Pride and Development teams at Porirua tomorrow

As the 15’s season winds down there’s just three sides in action tomorrow with most representative sides having finished up their programs. The Pride and Development sides are both at Porirua Park, while the Lions are in the deep south. Conveniently they are timed so that people could watch all three.

First up on Saturday are the Wellington Pride who take on current Farah Palmer Cup champions the Counties-Manukau Heat at 12pm at Porirua Park. The visitors will be rested having had last weekend off, but will have spent that time simmering on their 29-34 loss to Canterbury at home the week before that saw the Mainlanders also take the JJ Stewart Trophy (the Ranfurly Shield equivalent of the Women’s game) back south with them. Before that however they had rolled to wins over North Harbour (84-7), Waikato (48-0), and Auckland (36-12).

The Heat don’t have all their players who were part of the Black Ferns side with Portia Woodman the most notable of those, but still boast four influential members of the squad in front-rowers Te-Kura Ngata-Aerengamate and Aotearoa Matau, first five Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali and fullback Hazel Tubic, who is the competitions leading points-scorer. One face that will be more familiar than most to the Pride is winger Bernadette Robertson who played seven matches for Wellington last year.

On the scoreboard the Pride’s 41-19 win over Otago last Saturday seems comfortable enough, but for the second week in succession they found themselves trailing on the scoreboard before getting into their work. That would be a cause for concern as a repeat tomorrow could see the game put out of reach early on so a better opening period would seem vital. A win for the Pride could seal a semi-final place, but a loss could leave them facing a must-win match the following weekend in Christchurch against Canterbury.

Ross Bond has made few changes to last week’s side. The only one in the pack sees Alicia Print resume as the starting hooker while in the backs Tawny Burgess swaps places with Jane Bryce in midfield while reshuffle in the outside trio moves Vaine Marsters to fullback, Reijeli Uluinayau to the bench, and Dhys Faleafaga given her first start on the wing. The only other change has Janet Taumoli returning to the 23.

The two teams have met twice in each of the past two seasons. In 2015 the Pride won both matches – both at the Petone Rec – taking the regular season match 27-12 before winning the semi-final 29-23 in dramatic fashion with two tries in the dying moments to then-16 year old Ayesha Leti-l’iga and the matchwinner through Georgia Daals. The Heat emphatically got their revenge last year, dishing out 37-5 and 60-7 scorelines, the latter in the semi-final en route to claiming the title.

Following the Pride the Wellington Development side take to the field at 3pm against Canterbury for their only outing of the year at home. Logic expects that this will be a step up after last week’s match against Tasman which saw the Mako B’s claim victory with a last minute penalty. Dion Waller’s side has representation from twelve of the provinces 14 Premier clubs and is a relatively youthful group with some grizzled veterans (by comparison) in the form of Stu Simonson, Perry Hayman, and Ha’amea Ahio in the mix. It will be interesting to see the comparison of the respective provinces standard of club rugby, and how they go against a Canterbury side that has a smattering of players with NPC experience.

Later on Saturday the Wellington Lions face Men’s NPC cellar-dwellers Southland in Invercargill. While it’s something of a dead rubber with Wellington already assured of top seeding for the playoffs and the Stags out of contention, the Lions will be wanting to continue their winning ways and deliver an improved and more cohesive performance after last Sunday’s stuttering win over Otago.

Chris Gibbes has rattled the changes for the clash with the competitions bottom-side however, giving some players the chance to stake their claim for the matches ahead and resting others. In the forwards only prop Tolu Fahamokioa and locks Chris Middleton and Will Mangos will run out in the same jerseys as last week, while Galu Taufale switches to blindside. Asafo Aumua, Joe Apikatoa, and Te Ariki Ben-Nicholas all come in from last week’s bench with James Tuiatua named to makes his first start. In the backs Tuiatua’s MSP teammate Billy Proctor also makes his run-on debut with Thomas Umaga-Jensen moving in one place, Losi Filipo and Malo Tuitama are handed the wing jerseys, and Sheridan Rangihuna is given the opportunity to partner Jackson Garden-Bachop in the halves.

On the bench Sitiveni Paongo moves to covering hooker due to Leni Apisai’s injury with Vince Sakaria coming into the 23, Alex Dalzell retains his place as locking cover, and Wes Goosen will make his return from injury from the pine.

In the absence both the injured Brad Shields and rested Julian Savea one of Wellington club rugby’s most respected figures – Galu Taufale – will captain the side for the first time.

Wellington will be after their 14th consecutive win against Southland, having not lost to them since 2002 when the Stags prevailed 22-20 in Invercargill. In the four trips south since then the Lions have been largely untroubled, winning 30-0 in 2004, 26-7 in 2008, 27-14 in 2010 and 53-3 in 2015, while the other recent clashes in Wellington have both one-sided with the Lions winning 40-8 in 2012 and 60-21 last year where eight players scored the sides nine tries; Malo Tuitama with the double.

