Lots of Lower grade club and college rugby tomorrow

As the local season rapidly draws to a close, this weekend sees another slate of club finals, remaining grades in their last round-robin outing, and the majority of college semi-finals taking place.

Premier Reserve Ed Chaney and HD Morgan Memorials

A shade less than two weeks after their Premier sides fought out the Jubilee Cup final, Old Boys-University and Marist St Pats’ second XVs will meet to decide who claims the Ed Chaney Memorial Cup.

Like their Premiers, OBU only just scraped into the top echelon at the conclusion of the Harper Lock Shield after playing in the Hardham Cup in prior years under the old club format, but in the second round have dropped only a single game – a crossover match to Oriental-Rongotai.

MSP finished the Harper Lock in fifth place, but slumped starting the second round in losing their opening four fixtures, the last of those being 6-20 to OBU. They have since won their last five matches plus last weekend’s semi-final, the latter with a last-minute penalty to beat HOBM, while OBU beat Poneke by 18-5. Originally scheduled to be played at Nairnville Park, it has been relocated to the #1 ground at Wellington College.

The HD Morgan Memorial Trophy division final will be played at the Polo Ground, with Oriental-Rongotai hosting Wainuiomata after contrasting semi-finals. A week after winning an arm-wrestle against Johnsonville in their last round-robin match, the Magpies made no race of the rematch in the semi-final against the same opposition with a 55-10 win. Wainuiomata however looked all out of sorts their semi-final against a calm and composed Upper Hutt Rams side, trailing 0-16 after 60 minutes, but eventually found a gear and rattled in five tries in the final 20 to win 29-16.

Colin Te Pohe will control the Ed Chaney final, while Greg Binning will have the whistle for the HD Morgan decider. Both matches kick-off at 2.30pm

Colts John E Kelly Memorial Cup and other finals

As previewed here last night on Club Rugby, a different name will be etched on the Colts championship trophy after Hutt Old Boys Marist beat three-time champions and top-qualifiers 25-8 OBU Green last Saturday. That sets up this year’s final, to be played at Porirua Park after Norths, who led the Paris Memorial round-robin for several weeks until a pair of losses saw them slide to third, also won away 17-12 over the Upper Hutt Rams.

Kick-off is also at 2.30pm, with Vinnie Wylie the referee.

Three other trophies will also be decided on Saturday. The Vic Calcinai Memorial Cup for Division 2 will be decided at Kilbirnie Park with Poneke taking on Tawa, while the James Gilbert Memorial Trophy for Division 4 will be played out between Paremata-Plimmerton and Avalon at Ngatitoa Domain. These two matches also kick-off at 2.30pm. The fourth final, the Eric Connolly Memorial Cup Division 3 contest between Wellington and Oriental-Rongotai at Hataitai Park, kicks off at 12.30pm.

Under 85kg Restricted

The Division 1 Paul Potiki Shield enters its final matches of the round-robin stage, and for two sides – HOBM and Wellington, it is all to play for. HOBM currently sit in the last remaining playoff spot with 18 points, but face the second-placed Tawa Titans at Trafalgar Park at 1pm, while Wellington, who have 15 points, take on second-bottom MSP Reds at Evans Bay at the same time. Should these two end up tied on the same number of competition points HOBM will progress due to their 8-0 win in the first match of this round.

The Poneke Cav’s are already guaranteed a home semi-final next week (as are Tawa), and face the OBU Bunnies who themselves cannot finish anywhere other than third in the third 1pm match of the day at Te Whaea, while already eliminated Eastbourne and Avalon conclude their seasons at HW Shortt at 2.45pm. Johnsonville, who were eliminated with their loss last week, have the bye.

The seventh club final on Saturday will be played at Delaney Park in Stokes Valley, where the home side takes on Western Suburbs in the Division 2 final for the Tony O’Brien Shield. Stokes Valley went unbeaten in the round-robin, including beating Wests 24-9 in their earlier meeting, and beat the Upper Hutt Rams 22-0 last weekend. Wests beat MSP Green 26-10 in their semi-final. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.

First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup

Just three matches again to be played in the First Grade competition. The top two sides, HOBM and OBU, both have the week off and will host semi-finals next week, while Stokes Valley will assure that they will be there if they beat MSP ‘A’ in the early kick-off at Delaney Park. The crunch clash is at the Petone Rec at 2.30pm where the two Petone sides, the Brotherhood and Saxons meet and it’s likely that only the winner will go forwards. The remaining game is at Porirua Park at 1pm between Norths and MSP Avele, who will both finish their seasons.

Reserve Grade Division 1

It’s also the final round of the Reserve Grade Division 1 competition ahead of their semi-finals next week. The Poneke Ruffnuts have already qualified top and will look to keep their unbeaten season intact when they travel to take on the already-eliminated Upper Hutt Thirsty Rams on the Maidstone artificial. Across on Maidstone’s #1 field the Rams’ J8 side face a must-win and likely including a bonus-point, against the Wests Mixed Vege’s to make the semi-finals; the Vege’s are already qualified and a win for them will mean a home game next weekend. The two sides that sit third and fourth - the MSP Internationals and Johnsonville Cripples – face off at Evans Bay knowing that a single competition point each with have them both through to next week.

Weltec College

With the exception of the Premiership and Premier 3, all College grades and divisions are at the semi-finals stage ahead of the finals day at Silverstream next week.

The main games of the day are the Premier 2 semi-finals. Top qualifiers Bishop Viard had last weekend off locally, but travelled to Masterton and beat Wairarapa College 17-15 in their regional Co-ed playoff match. Their focus now switches to taking on Hutt Valley HS, who upset the Silverstream 2nds in their quarter final, at Porirua Park ahead of the Colts Division 1 final. The other semi-final is in Lower Hutt, where St Bernard’s take on Porirua on the Petone Rec after the latter accounted for Aotea 14-9 in their quarter-final; both matches kick-off at 1pm

Two other games of note are the U15 Division 1 semi-finals, notable for the fact that neither Wellington nor Rongotai Colleges have qualified after both lost home qualifiers last weekend. Top qualifiers St Pats Town are at home on Evans Bay against Naenae’s only 2015 rugby side (who beat Rongotai) while the other match has Silverstream hosting Scots, who beat Wellington College. Both of these kick-off at 11.30am.

Elsewhere, Scots College make the trip to Cooks Gardens in Wanganui to play Wanganui HS in a Hurricanes regional qualifier. Wanganui are using a ‘challenger’ place created in the revamp of the Top 4 qualification process for those schools that do not play in Wellington’s or the Super 8 competition. The winner of this match will then travel to play Gisborne BHS on the 22nd.