Wellington Development toppled by Tasman in final match

Above: There were 12 tries scored in today's Wellington - Tasman Development fixture, here left wing Salesi Rayasi puts his blue boot into touch attempting to score another one.

Tasman Development 46 (Tim O’Malley, Jesse Pitman, Teariki Ben Nicholas, Shaun Begg, Drew Petelo, Gus Gibbens tries; O’Malley 5 con, 2 pen) beat Wellington Development 34 (Adam Deck 2, Aukuso Tuitama 2, Alex Dalzell, Hemi Fermanis tries; Greg Mullany 2 con)

The Wellington Development side was run down by the Tasman Development side in the final match of the local 15s season at Jerry Collins Stadium this afternoon.

The Tasman side came back from 0-19 early to score 29 unanswered points of their own and lead 29-19 at halftime.

Wellington closed the gap to 24-29 early in the second spell, but that was as close as they got as Tasman pulled clear again.

Wellington spent most of the final quarter hot on attack, but all they could show for it was a consolation try on fulltime to centre Aukuso Tuitama, his second of the afternoon.

Both sides scored six tries, but the difference on the scoreboard was the five conversions and two penalties to Tasman flyhalf Tim O’Malley versus the two conversions to Wellington’s outside half Greg Mullany.

The Wellington side went into the match with several players under a sickness cloud, after devouring the chicken dish at last night’s team barbecue. Assistant coach Rikki Flutey was stripped and on the bench as cover.

Tasman came to the contest fighting fit and armed to take on Wellington with a fast-paced game. The visitors also had three former Old Boys University club players in their ranks, wing Sam Chamberlain, lock Teariki Ben Nicholas and midfielder Tim Bateman. The former two players were to feature strongly, while former Hurricane Bateman came on in the second half.

Wellington showed no signs of lethargy at the start of the match, racing to a three-try lead in 10 minutes.

Halfback Adam Deck grabbed an early double and his Wellington Axemen teammate Alex Dalzell also crossed as part of this lightning start. Deck ran in a try following the first scrum of the match and a blindside injection by Mullany and centre Aukuso Tuitama. Deck then squirted through again following an attacking lineout.

Moments later Mullany stripped the ball clean out of Ben Nicolas’ grasp 60 metres out and took off up-field into a gaping hole, finding second five-eighth Matt Goosen with a behind the back no look pass, who in turn hit Dalzell in support.

Next it was Tasman’s turn to strike back with a dazzling burst of try-scoring.

Wing Chamberlain took a quick tap penalty in general play and passed to O’Malley, who caught Wellington napping out wide and he glided in for their first try. O’Malley converted his own try from near the sideline.

Fullback Jesse Pitman scored their second try by running back a kick in general play, while the Juvenile Makos caught Wellington out a third time, leading to Ben Nicholas diving through for a third try to tie the score up at 19-19 after 25 minutes.

The match settled down until the 37th minute when Wellington second-five Goosen was sin-binned, Tasman ripped it wide again to Chamberlain who latched on to O’Malley and then inside to halfback Shaun Begg for the try.

O’Malley completed the first half scoring by kicking a penalty, giving Tasman a 10-point lead at halftime.

Turning into a moderate wind, Wellington got the second 40 minutes off to the start they wanted with centre Tuitama crossing the chalk after a free-kick from a scrum.

Tasman then hit back with back with two tries in quick succession, which took the game away from Wellington. Hulking tighthead prop Drew Petelo scored off the top off a lineout to make it 36-24. The next re-start failed to go 10 metres and the resulting scrum on halfway led to a try to hooker Gus Gibbens to make it 43-24.

Wellington responded five minutes later with a try to lock Hemi Fermanis, following a near-try to left wing Salesi Rayasi in the corner, closing the margin to 43-29.

O’Malley grabbed three points back with a 62nd minute penalty.

Wellington toiled hard inside Tasman’s 22 for the best part of 15 minutes but couldn’t break through Tasman’s resolute defence, even after a series of penalties and eventual sin-binning of Ben Nicholas.

Eventually they scored a consolation try in the corner with the last play of the game through Tuitama.

For Wellington, lock Fermanis and openside flanker Sam Coventry played well, while Max Pearson was dangerous from fullback all match.

Thus concludes the 15s season in Wellington.