College Finals starting tomorrow

Above: Mana College celebrating their 22-10 semi-final win over Onslow College last Saturday – Mana play Upper Hutt College in the final of the Paul Cameron Cup tomorrow. Photo credit: David Brownlie Photos at https://www.facebook.com/brownlie.kiwi/

Once again St Patrick’s College Silverstream will be the base for the majority of the year’s College Rugby finals. However owing to recent rains and the condition of the college fields this year they’ll be split over two weekends.

In all, twelve schools will have at least one team in action. Silverstream leads the way with seven (including the Premiership final), ahead of St Pats Town who have four.

Premiership

The title of Wellington champions will be decided on Sunday afternoon at Porirua Park, when unbeaten Silverstream take on Wellington College at 2.40pm. Adam Julian has covered both sides in the lead-up this week, with both sides already assured of progressing to the Hurricanes regional semi-finals next weekend. The winner will host Palmerston North BHS, while the loser has the challenge of facing Hastings BHS.

This weekend

The first final on the slate is this afternoon at the Maidstone Park artificial where the real lightweights – the Under 55kgs – play for the David Scott Cup. It’s an all Silverstream affair as their two sides – White and Blue – will battle it out with the trophy certain to stay at the school for another year. The White side are unbeaten and shut-out Rongotai 27-0 in their semi-final, while the Blue squad ventured into the city and beat Wellington College Yellow 24-15. White won their earlier match 38-0, but the Blue side will be looking to have the final say.

Tomorrow’s five games at Silverstream itself is headlined by the Premier 2 final for the Murray Jensen Cup, being played on the #1 ground between the Silverstream Second XV and the St Bernard’s First XV at 1pm.

Silverstream’s second side have been at least as dominant as their top side have been, racking up 8 straight bonus point wins in the round-robin – including a 101-5 win over Bishop Viard and 90-0 over their Wellington College counterparts – and made no race of their semi-final last week in beating Aotea 50-7. They will be the warmest of favourites to retain the title they won last year.

St Bernard’s have bounced back and forth between the Premiership and this grade in recent years, and the school last contested this final in 2015 when they narrowly lost to Bishop Viard. Back in the qualification process they narrowly missed out on the top-flight, drawing with Porirua in their last match but dipping out as Porirua scored three-tries-to-two. They won 6 of their eight games in the round-robin to finish third, and avenged one of those last weekend in beating Hutt International 35-5 away from home; however the other was a 36-5 result to Silverstream.

The Paul Cameron Cup for the Premier 3 title will be fought over by two First XV’s from opposite sides of the Hayward hills. Both Mana and Upper Hutt Colleges have rich histories even if recent years haven’t been kind and meet after finishing 1-2 in the round robin. Mana won seven of their 8 matches played with a single on-point loss and advanced after beating last-year’s winners Onslow 22-10. Upper Hutt likewise only lost once, but it took a death-knock try to get past Wainuiomata 14-12 in their semi-final. There’s no guide in terms of an earlier match between the two sides though, with their in-season clash a victim of the weather and ground closure.

In Premier 4 the Onslow Cup is up for grabs and will likewise be decided between the two teams that finished at the top of the round-robin ladder. The Wellington College 3rd XV went through unbeaten with a 12-all draw against their St Pats Town counterparts the only blemish, and they’ll take on the Otaki “Rahui Kura” side which is comprised of students from the district playing under the club banner. College beat the St Bernard’s 2nds 28-12, while Otaki saw off the Town 3rds 17-12; and the pairs earlier meeting was a close one, with College edging it 15-12.
The three age grade finals will also be played tomorrow.

For the third successive year the Under 15 Division 1 final for the Father Gus Hill Cup will be fought out between the two St Patrick’s Colleges; Silverstream and Town. The two schools have dominated this in recent years wining the last six titles between them, with the ledger at three each in that time. Silverstream went unbeaten and saw off Scots (who tipped over Wellington College the week before) 46-10 while it was closer for Town who won 19-14 over Rongotai. Silverstream won their earlier match this year comprehensively by 50-12, so hopefully it’s a more even contest tomorrow.

