Bumper day of club, college and rep rugby tomorrow (plus teamlists)

And so it all ends. A little over five months after the club season started with the opening round of Premier and Premier Reserve matches in Upper Hutt, the curtain will come down tomorrow with the final matches in the last three grades.

There’s also a bunch of representative games on, and college post-season and finals.

First Grade

The senior title to be decided tomorrow is the First Grade Division 1 Johnsonville Centennium Cup, which will be decided at the Hutt Rec between old foes the Hutt Old Boys Marist Barbarians and their neighbours across the river, the Petone Brotherhood. HOBM will be looking to go one better than last year where they lost the grade final to Old Boys-University, while Petone will be out to return the trophy to the club after the Saxons side won it in 2015 and honour their fallen teammate Sione ‘Bah” Tuiano who died in a car accident during the season.

Both sides reached the final the hard way. HOBM’s 17-10 win over OBU was achieved after playing all but 7 minutes of the match with 14 men after an early red card, while Petone overcame the top qualifier the North’s Uso’s 15-12 in Porirua, but only with a penalty in the last moments of extra-time. What toll those exertions have taken will only become evident tomorrow.

On the season the Barbarians have won both meetings, winning 24-12 in their first-round match en route to claiming the Thompson Memorial Cup and then 31-12 a month ago. However the Brotherhood will have long memories and will also recall that HOBM were the underdogs who won in their semi-final last year, something they’d dearly like to repay tomorrow.

Not too much further north the Division 2 Paul Donoghue Memorial Cup title will be contested on the Fraser Park artificial by the Avalon Wolves and Johnsonville Cripples. The Wolves narrowly edged Tawa 22-19 in their semi-final, while Johnsonville had a slightly more comfortable day, beating the Upper Hutt Rams 27-3. Unusually both sides have gone through the second round unbeaten – their scheduled round-robin match was in the round that has been skipped due to cancellations – and Avalon achieved top-qualifier status by virtue of accruing four bonus points to the Cripples’ three. Johnsonville are however unbeaten on the year, having claimed the first round JDR Cup and beating Avalon 22-15 during that.

Under 85kg Restricted

This year’s Division 1 Paul Potiki Memorial Shield will be fought out between Wellington and Avalon, a match comprehensively previewed here yesterday. Both sides are looking for their first championship, with the Axemen looking to do the season double of this and the first round JC Bowl, and the Wolves wanting to deny them that and claim the glory for themselves. The final also represents something of a changing of the guard in the grade, as it’s the first for many years that doesn’t include either of the now-defunct Poneke Dogs of War or MSP Blues, nor the Tawa Titans who dipped out to Avalon last weekend. With Wellington’s home ground of Hataitai Park out of commission, this will be played at their surrogate home of Kilbirnie Park’s #2 field.

Conveniently for fans of the lightweight grade, the Division 2 Tony O’Brien Shield final will take place merely metres across the road at Evans Bay, and fittingly between two teams that have been stalwarts of the grade for many years. The Marist St Pat’s Reds saw off last year’s winners Western Suburbs to reach the final, and received an unexpected boon with a home final when the Upper Hutt Rams knocked off top-qualifiers the OBU Bunnies. The pair have split their two meetings this year, with the Rams winning their first round encounter 16-14 and the Reds the second 38-28; so fingers are crossed for a similar one tomorrow

All four finals kick off at 2.45pm

Reserve Grade

The Reserve grade also concludes tomorrow with the last round of matches, and while the John Davies Cup will be presented to the Upper Hutt Rams clubs, the intrigue lies in which of their two sides will receive it. The Thirsty Rams head the table on 30 points but have the bye tomorrow and will be forced to sit and watch what their J8 counterparts do at Maoribank Park against the OBU 69ers at 2.45pm. The J8’s have 25 points, and since they won the head-to-head match between the two Upper Hutt teams (by an old school 5-0 scoreline) they will take the title if they win and score four tries; anything less and the trophy will go to the Thirsty Rams.

