Wellington U19s qualify top, while Pride earn opening win

Above: The Wellington U19s after being presented with the Central Region Shield today following their big win over Hawke's Bay in their third and final match of the Hurricanes Region National U19 Seeding tournament.

The Wellington Pride and the Wellington U19s both won well in their competition matches today.

The Wellington Pride defeated Bay of Plenty 24-5 in the fifth round of the Women's NPC, while the Wellington U19s over-ran the Hawke's Bay U19s 67-0 in their third and final Hurricanes Seeding Tournament match.

In other notable wins, the Wellington Development side defeated Manawatu 48-13 and the Wellington Samoans defeated the Hawke's Bay Saracens 36-22.

Under 19s

In torrential rain at Porirua Park, the Wellington U19s scored 11 tries to secure top seeding position in the Hurricanes Region for the National U19 Tournament which kicks-off in Taupo next weekend. By finishing as top seed, the team also won the Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council's prestigious Central Region Shield, first competed for in 1987 in the U19 Competition of that era.

It took 10 minutes for both teams to settle, before Luke Campbell (who scored three tries in the match), started the scoreboard ticking over with a converted try. With a wet weather game plan in hand and working well, Wellington added a further four tries (24 points) playing into a bitter southerly, which forced the hardy spectators present to the back rows of the Porirua Park grandstand.

Playing with the benefit of the weather at their backs in the second half, six more tries were scored before both teams made a hurried but welcome exit from the field to the showers. The visitors struggled to retain possession for concerted periods throughout the game, with the home team adapting better to the conditions overall.

In today's other Seeding Tournament match, Taranaki defeated Manawatu 22-8, earning second seeding in the Hurricanes region for next week's National Tournament.

The Hurricanes region points table finished with Wellington on 14 points, Taranaki on 10, Manawatu 5 and Hawke's Bay 0.

Wellington 67: Tries: Luke Campbell (3); Chase Tiatia (2); Willie Tufui; Jordon Leuluai; Tao-Roi Lupo; Aleks Noble-Campbell; Faraimo Nofoaiga; Liam Hallem-Emmes. Conversions: Luke Campbell (3); Chase Tiatia (2); Jordan Glenn-Bradbrook. Hawke's Bay 0. HT 31-0.

Wellington Pride

The Wellington Pride recovered from a patchy start to earn a well-deserved 24-5 win over the Bay of Plenty Volcanix at a water-logged Petone Recreation Ground.

The Pride came back from an early 0-5 deficit and then a sin-binning against them to take a 17-5 lead into the halftime break, before holding on in pouring rain in the second half to register their first victory of this year's Women's NPC competition.

In extremely difficult conditions, the Pride played with added commitment and steel up front and with verve and dash in the backs to hold off the Volcanix side.

The Pride scored two converted tries in the first half, to prop Muteremoana Aiatu and right wing Lauren Harris, and one more in the second half to replacement centre Georgia Daals.

Following an early period of BoP ascendency followed by the game's opening try to their fullback Morgan Morrow, The Pride's forward pack responded to having halfback Kauna Lopa sin-binned for an altercation under BoP's posts by driving Aiatu over the whitewash for their opening try.

Several minutes later the Pride fought their way back into BoP's 22 and a neat wraparound move by first five-eighth Lizzie Goulden put Harris in untouched.

Goulden converted both tries and kicked a penalty with the last act of the first half as the wind shifted to the south and heavy rain started falling.

After soaking up a long period of BoP pressure throughout much of the second half, Daals linked up with outstanding second five-eighth Maryann Collins off the back of a scrum, shot into the clear and burst 40 metres to score the match winning try with about 10 minutes remaining.

The win for the Pride was good reward for a solid all-round team performance. Led by captain and No. 8 Aimee Sutorius and locks Jackie Patea and Courtney Clarke in particular, the Pride's forwards held of an extremely competitive BoP pack.

BoP matched the Pride in the breakdowns, but Sutorius, Patea, Clarke, Aiatu and flanker Carol Sio all provided good go-forward ball, while Black Fern Patea put all sorts of pressure on the BoP lineouts.

Given the conditions, the enterprise of Wellington's Backs was also telling. Goulden and Collins were both impressive, the latter punishing on defence, Jamie McIntosh had a safe game at fullback, right wing Harris was industrious and second half replacements, halfback Accacia Claridge and centre Daals came on and added firepower.

The Pride's next match in the Women's NPC is against the Counties Manukau Heat next week in Pukekohe, have their bye the following week, before returning home to play Waikato at Westpac Stadium on 11 October and Hawke's Bay at Porirua Park on 18 October.

Wellington Pride 24: Tries: Muteremoana Aiatu, Lauren Harris, Georgia Daals. Conversions: Elizabeth Goulden 3. Penalties: Goulden 1. Bay of Plenty Volcanix 5. Try: Morgan Morrow. HT: 17-5.

Wellington Samoans

The Wellington Samoans held on to beat the Hawke's Bay Saracens team 36-22 in the early game at Porirua Park.

The Samoans scored two early tries to take a 12-0 lead in as many minutes, scoring under the bar after just four minutes after a cross-kick and then scoring from a well-worked lineout drive in the corner.

The Hawke's Bay team worked their way into the match and replied with a well-executed forwards try after six phases of pick and go play. This was followed by a second try through the forwards and they trailed 12-10 after 22 minutes.

With just over 10 minutes to go before halftime, Wellington Samoans wing Afa Fa'atau intercepted a pass and sprinted 50 metres to score a key try.

Just before the break, the Samoans were held up over the line, but Hawke's Bay couldn't hold them out a second time and they crossed from a lineout to give them a 26-10 lead at halftime.

The Samoans then extended their lead with their fifth try early in the second half, before turning their attention to holding off the Saracens who came back to score two converted tries to trail 31-22.

But the Samoans had the last say, sealing victory with a try in the corner with a few minutes remaining.

Wellington Development

In Palmerston North, the Wellington Development side enjoyed a 48-15 win over their Manawatu counterparts, after leading 26-3 at halftime.

Wellington scored seven tries to seven different players. Try scorers were prop Apa Heemi, lock Nemani Waaka, flanker Murphy Taramai, halfback Jared Kahu, second? five-eighth Jason Henry and replacements Anaru Rangi and Taniela Manu.

First five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili kicked four conversions and a penalty and Kahu also slotted a conversion.

The Wellington Development XV is scheduled to meet Hawke's Bay, Tasman and Bay of Plenty over the next three weeks.

Under 18s

The Samoan Secondary Schools defeated Wairarapa Bush 36-0.

The Centurions U18s went down 15-17 to Hawke's Bay U18.

Under 16s

In U16 rugby, the Wellington U16As beat the Western Bays U18s 50-17 at Te Whaea in their practice match before next week's Hurricanes U16 tournament. ?

The Wellington U16 Development team beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 33-12 in Levin, scoring five tries.

In an U16 challenge game, Manawatu beat Poverty Bay 8-7.

Wellington Lions

The Wellington Lions can continue the good weekend for Wellington teams with a win over the Tasman Makos tomorrow at Westpac Stadium, kick-off 4.35 pm.

The Lions will have a Ranfurly Shield challenge when they meet Hawke's Bay in Napier on Wednesday 1 October, after the Magpies defeated Bay of Plenty 36-17 today.