Petone Knock Over Norths To Set Up Tight Last Round

The race to the playoffs will go right down to the wire next week, with Petone and Poneke the big winners in round six action of the Jubilee Cup. In a season of highs and lows, defending champions Petone pulled out the round's surprise result, beating Northern United 16-8 at the Petone Recreation Ground to move into the top four and relegate a tottering Norths from first to third and in danger of missing out altogether next week.

This means Poneke with 19 points are the new leaders after they enjoyed a comfortable 23-3 win over Marist St Pat's at Evans Bay Park, one point ahead of Hutt Old Boys Marist, who took care of Tawa 46-10 at Lyndhurst Park in the round's only bonus point win, with Norths a point back on 17. In the remaining match, Old Boys-University lost to Avalon 20-12 in another surprise outcome at Fraser Park, dropping the students out of the top four and keeping Avalon's hopes alive.

These results set up a tight last round. With Poneke the only side to have qualified, five teams are still in position to chase the other three spots, with the order of finishing and home semi-final berths all up for grabs. Only multiple champions Marist St. Pats and Tawa are out of contention.

On the field, the worst storm of the year had cleared to bright sunshine and a moderate breeze, making for more conducive rugby all round following the dastardly conditions of the previous few weeks. Petone led Norths from start to finish, turning a 10-5 halftime lead into an eight-point victory and denying Norths a bonus point. HOBM were more clinical against Tawa, who were coming off their first win of the Cup round against MSP. It was close early on, with HOBM wrestling a 17-5 lead after the first 40 minutes, before running away with proceedings in the second spell.

The big talking point between Avalon and OBU was the much anticipated return of Conrad Smith from a broken leg he sustained for the Hurricanes at the start of the Rebel Sport Super 14. Smith graced the field midway through the second half with his team trailing 12-17, but a 14-man Avalon were able to hold on to win. Fleet footed second five-eighth Seminar Manu, who danced his way through HOBM last week on route to setting up the game's decisive try, had just created, then converted right wing Danny Shaw's try. A try on halftime to Avalon lock Jason Goble had earlier seen them ahead 17-5 and with their tails up. This despite having blindside flanker Mane Tupu shown a red card after half an hour.

This week's feature match saw MSP take on rival club Poneke and needing to lift themselves out of seventh and mount their challenge, while for Poneke another win would keep them in the top two for another round.

MSP started very strongly, taking the majority of field possession in the opening 20 minutes. However, they couldn't maintain that pressure for long enough with errors letting them down and Poneke's strong defence keeping them out. First points came through Poneke's first five-eighth Brad Cooper landing a penalty after Poneke finally got into MSP's half. The key moment in the half was when MSP's prop Mark Darling was sin-binned, the first of three yellow cards throughout the match. Poneke took a 6-3 lead into the second half and were starting to take control of the match.

With MSP still down to 14 at the start of the second spell, Poneke produced the play of the game and with this, broke the back of the opposition. Left wing Ambrose Plaister scored a try off a well-worked move from their back line, running 35 metres to score. MSP were still clearly keen to stay in the contest, and again started to gain more field possession, their captain and open-side flanker Craig Simeon leading the way. Both teams were reduced to 14 mid-way through the half, after both number eights were sin-binned for some off-the-ball play. Poneke were the ones to capitalise on the situation, and for only the second time in the half they got into MSP territory. They scored through their replacement flanker Tale Vakaloma, which took them to an 18-3 score line.

MSP were getting increasingly frustrated in the latter part of the game, as they failed to break through after having so much territory throughout the match. Poneke finished off with a late try, to take the final score to 23-3.

MSP will be frustrated with this result, as they had plenty of opportunities in the match and will be thinking what might have been. Poneke will be pleased with their defensive effort and the way they took their chances as they move into the semi-finals.