straight bonus point win, comfortably defeating new side Tawa.?

With regular first five-eighth and playmaker Lizzie Goulden away at the Black Ferns trials? - along with Norths duo Muteremoana Aiatu and Sanita Levave and Wainuiomata's Jackie Patea - Amanda Rasch scored a try and was pinpoint off the kicking tee kicking 17 conversions. Left wing Jane Bryce scored four tries and five players scored two tries each.

Avalon are a point behind Ories after defeating Wainuiomata 19-14 in a tough, stop-start contest at Fraser Park that was eventually called off early owing to an injury to an Avalon player.

Avalon was quick to assert themselves and show why they deserved to be playing on Fraser Park's number one field.

Rumbling up the field with a series of pick and goes, they caught the Wainuiomata side on the back foot as Avalon got a across the line for this first try.

Wainuiomata managed to regroup and ground their way back up field and onto the scoreboard when a good series of phase play from their forward pack was converted with excellent footwork and a fend or two from Wainuiomata wing Mary-Lee Sau.?

Wainuiomata fought their way back to take the lead when a penalty try was awarded after a chip through by Sieni Mose was thwarted as she was tackled without the ball. The first half was stopped short with five minutes to play after an injury to an Avalon player.

When play finally resumed, Avalon wasted no time bringing on star playmaker and New Zealand Sevens representative Kat Simpkins at first five-eighth. The competition's top point scorer added to her tally with two conversions and was heavily involved with the two tries that brought Avalon back into the lead.

Wainuiomata substitute winger Anahera Edwards was denied a try in the corner before play then stalled as the two sides traded penalties. The game was called early due to the injury time with only 65 minutes played.

At Porirua Park, defending champions Northern United got back in the winner's circle, beating Old Boys-University 46-19. Norths led 28-19 at halftime, but pulled clear to win comfortably after the turnaround.

Wing Jamie Mackintosh continued her hot try-scoring run to start the new season. Mackintosh scored a brace of tries, and has now run in seven tries in three games. Helen Collins and Lekah Leti also scored two tries each. For OBU, first five-eighth Georgia Daals scored two tries.

At Delaney Park, Stokes Valley made it two wins from three games, defeating Poneke 62-0.

The individual star of this contest was Geneva Webber who scored six tries and kicked five conversions for 40 points. Second five-eighth Manu Albert also scored a brace of tries.

In this coming weekend's games, the feature match is between Ories and Avalon at the Polo Ground, while Poneke host Norths at Kilbirnie Park, OBU host Tawa at Prince of Wales Park and Wainuiomata play Stokes Valley at Mary Crowther Park.