The remaining matches see the Wests Mixed Veges and OBU Pink Ginners wind up their years at Ian Galloway (also at 2.45pm) while there are 1pm starts for the MSP Internationals and OBU Teddy Bears at Evans Bay, and the OBU Righteous Brothers and Pare-Plim Punters at Kelburn Park.

Representative

While the club season winds down, the representative one winds up. Locally there are four fixtures on in Wellington tomorrow, headlined by the Lions’ NPC match against Taranaki at the Stadium.

The U19’s are up first, taking on Hawkes Bay at Porirua Park at 12.30pm and looking to cement their place back in top division for the national tournament in Taupo. That will be followed by the Samoan’s up against Manawatu’s Development side at 2.30pm, while down the road at Helston Park the Centurions and Maori sides will face off at the same time.

The two Women’s sides are both on the road. The Pride are in Palmerston North for a preseason match against Manawatu, while the Samoan women are in Napier to take on Hawkes Bay.

College

Three Wellington school sides are in action tomorrow as they try to qualify for their respective National Top 4 finals in two week’s time. The only game in town, however, is at the Hutt Rec at 1pm when newly-crowned Wellington Premiership winners St Patrick’s Silverstream take on Palmerston North Boys' High School for the second time this season, having routed them 71-0 in their Traditional two months ago. Wellington College face a rather more difficult assignment heading up to the Hawkes Bay to take on the Hastings Boys' High School powerhouse; with the winners of these two meeting in the Hurricanes regional final next Saturday.

The third side is Girls runners-up Aotea College, who are in Palmerston North to face Manawatu-Wanganui winners Manukura. There were to be two more games in Wellington; Girl’s winners St Mary’s were to take on Feilding High but injuries mean that Feilding are unable to front, while in the Coed Boys Wairoa High have been unable to travel for their match against Porirua College. That puts the two Wellington schools straight through to their respective finals; Porirua will face the winner of the Wairarapa College vs Feilding High game being played tomorrow in Masterton next weekend in Palmerston North while St Mary’s will take on the winner of the Manukura vs Aotea game. If Manukura win that in will also be in Palmerston North, if Aotea get up it will be here in Wellington.

There are also the last four College Sport finals at Silverstream which were deferred from last weekend. In the weight grades at 10am Silverstream and St Pats Town will decide the Under 80kg title, with Town and Wellington College facing off for the Under 65kg Division 1 crown. At 11.30am St Pats Town’s second side and Paraparaumu will contest the U65kg Division 2 final, with the Porirua and Hutt International second XV’s contesting the open weight Premier 5 final.

Teamlists (as received)

Hutt Old Boys Marist Barbarians

1. Mulivai Aso
2. Fenika Taulogo
3. Elia Fonoti
4. Kiran April
5. Kava Vulu
6. Stewart Tanuvasa
7. Enoka Fonoti
8. Dan Pavihi
9. Aidan Pearce
10. Sosene Motu
11. Ben Fonoti
12. Nu’u Maiava
13. Puiai Lamalu
14. Poe Ualesi
15. Fuifui Muaa’u
 
16. Alfred Sekona
17. Opeta Malaesilia
18. Ray Leasuasu
19. Solo Tuifua
20. Siosifa Tavite
21. Fa’atafa Maiava
22. Chris Alosio

Petone Brotherhood:

1. Alapati Soke
2. Thomas Maka
3. Tali Hafoka
4. Cody Davis
5. Dave Deal
6. Eden Maka
7. Patrick Mua'au
8. Chris Lolohea
9. Neville Masina
10. Fa'alau Taumaoe
11. Pelei Moimoi
12. Shane Julian
13. Farrand Turner (c)
14. Solomon Patelesio
15. Sam Masina