That 2015 result was highlighted by three tries to All Black lock Jeremy Thrush, who joined Roy Kinikinilau (2005) as the only Lions players to have notched NPC-era hat-tricks against Southland. Since 1976 the two sides have met 29 times with Wellington winning 23, Southland 5, and solitary draw.

Wellington won the first meeting between the two unions by 11-0 back in 1896. Overall the ledger stands at 66 wins for Wellington, 23 for Southland, and 7 draws in their 96 clashes.

Team lists (as received, subject to change):

Wellington Lions
1 Tolu Fahamokioa (Tawa)
2 Asafo Aumua (Avalon)
3 Joe Apikatoa (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
4 Chris Middleton (Norths)
5 Will Mangos (Old Boys-University)
6 Galu Taufale (Poneke)©
7 James Tuiatua (Marist St Pats)
8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas (Old Boys-University)
9 Sheridan Rangihuna (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
10 Jackson Garden-Bachop (Norths)
11 Losi Filipo (Petone)
12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen (Wainuiomata)
13 Billy Proctor (Marist St Pats)
14 Malo Tuitama (Oriental-Rongotai)
15 Trent Renata (Oriental-Rongotai)
16 Sitiveni Paongo (Tawa)
17 Vince Sakaria (Marist St Pats)
18 Alex Fidow (Oriental-Rongotai)
19 Alex Dalzell (Wellington)
20 Du’Plessis Kirifi (Loan)
21 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Tawa)
22 Wes Goosen (Old Boys-University)
23 Regan Verney (Old Boys-University)

Wellington Pride
1 Raylene Lolo (Oriental-Rongotai)
2 Alicia Print (Oriental-Rongotai)
3 Brooke Tauaneai (Wainuiomata)
4 Joanah Ngan-Woo (Oriental-Rongotai)
5 Sanita Levave (Norths)
6 Kiri Mei (Wainuiomata)
7 Sinead Toala-Ryder (Marist St Pats)
8 Jackie Patea-Fereti (Wainuiomata)©
9 Acacia Te Iwimate (Petone)
10 Tina Va’aua-Hamlin (Marist St Pats)
11 Ayesha Leti-l’iga (Oriental-Rongotai)
12 Tawny Burgess (Old Boys-University)
13 Monica Tagoai (Marist St Pats)
14 Dhys Faleafaga (Norths)
15 Vaine Marsters (Norths)
16 Rosie Stirling (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
17 Angel Uila (Petone)
18 Janet Taumoli (Oriental-Rongotai)
19 Holly MacDonald (Old Boys-University)
20 Saua Ualesi (Poneke)
21 Jane Bryce (Marist St Pats)
22 Reijeli Uluinayau (Oriental-Rongotai)

Counties-Manukau Heat
1 Leilani Paese
2 TeKura Ngata-Aerengamate
3 Aotearoa Matau
4 Hanna Brough
5 Georgina Lidgard
6 Stacey Brown
7 Justine Lavea
8 Harono Iringa
9 Yuki Ono
10 Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali
11 Bernadette Robertson
12 Ariahana Marino
13 Utumalama Atonio
14 Serai Murray-Wihongi
15 Hazel Tubic
16 Grace Gago
17 Lauryn Steed
18 Larissa Lima E Silva
19 Cindy Wong
20 Isabel Ozorio
21 Emily Kitson
22 Timara Leaf

Wellington Development
1 Chris Mafi (Johnsonville)
2 Stu Simonson (Old Boys-University)
3 James Coburn (Tawa)
4 Taisson Lealaisalanoa (Paremata-Plimmerton)
5 Anthony Pettett (Johnsonville)
6 James Hansen (Paremata-Plimmerton)
7 Josh Brown (Upper Hutt Rams)
8 Matt Peni (Marist St Pats)
9 Ken Kapeli (Marist St Pats)
10 Piri Paraone (Petone)
11 Andy Ellis (Oriental-Rongotai)
12 Perry Hayman (Norths)
13 Paddy Hughes (Wellington)
14 Olly Sapsford (Wellington)
15 Pakai Turia (Poneke)
16 Valentine Meachen (Marist St Pats)
17 Ha’amea Ahio (Marist St Pats)
18 Apanui Heemi (Upper Hutt Rams)
19 Lise Soloa (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
20 Marcus Ale (Johnsonville)
21 Carlos Price (Petone)
22 Lester Maulolo (Petone)
23 Willie Fine (Petone)

Canterbury Development
1 Oliver McCowan
2 Nick Hyde
3 Joel Hintz
4 Jono Osborne
5 Caleb Aperahama
6 Sam Godwin ©
7 Tom Christie
8 Misimoa Lamositele
9 Jonny Van der Velde
10 Brook Retallick
11 Caleb Makene
12 Michael Green
13 Poasa Waqanibau
14 Nigel Gibb
15 Mark Maitland
16 Nick Werahiko
17 Harrison Allen
18 Jack Straker
19 Jack Powell
20 Ben Morris
21 Harrison Kirk
22 Myles Throughgood
23 Mose Faletolu