MSP book semi-finals place as Wainuiomata win Women’s decider

UPDATED: Marist St Pat’s beat Wainuiomata 30-18 today with a four-try bonus point to become the first and still the only side to qualify for the 2016 Bucqui Jubilee Cup semi-finals with just one round remaining next week.

Remarkably, in the tightest championship round for many seasons, all seven of the other eight Jubilee Cup participants are still alive in the playoff race, after today’s matches.

In other Jubilee Cup results, Tawa continued their resurgence, beating defending champions and first round winners Old Boys University 38-20 at leafy Lyndhurst Park, the Wellington Axemen and Oriental-Rongotai fought out a 25-25 draw at Hataitai Park and Poneke came from behind to overrun the Upper Hutt Rams 46-32 at Kilbirnie Park.

The Jubilee Cup standings with one round to play are (in order of current semi-final qualifications): MSP 21, Ories 17, Poneke 17, Tawa 15, OBU 15, Wainuiomata 15, Upper Hutt Rams 12, Wellington 11.

Wainuiomata are the 2016 Wellington women’s club rugby Division 1 champions, beating Oriental-Rongotai 24-12 in today’s Victoria Tavern Trophy final at William Jones Park. Hutt Old Boys Marist won the Division 2 title with a 39-20 win over Marist St Pat’s.

In the Hardham Cup, Paremata-Plimmerton Got up to occupy the fourth placed position behind confirmed qualifiers Hutt Old Boys Marist, Northern United and Petone with one round to play next week.

Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Johnsonville 22-15 at Helston Park today and if they overcome MSP B next week they’re in the semi-finals regardless of other results.

In other Hardham Cup penultimate round games, HOBM made it six straight in the second round with a 74-12 slaying of MSP B, Northern United maintained second with a 55-38 win over Avalon and Petone had too many guns for OBU B out wide in a 58-12 win at the Petone Recreation Ground.

The Hardham Cup standings with one round to play are: HOBM 29, Norths 26, Petone 25, Paremata-Plimmerton 13, Avalon 11, Johnsonville and MSP B on 9 and OBU B on 6.

Around the grounds in today’s Jubilee Cup matches, MSP came from behind to beat Wainuiomata four tries to two. The green and blacks opened the scoring with a barge over try and went ahead 13-10.

MSP hit back with a crucial try just before halftime. Wainuiomata lost their hooker to the sin-bin early in the second half but they were first to score after the oranges through lock Glen Angus in the corner. This put the visitors ahead 18-10.

MSP dominated the final quarter, their high kicks and playing for territory forced Wainuiomata into mistakes and defensive pressure then created two tries to win. Wing Mike Buckley ran 85 metres and captain and openside flanker Isaac O’Connor scampered 60 metres to put his side into the playoffs.

Across the road at Kilbirnie Park, Poneke turned around a 27-8 deficit to collect their sixth win of the 2016 Jubilee Cup, beating the Upper Hutt Rams 46-32 at Kilbirnie Park.

Conceding two first half intercept tries to Upper Hutt centre Tafa Tafa, the home side found themselves down 19 points after 30 minutes. 

Though, in the first half's closing 10 minutes, Poneke were able to cross Upper Hutt's line twice, including a great individual effort by promising lock Isaia Walker-Leaware, to be down just 27-22 at the interval.

From there, the game was dominated by Poneke as Upper Hutt's set piece fell apart, conceding possession on their own lineouts and scrums several times which gave Poneke great field position.

The hosts went on to score four tries in the second 40 in a 38-point unanswered burst, with Petara Rikiriki's try on the hooter mere consolation for Upper Hutt.

Further up the road Ories went to a 10-3 lead over Wellington, but Wellington came back to lead 22-8 early in the second half after halfback Adam Deck crossed for a key try. Ories closed to make it 22-13, but goal-kicking was to prove vital as the clock wound down.

Wellington fullback James So’oialo had his kicking boots on and his five penalties got his side up to 25 points, while Ories missed several kicks on goal throughout the match as Wellington led 25-18 with time almost up.

Ories captain and prop barged over under the posts at the very end to make it 25-25 and possibly knock the Axemen out of semi-final contention, although they remain mathematically in the hunt.

At Tawa, OBU got ahead early, but home side Tawa took the lead and never looked back when midfielder Shaun Treeby made a break and found flyhalf Kalim Kelemete in support for the try.

No. 8 Tito Ioane scored again before the break and Tawa led 17-8 at halftime. Things went from bad to worse for the Goats when evergreen left wing Junior Togia crossed to put Tawa in front 24-8. This soon became 31-13, and, despite some ill-discipline, they safely negociated their way to fulltime with a bonus point win.