16. Semu Fuatagaumu
17. Semi Fiame
18. J R MacNeill
19. William Masina
20. Dave Lim
21. Francis Va’aua
22. Michael Benge

Wellington U19

1. Xavier Numia (Ories)
2. Pasi Uluilakepa (Petone)
3. Ben Aumua Peseta (Tawa)
4. Eamonn Carr (Jville)
5. Angus Morton (Petone)
6. Jack Wright (Upper Hutt Rams)
7. Naera Tipoki (C) (OBU)
8. William Heather (Ories)
9. Regan Sword (MSP)
10. Esi Komaisavai (Norths)
11. Malachai Unasa (Ories)
12. Callum Whitten (OBU)
13. Jahzeel Marais (Poneke)
14. Sione Ma’u (Ories)
15. Adam Clark (OBU)

16. George Jacobs (Poneke)
17. Lawrence Lim (Old Boys University)
18. Meinrad Fitsemanu (MSP)
19. Junior Foatuia (HOBM)
20. Chris Hicks (OBU)
21. Reuben Va’a (Ories)
22. Tisi Finau (Tawa)
23. Grayson Whitman (MSP)

Wellington Maori

1.    Apanui Heemi (C) (Upper Hutt Rams)       
2.    Rei Heremia (Upper Hutt Rams)
3.    Jonathon Fuimaono (OBU)
4.    James Hansen (Pare-Plim)
5.    Mannasah Wineera (Jville)
6.    Bruce Kauika-Petersen (Petone)
7.    Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
8.    Tane McMillian-Parata (Pare-Plim)
9.    Declan Hay (Ories)
10.  Piri Paraone (Petone)
11.  Andy Ellis (Ories)
12.  Perry Hayman (Norths)
13.  Jarrod Adams (Petone)
14.  Tiwi Davies (Jville)
15.  Randall Bishop (Tawa)

16.  Dean Ropata (Jville)
17.  Rhys Reiri (Poneke)
18.  Whetu Henry (Ories)
19.  Danny Herewini (Pare-Plim)
20.  Hayden Whelan (Ories)
21.  Greg Mullany (Poneke)
22.  Max Pearson (Upper Hutt Rams)
23.  Jarrod Henry (Ories)

Wellington Samoan

1. Andrew Mamea (Wainuiomata)
2. Valentine Meachen (C) (MSP)
3. Johnwhite Silva (Norths)
4. Lui Luamanu (HOBM)
5. Tito Ioane (Tawa)
6. Matt Peni (MSP)
7. Josh Brown (Upper Hutt Rams)
8. Ben Tupuola (Wainuiomata)
9. Ken Kapeli (MSP)
10. Dudley Parsons (MSP)
11. Elijah Va’a-Brooking (Tawa)
12. Jayden Treviranus (Upper Hutt Rams)
13. Isaiah Petelo (MSP)
14. Aukuso Tuitama (Ories)
15. Fereti Soloa (HOBM)

16. Tui Yandall (Avalon)
17. Peneili Poasa (Ories)
18. Telea Seumanutafa (Tawa)
19. Lucky Tuiatua (MSP)
20. Hinckley Siaosi (Ories)
21. Isaiah Mamea (Wainuiomata)
22. Jeff Makepelu (Jville)
23. Poasa Poasa (Ories)

Wellington Samoan Women

1. Apiseka Pue (Pare-Plim)
2. Molly Moanau (Poneke)
3. Leah Uila (Petone)
4. Megan Tulili (Poneke)
5. Clydene Simpson (Pare-Plim)
6. Siobhan Solofuti (MSP)
7. Tylah Aukuso (Ories)
8. Tina Paulo (Ories)
9. Taimane Siaosi (MSP)
10. Lesina Obeda (Pare-Plim)
11. Paige Va’auli (MSP)
12. Petra Ikenasio (Ories)
13. Tracey Isaako (Poneke)
14. Mamele Kupa-Cummings (Pare-Plim)
15. Loretta Maiava (Poneke)

16. Alysshah Tatupu (Tawa)
17. Emelemoa Makisi (MSP)
18. Teana Aliva  (Pare-Plim)
19. Kate Nightingale (Pare-Plim)
20. Ann Aliva (Pare-Plim)
21. TBC
22. TBC