Old Boys University and Hutt Old Boys Marist win Premier Reserve and Colts finals

Above: The Old Boys University Goats second XV celebrating their Ed Chaney Cup win today over Marist St Pat’s

Old Boys University and Hutt Old Boys Marist won two of the Wellington club rugby Championship titles on the line today, the Ed Chaney and John E Kelly Cups.

Two weeks after their top side raised the Jubilee Cup high after being Marist St Pat’s, Old Boys University’s second XV defeated their Marist St Pat’s counterparts today to win the Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup. OBU won the final 20-10 at Wellington College.

Hutt Old Boys Marist held on to beat home side Northern United 16-11 in the final of the John E Kelly Cup Division 1 Colts final at Jerry Collins Stadium.

HOBM won the Colts Division 1 final by scoring two tries in the opening quarter and taking a 13-0 lead before Norths had settled.

Turning into a southerly wind, the Junior Eagles then withstood a concerted comeback by Norths, outstanding, smothering defence winning the day. Trailing by 10 points, Norths missed out on a decisive opportunity to launch themselves into the game midway through the second half – failing to take advantage of a long period of possession and territory. With the clock winding down, HOBM went on to lose three players to the sin-bin, but the 12-man Eagles held on and Norths could only score a consolation in injury time.

HOBM halfback and captain Taylor Edwards was pleased with the win. “We knew from the get-go that they’d be coming at us hard and strong,” he said. “Our defence was tight and on attack we were just cracking, so we’re really pleased with how we pulled through to win this final.”

Taylor said the plan to come out all guns blazing and try and post early points worked. “We won the semi-final last week against [three-time defending champions] OBU by piling on early points, so we thought we’d give it a go again today and it worked.”

“Full credit to Norths, they were a hard team to play and they’ll bounce back even stronger next year.

“For us, this Colts team has been in the final for the past three years but lost the previous two, so this win is definitely for the club. We’ll celebrate later on with a couple of beers at our clubrooms.”

In other finals today, Ories won the HD Morgan Memorial Cup. Ories defeated Wainuiomata 22-20 in the final at the Polo Ground.

Tawa beat Poneke 27-21 in the final of the Colts Division 2 Vic Calcinai Memorial Cup.

Oriental-Rongotai beat Wellington 48-9 in the final of the Colts Division 3 Eric Connolly Memorial Cup.

The Avalon Wolves beat Paremata-Plmmerton in the final of the Colts Division 4 James Gilbert Memorial Trophy.

Stokes Valley beat the Wests Roosters 10-3 in the final of the U85kg Division 2 Tony O’Brien Shield.

Next week’s U85kg Restricted Paul Potiki Shield semi-finals see top qualifier the Poneke Cavs play the Wellington Light-Axemen and first round champions the Tawa Titans host the OBU Onslow Bunnies.

Wellington clinched the fourth spot still up for grabs today, beating MSP Reds 38-10 and the other team still in contention, the HOBM Howlers, lost to Tawa 23-13. Poneke sealed top spot for the playoffs with a 22-9 win over the OBU Onslow Bunnies. In the round’s other clash today, Eastbourne and the Avalon Wolves drew 12-12 in their season finales.

Next week’s First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup semi-finals will see top qualifier the HOBM Barbarians playing the Petone Saxons and second and third placed Old Boys University and Stokes Valley clashing.

Stokes Valley assured themselves of a playoff berth by beating Marist St Pat’s A without entering their changing rooms – MSP A becoming the third team to default in this grade this weekend.

The Petone Saxons clinched fourth place after they beat the Petone Brotherhood 23-5 today.
In the other match played today, Northern United defeated MSP Avele 77-12.

Next week’s Reserve Grade Division 1 semi-finals will be between top qualifiers the Poneke Ruffnuts and fourth placed the MSP Internationals and second placed Johnsonville Cripples and third placed Wests Mixed Veges.

There were two Festival of Rugby matches at Lyndhurst Park today.

In the early game, the Wellington Samoans defeated Wellington City 30-17 and in the second fixture the Wellington Suburbs side beat Wellington Maori 41-36.

In First XV rugby, Scots College held on to their hope of defending their National title by defeating Wanganui High 57-11 today. They will travel to Gisborne Boys’ High School next weekend.

In two inter-provincial representative fixtures, there were wins for the Wellington Lions and the Lion Cubs.

The Cubs U19s side beat Wairarapa Bush B 41-0 in Masterton in their opening hit-out of the 2015 representative season.

The Lions upset defending Premiership champions Taranaki 19-14 in their ITM Cup opener in New Plymouth. Wing Joe Hill sprinted 55 metres to score the winning try with the game in the balance. The Lions’ next match is on Thursday against North Harbour.