Maori, Pride and age-group rep teams in action today

Above: Members of the Wellington and Canterbury Maori sides after today's Tirikatene Shield match at Helston Park, which Wellington won 19-10.

The Wellington Maori retained the Tirikatene Shield, the Wellington Pride went down to the Auckland Storm and Wellington's age-group sides enjoyed a mostly successful day in representative rugby today. ?

Mullany leads Wellington Maori to victory over Canterbury Maori

In appalling conditions at Helston Park, 80 brave fans witnessed the outstanding Greg Mullany show his class as Wellington Maori (Te Upoko O Te Ika) defeated Canterbury Maori (Waitaha) 19-10.

The first half was incredibly scrappy for both sides with plenty of mistakes occurring due to the conditions.

The respective kickers for both sides, Wellington Maori's Greg Mullany and Canterbury Maori's Matthew Kottier would kick a penalty each in the first half and both sides would head into the break at 3 all.

The second half had more action. Off the back of a dominant Wellington Maori scrum, Mullany would kick a second penalty to edge his side into the lead.

But Canterbury to their credit came back into the contest and hit the lead. Kottier with his raking boot carved off a huge kick from deep inside the Maori half to within five metres of the Wellington Maori tryline off a penalty.

The ball was fed off the lineout out wide to bulky first five Nick Mannering, who ghosted past Mullany to score the first try of the afternoon. The conversion was kicked and the visitors were up 10-6.

Wellington Maori started to run the ball more and were very unlucky not to score twice off a chip kick from Keanu Moran and off the back of a big scrum close to the Canterbury line. They were penalised off the scrum and Canterbury booted the ball out of jail.

With ten minutes to go in the game, Greg Mullany would get one back over Mannering.

Five metres out from the Canterbury tryline, a quick tap penalty from Wellington Maori halfback Sheridan Rangihuna paid dividends. Mullany latched onto the pass and scored a crucial try that would secure the game for the home side.

He kicked a conversion and a penalty to put the result beyond doubt.

Wellington Maori were outstanding at scrum time throughout the contest which ultimately proved the difference along with Greg Mullany's trusty boot.

Canterbury Maori made a couple of half breaks but often couldn't convert pressure into points close to the Wellington Maori tryline. It was disappointing not to see former Canterbury NPC representative Takerei Norton enter the fray late in the match, as I believe he would have made an impact in the midfield.

Louis Karl was outstanding at the breakdown for the Wellington Maori and led from the front.

Meanwhile in the curtain raiser, the Wairarapa Bush Development side defeated the Wellington Maori Colts 20-12

Wellington Maori 19 Greg Mullany try, con, 4 pen) defeated? Canterbury Maori 10 (Nick Mannering try; Matthew Kottier con pen). Crowd: 80.

Wellington Pride downed by Storm

The Wellington Pride went down 3-48 to the Auckland Storm today in their third round Women's NPC match.

Despite the score against the best women's union in the country, it was generally a much improved performance from the Pride following their lacklustre 12-33 defeat to Otago last week.

The Pride were more committed in almost everything they did, and shared possession and territory throughout the first half, only for Auckland's superior power and pace to show through in the end.

The Pride were out-scored eight tries to nil, with Auckland right wing Mele Hufanga scoring four tries.

Auckland scored three converted tries in the first half and led 21-0 at the break, but this wasn't reflective of the run of play.

Led by their industrious forwards at the breakdowns and their promising midfield combination of Amanda Rasch and Mac Collins, The Pride matched Auckland in all areas with the exception of their scrum.

Of Auckland's three first half tries, one came off a forward pass and another was scored just before halftime, inflating the score at the oranges.

Auckland's first try came after 15 minutes, Tufanga running on to a flat pass and shooting clear to put Auckland ahead 7-0 after 15 minutes.

The home side doubled its lead to 14-0 after half an hour with a try to second five-eighth Theresa Fitzpatrick after half an hour.

Pride second five-eighth Rasch split Auckland's defence with a ghosting run and found centre Collins on her inside in support who was cut down in a desperate cover tackle.

Instead, it was Auckland that struck again before halftime, replacement hooker Aldora Itanu finding the whitewash and first five-eighth Bella Milo converting.

Itunu crossed for her double off a lineout move just after halftime, knocking the ball on over the line but pushing the Storm out to a 26-0.

Goulden replied with the Pride's only points of the afternoon, her penalty closing the gap to 3-26 but Auckland right wing Mele Hufanga flew in to score under the posts after an attacking scrum.

With rain now falling a messy period of play followed, with Auckland remaining in the territorial ascendancy and Pride fullback Jamie McIntosh making consecutive try saving tackles.

Weight of numbers eventually told and McIntosh couldn't prevent Storm right wing Hufanga running in her third try of the afternoon.

Replacement forward Doris Taufateau dived over to increase their buffer to 40 points, before Hufanga scored her fourth try and Auckland's eighth with the last play of the game.

It doesn't get any easier for the young Pride next week, travelling to play Canterbury in Christchurch in their fourth round encounter.

Women's NPC: Wellington Pride 3 (Elizabeth Goulden pen) lost to Auckland 48 (Mele Hufanga 4, Aldora Itunu 2, Theresa Fitzgerald, Doris Taufateau tries; Bella Milo 4 con). HT: 0-21.

Age Group round-up

Most of Wellington's age-group teams were in action today.

The Wellington U19s opened their three-week National U19 Seeding Tournament with a 33-15 win over the Manawatu U19s at Palmerston North.

The Wellington U19s led 19-10 at halftime and went on to score five tries and kick four conversions.

The Taranaki U19s also had a bonus point win in their match against the Hawke's Bay U`19, prevailing 29-18,

Wellington meets Taranaki at Porirua Park next Saturday in their second match of this series.

The Wellington Samoan Secondary Schools beat Horowhenua Kapiti 23-10.

The Wellington U18s had a 62-10 pre-season win over Petone's Ken Gray Academy, while the U18 Centurions lost to Taranaki Schools 32-17.

The Wellington U16As? defeated Wairarapa Bush U18 46-14 and the Wellington U16 Development side defeated the Wairarapa Bush U16s 19-18.