The Division 2 title will be played between Tawa and Hutt International. Tawa went through unbeaten but bizarrely lost on the field to Bishop Viard last weekend only for the winners to be thrown out for fielding ineligible players, while HIBS saw off Silverstream’s B team 42-7.

Division 3 was the only grade without semi-finals, playing a straight double round-robin between the six teams. The Silverstream third team and Wainuiomata finished 1-2 to contest the final though had contrasting fortunes last Saturday; Silverstream had their first loss of the year in going down to Porirua 10-24, while Wainuiomata edged Wellington College B 25-22.

Next weekend

The remaining four finals have been rescheduled to next Saturday (26th), including all of the remaining weight-restricted grades that usually produce some of the hardest-fought and entertaining games at college level each week.

The five-team Under 80kg Arthur Reeve Cup competition comes down to the last two, and like the Under 15s it’s a Stream vs Town affair. Silverstream have been the dominant side, going unbeaten and looking to keep the trophy locked up for a fourth-successive ear, but were made to work hard by Wellington College before prevailing 19-8 last Saturday. Town finished third in the round-robin but knocked over Taita 46-26 in their semi-final, but will need another big effort considering Silverstream won their two meetings 61-5 and 50-10 this year.

One trophy that will definitely have a new name on it is the Under 65kg Division 1 Ina Hansen Cup. After winning it the past 7 years Silverstream won’t this year, with St Pats Town and Wellington College contesting the final this time. Town topped 70 points three times in the round-robin and crushed Silverstream 77-5 in their semi-final. College have been nearly as dominant, passing 80 twice and shutting out Onslow 20-0, though its somewhat disappointing both sides were defaulted to twice in the season. Town will be looking for a repeat of their earlier 47-17 win over their final opposition, College for a rather different result.

In Division 2 the Town B-side will face Paraparaumu. The pair finished 1-2 in the round-robin with Town winning their clash 22-12 and meet after big semi-final wins. Town beat Wellington College B 49-10 while Paraparaumu crushed Tawa 94-0.

The only non-weight grade final deferred to next Saturday is the Premier 5 game. With fewer open teams this year the competition was formed out of the bottom-half of the Premier 4 grade.The Porirua and HIBS 2nd XV’s will play for the Ross Findlay Cup after Porirua beat their Aotea counterparts 27-22 and HIBS did likewise 33-26 against the Kapiti 2nds.

Finals schedule:

Friday 18th
Under 55kg – Silverstream White vs Silverstream Blue – Maidstone Park artificial @ 4pm

Saturday 19th
Premier 2 – Silverstream 2nd XV vs St Bernard’s 1st XV – Silverstream #1 @ 1pm
Premier 3 – Mana 1st XV vs Upper Hutt 1st XV – Silverstream #2 @ 11.30am
Premier 4 – Wellington College 3rd XV vs Otaki 1st XV – Silverstream #3 @ 11.30am
U15 Div 1 – Silverstream vs St Pats Town – Silverstream #2 @ 10am
U15 Div 2 – Tawa vs HIBS – Silverstream #5 @ 10am
U15 Div 3 – Silverstream C vs Wainuiomata – Silverstream #4 @10am

Sunday 20th
Premiership – Silverstream 1st XV vs Wellington College 1st XV – Porirua Park @ 2.40pm

Saturday 26th
Premier 5 – Porirua 2nd XV vs HIBS 2nd XV – TBD @ 11.30am
U80 – Silverstream vs St Pats Town – TBD @ 11.30am
U65 Div 1 – St Pats Town vs Wellington College – TBD @ 10am
U65 Div 2 – St Pats Town B vs Paraparaumu – TBD @ 10am