Off the Ball for 17 July

Saturday was Ruck Cancer afternoon in Wellington club rugby, to promote awareness of cancer and men’s health in the rugby and sporting community. Above: the late Luni Moananu’s corner in the Poneke changing room before their match against the Wellington Axemen. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/RuckCancerNZ/

Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max , Lovelocks Sports Bar  and Harcourts Johnsonville 

Looking at some of the news in briefs, milestones, happenings, statistics and observations from the weekend of rugby just gone and what’s coming up this week.

Another big weekend of rugby in Wellington saw semi-finalists found in the Jubilee Cup and Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup and all but decided in the Women’s and Colts competitions.

Just one more week to play before the Premier semi-finals, with Old Boys University, Marist St Pat’s, Tawa and Hutt Old Boys Marist confirmed as top four contenders, this coming weekend’s round will determine who plays who in the semi-finals on 29 July.

This coming weekend’s last round matches will see Hutt Old Boys Marist host Tawa (both teams currently third equal on 18 points) at the Hutt Rec and OBU (25) travel to Evans Bay Park to play Marist St Pat’s (21).

The four teams to contest the semi-finals may be known, but can anyone confidentially pick a winner? What about the two finalists?

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If the final two weeks of the Wellington championship is anything like the Manawatu and Taranaki ones then we’re in for a cracker.

For the second successive year, the semi-finals in the Manawatu competition saw the third and fourth ranked teams progress to the final. On Saturday, Fourth placed Kia Toa beat top qualifier Varsity and third placed Old Boys Marist defeated College Old Boys in the other semi-final.

Also on Saturday, the Taranaki Premier final was decided in the dying moments, with defending champions Tukapa trailing Coastal 10-14 before winning a penalty and crossing for the match-winner at the death.

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Hutt Old Boys Marist hooker James O’Reilly made his debut for the Hurricanes on Saturday, coming on late in the second half to become Hurricane #238.

Who have been the Hurricanes hookers since 1996? Here is an attempt to name them all: Norm Hewitt, Tim Mannix (uncapped), Tala Leiasamaivao, Davin Heaps, Ace Tiatia, Shane Carter, Andrew Hore, Daniel Smith, Joe Ward, Luke Mahoney, Tone Kopelani, Mahonri Schwalger, Hika Elliot, Dane Coles, Laurence Corlett, David Hall (uncapped), Motu Matu’u, Ash Dixon, Ricky Riccitelli, Leni Apisai, James O’Reilly.

According to reports Hurricane #149 Dane Coles is close to returning to the fold and could be named in the squad to travel to Canberra for this Friday’s quarter-final.

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So it's Hurricanes versus Brumbies on Friday night. Plenty being discussed already why the Hurricanes have to even to go to Canberra in the first place. The Super Rugby structure is what it is, but it’s hard to look at the Hurricanes and Brumbies season records and lament the fact that this match shouldn’t be played in Wellington.

Here’s a comparison of their season attacking statistics:

Hurricanes: Played 15, won 12, lost 3. Points for 596. Points against 272. Tries scored 89. Metres on attack 7,831. Carries 1,762. Clean breaks 218

Brumbies: Played 15, won 6, lost 9. Points for 315. Points against 279. Tries scored 41. Metres on attack 5,246. Carries 1,567. Clean breaks 109.

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The Hurricanes U18s versus Crusaders U18s curtain-raiser match was somewhat underwhelming. A try-fest was hoped for, but a rather dour struggle ensued instead. The Crusaders team led 10-8 at halftime, but the Hurricanes came back to win 25-10. Three local players that impressed were St Pat’s Silverstream openside flanker Josh Southall, Wellington College lock Taine Plumtree and Petone prop Kaliopasi Uluilakepa. Southall, who was in the Wellington U16 Development team last year, scored two of the Junior Hurricanes three tries.

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The Tawa versus Ories Jubilee Cup match on Saturday saw six lead changes, before Tawa eventually crossed through James So'oialo to win their fifth consecutive match. For Ories, Aukoso Tuitama played his 50th game for his club since debuting for them at the start of 2015 after two seasons with Northern United.

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Michael Sage scored Poneke's first try on Saturday...off the bench. Sage came on after 12 minutes for Ben Huntley who went to the bloodbin, scored a try and came back off. 

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No change at the top of the Best & Fairest standings, with Tawa’s Hemi Fermanis the leader on 21 points, Wainuiomata’s Ben Tupuola second on 20 and Petone’s Lester Maulolo third on 18. With three rounds to go (including the semi-finals and final), there are six players still mathematically alive to win or share this year’s Billy Wallace Trophy. The other three players in contention to share it are HOBM’s Sheridan Rangihuna, MSP’s Andrew Wells and Tawa’s Peniasi Tokakece, all on 12 points.

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Following a strong rivalry in the late 2000s, Marist St Pat’s have had the wood on Northern United in recent times extending a win streak to six games on the weekend. They've been high scoring affairs too with an average scoreline of 41-18.

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The Petone Premier Reserve’s water boy last weekend against Tawa was Brisbane Broncos and Kiwis rugby league player Jordan Kahu, brother of Jared. He returned to Australia early last week and took the field in the weekend for the Broncos where he scored the first try of the match and kicked five goals in their 34-22 win over the Newcastle Knights.

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With 77 points to his name, Andrew Wells is tied for the most individual points in this year’s Jubilee Cup. It is the first time since 2013 that Fa'atonu Fili is not Marist St Pats' top scorer and in that year it was also Andrew Wells.

OBU’s Dale Sabbaragh has also scored 77 points in the first six weeks of the Jubilee Cup, while Brandyn Laursen (HOBM), Daven Candy (OBU) and Parekura Lalaga (Norths) are the joint leading try-scorers with five.

In the women’s competition, the leading points scorer and leading try-scorer is Norths left wing Lyric Faleafaga with 55 points from 11 tries, despite not playing on Saturday. From the weekend, Paremata-Plimmerton fullback Kayla Hauparoa Rei crossed for 4 tries in their 66-5 win over Tawa on Friday night.

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The draw for this coming week is due out later today. But with more heavy rain forecast this week more disruption is likely.

Contributions to Off the Ball to editor@clubrugby.co.nz