Poneke and Upper Hutt Grab Remaining Playoff Spots

Round 7 Review Poneke and Upper Hutt secured the remaining two playoff spots and Petone sealed second place and the second home semi-final after the final round of Jubilee Cup matches. Petone will host Poneke in one semi-final next Sunday, while Upper Hutt will travel to Porirua to tackle top qualifiers Northern United in the other.

While seven teams were still alive heading into round seven, the only change in the top four was in the order of qualifying, with Poneke leapfrogging Upper Hutt into third. In the early game Avalon lost 37-17 to Norths at Porirua Park, leaving Marist. St Pats needing to beat Upper Hutt and for Poneke to lose to Western Suburbs for MSP to force their way in. MSP beat Upper Hutt 25-17 at Rugby League Park and collected a four-try bonus point in the process, but it was all in vain as Poneke made light work of Wests to win 36-14 at Kilbirnie Park. Meanwhile at Lyndhurst Park Petone cruised past Tawa 36-7.

Upper Hutt will have plenty to ponder before their semi-final with Norths after they lost their third game in four weeks and were nearly shut out of the semi-finals altogether. Indeed MSP were left lamenting what could have been in the gloom after an impressive display against the Swindale champions. In wet, slippery conditions ball retention and field position was going to be at a premium and MSP had the best part of both throughout the first half and for long periods in the second, while Upper Hutt made too many mistakes to establish any rhythm.

Despite this, a fifth minute penalty to MSP first five-eighth Fa?atonu Fili was all that separated the sides on the scoreboard after 30 minutes, but two explosive tries to MSP before halftime, both instigated by playmaker Fili, well and truly swung the game the home side?s way. The first came from a Fili grubber kick behind Upper Hutt?s cover defence, which left wing Dan Stemp ran onto, toed ahead again and dived on to score. Fili converted from the sideline, and then he sliced through three defenders and offloaded to second five-eighth Joe Wright, who crossed the line.

15-0 at halftime became 20-0 just minutes into the second half and Upper Hutt were in big trouble. MSP drove from a lineout and hooker Kenny Lafoga crashed over. Upper Hutt finally mounted some pressure on MSP?s line, and they were rewarded with two tries, to lock Clinton Whiu and left wing Greg Tweddle. But MSP responded through hardworking lock Peniasi Tokakece, who scored an almost identical try to Lafoga?s, and at 25-10 with 15 minutes remaining the game was safe. Tweddle scored a slick consolation try on fulltime, but it was too late.

Petone made no race of it against Tawa, with right wing Alex Telea bagging a hat trick and left wing Willie Moala picking up a brace as the Villagers cruised to a 29-0 lead midway through the second half. Their opponents next Sunday, Poneke were pushed only slightly harder by Wests, with fullback Brad Cooper contributing 21 points to surpass 200 points for the season, while Norths wings Sinoti To?omaga and Peato Lafaele each scored two tries in their 20-point demolition of Avalon.

Steven White

Jubilee Cup top points scorers (after seven rounds):

Brad Cooper (Poneke) 206
Scott Leighton (Wests) 195
Sam Rasch (MSP) 166
Gene Johnston (Tawa) 101
Cory Aporo (Upper Hutt) 93
Cameron Cross (Avalon) 87
Ben Aoina (Upper Hutt) 82
Riki Flutey (Petone) 81
Rob Aloe (Norths) 71
Willie Lafaele (Tawa) 62
Peato Lafaele (Norths) 53
Steve McColl (Poneke) 51
Evan Belford 50
Fa'atonu Fili (MSP) 49
Earl Va'a (Petone) 47


Jubilee Cup top try scorers (after seven rounds):

Evan Belford (Poneke) 10
Junior Togia (Tawa) 9
Dan Stemp (MSP) 9
Willie Moala (Petone) 9
Siaosi Anamani (Norths) 8
Brad Baker (Upper Hutt) 8
Alex Telea (Petone) 8
Vila Apu?ula (Avalon) 7
Steve McColl (Poneke) 7
Greg Tweddle (Upper Hutt) 7
Thomas Waldrom (Avalon) 6
T Umaga-Marshall (Petone) 6
Chris Puketapu (Upper Hutt) 6
Cory Aporo (Upper Hutt) 6
S To'omaga (Norths) 6