The Division 1 Women’s final was an absorbing contest throughout, Wainuiomata only sealing victory with barely a minute remaining when Player of the Match and Wainuiomata captain and centre Maryann Collins charged down an exit play kick by Ories and won the race to the ball to score to give them a 24-12 win.

Previously, busy openside flanker Kiri Mei had scored off a lineout drive to put Wainuiomata ahead 19-7, before Ories, now playing ruck and run catch-up rugby, sent first five-eighth-fullback Mena Tuamaii over in the corner to close the deficit.

Fullback-turned halfback Lizzie Goulden missed the conversion, but if she had nailed it a blockbuster finish might have been on the cards.

Wainuiomata deserved to win though. They only led 5-0 at halftime but played positive attacking rugby that stretched Ories out wide on several occasions. First five-eighth Acacia Te Iwimate and centre Collins sparked several likely raids.

Eventually, No. 8 Jackie Patea burst through a gap inside the 22 and set up a ruck that led to openside flanker Mei following suit and then halfback Suzanne Yee scoring to the left of the uprights.

Ories were left to rue crucial mistakes at key times, a poor kicking game in general play and later on ill-discipline, which all combined to cost them the game.

Just before halftime, they had a chance to equalise after a period of pressure, but No. 8 Tina Paulo, who had a terrific game in last week’s semi-final win over OBU, knocked on over the line from a 5-metre scrum.

The key try came just after halftime when Wainuiomata centre Collins rushed up on defence from a back peddling scrum on her own side of halfway and read a pass by Ories starting pivot Tumaai and raced away to score an intercept try. This made it 12-0.

Led by captain and lock Joanah Ngan-Woo, Ories fired up and closed the gap to 12-7 with a try after a big build-up. But Wainuiomata absorbed more pressure and Ories lost a front rower to the sin-bin, allowing the green and blacks to pull clear again and win.

For Wainuiomata, Collins was the Player of the Final, while hooker Alice Soper was industrious in general play, as were loose forwards Patea and Mei, while young lock Brooke Tauaneai enjoyed some big carries.

It’s a tight race to the playoffs after the seventh round of nine in the John E Kelly Division 1 Colts competition.

OBU Green lead the standings and are semi-final bound, after defeating the MSP Blues 36-7 under lights at Te Whaea on Friday night.

Tawa are second without leaving their gym, after HOBM defaulted to them, with MSP in third.

The Upper Hutt Rams beat Johnsonville 40-10 to sit in fourth, with Ories and Poneke both a point back in joint fifth after Ories beat Norths 31-8 and Poneke went down to Wellington 43-19.

Petone are unbeaten in the Colts Division 2 second round competition, overcoming OBU Black 65-0 this afternoon.

There was a dramatic conclusion to today’s top-of-the-table Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup contest at Kilbirnie Park where the Upper Hutt Rams beat Poneke 29-25 to take top spot on the ladder.

The match unfolded over the final few minutes with Poneke ahead 22-17 at that stage. First the Rams scored an intercept try to go ahead 24-22. Then Poneke kicked a penalty to take the lead 25-24, before the Rams scored with the last play of the game to clinch victory.

Petone and Northern United are now second equal, after Petone beat Wainuiomata 35-21 in an Ed Chaney Cup/HD Morgan crossover game and Norths drew 41-41 with Avalon in a 14-try crossover thriller.

In another all Ed Chaney Cup match, HOBM beat Tawa 34-24, while in two HD Morgan matches, Ories beat Wellington 38-24 and Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Johnsonville 31-17.

The Petone Brotherhood edged out rivals the HOBM Barbarians 40-38 in the feature clash of the First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup. The Brotherhood lead the standings after seven rounds.

The Poneke Cavs defeated the Tawa Titans 12-10 in a notable Paul Potiki Shield U85kg Restricted result in the Newlands Park sunshine.

Tawa are still in the lead but have played one extra game than second placed Wellington and third placed Johnsonville after both those sides won today. The Wellington Light Axemen beat the Horowhenua Kapiti side 22-7 in Waikanae and the Johnsonville Hawks hunted the OBU Bunnies 45-14. Eastbourne beat Avalon 15-10 in the other match.

The Wests Roosters head the U85kg Division 2 standings on 25 points after winning by default against Wellington B this weekend, ahead of a group of three teams on 24 points.

The Poneke Ruffnuts head the Reserve Grade standings after four weeks of the second round, defeating the Upper Hutt Rams Pirates 25-12. The OBU Righteous Brothers were 27-19 winners over the Wests Roosters to lead the Division 2 competition.

In an U18 representative match, the Hurricanes U18s beat the Crusaders U18s 64-20 in Christchurch.