Pati Gaualofa and Tawa hoping for more Jubilee Cup success this year

Above: Tawa’s Pati Gaualofa, who recently played his 100th Premier match, playing against Ories in a Swindale Shield match earlier this year. Photo by http://juntanlaycosports.com/

The Jubilee Cup final is a month away, and like every club rugby player, Tawa’s Pati Gaualofa would love nothing more but to raise the Jubilee Cup aloft at Porirua Park after the final.

In 2013 Tawa swept all before them to win the Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup titles. As a member of a powerful forward pack, Gaualofa was at the heart of a hugely successful season that saw them win or draw 17 of their 20 matches and go on to defeat Oriental-Rongotai 26-21 in the final.

He played most of that season, but he missed both the semi-final win over Old Boys-University and final victory over Ories through injury so he has extra motivation for his team to prevail again this year. “Playing in and winning a Jubilee Cup final is what every player wants, so I would love to get the chance to do so in August,“ he said.

Gaualofa recently reached the milestone of 100 Premier matches for Tawa, since joining the club after leaving school at St Pat’s Town a decade ago. He initially played for the Colts side in 2006 and 2007 made his debut off the bench for the Tawa Premiers in 2007.

“I had a couple of seasons when I only played three or four games; I just had a couple of injuries, mainly trouble with my neck, which kept me out of the game for long periods. So it’s taken me a while to reach the 100-game milestone.”

Of Tokelauan descent, Gaualofa has also played several seasons of age-grade and senior representative rugby for Wellington teams, including 18 first-class appearances for the Wellington Lions.

One of the workhorses in their engine room, Pati Gaualofa, epitomises Tawa’s team spirit.

When Tawa’s pack is on the front foot, which is more often than not, Gaualofa is leading the charge. He has been in good form and has already come away with Player of the Match performances in three games this year, against Johnsonville, Wellington and Oriental-Rongotai. All three were tough battles.

On Saturday, Tawa lost their first match of the Jubilee Cup, pipped at the death 30-31 by Petone who attacked them at their own game and scored two tries alone through Tawa-esque lineout drives.

The loss was a blow but not damaging to Tawa’s playoff chances, but Gaualofa says the squad is focused on improvement between now and the semi-finals and trying to win the title in 2015.

“It’s a pretty big focus for us to win the Jubilee Cup again. Obviously it’s a dream for every club to win it, so it’s a tough competition out there. But for us it’s just a matter of us sticking to our belief and hopefully we’ll take it out again.

Tawa’s run home to the semi-finals sees them play defending champions Hutt Old Boys Marist at home this coming weekend and then Old Boys University and Marist St Pat’s both away in rounds six and seven.

They will all but book their top four berth this weekend if they beat the Eagles, but finishing either first or second and earning a home semi-final is the target.

“I think if you look at our record at home, we’ve only lost about three or so games at Lyndhurst Park in the last three years, so we would want to be hosting a Jubilee Cup semi-final at home. But obviously with semi-finals it’s anyone’s game and it’s about whoever turns up on the day.”

Gaualofa said it’s a boost for the rest of the team having some experienced players out there with them in the big matches, such as current captain TJ Fermanis in the forwards and Tu Umaga-Marshall and the So’oialo brothers in the backs.

“Having all the older heads guiding us through tight games is invaluable for us, not just Steve So’oialo but his younger brother James who has been kicking us out of trouble and has been winning us games. He has been good at either fullback or first-five and is a sharpshooter with his kicking.”

If Tawa win the Jubilee Cup again they’ll have to do so without talismanic prop Taniela Koroi, who is in camp with Fiji ahead of the Rugby World Cup, and a handful of other players such as loose forwards Joketani Koroi and Sam Blair, both holding professional contracts overseas.

Gaualofa has played many of his 100 plus Premier games at blindside flanker, a position that he enjoys playing. Right now, he’s happy to play lock and explained that he likes the tight stuff equally as much.

The player currently occupying the blindside position, Telea Seumanutafa, has been on fire this year having scored 13 tries in 14 starts.

They could have Shaun Treeby back for the business end of the season too. Treeby is currently with the Highlanders camp preparing to face the Hurricanes in this Saturday’s Super Rugby final.

Gaualofa joked that a few of the Tawa boys will be supporting the Highlanders this weekend because of Treeby’s involvement. “But we’ve got Chris Boyd involved in the final as the Hurricanes coach so it’s a win-win for us!”

Highlights for Gaualofa in playing club rugby for Tawa have been the wins he’s played in against the established clubs. “Winning games against the big clubs in my first few seasons was always special. Like beating Marist St Pat’s for the first time in a long time and beating Poneke, Norths and Petone and clubs like that were always good.”

Now it’s changed and these clubs want to beat Tawa. “We still have the mentality of being the underdogs though.”

Gaualofa says that the teams he likes playing against the most are Wainuiomata and Ories, both similar community clubs to Tawa.

“We have a good relationship with those clubs, on and off the field.”