Fairytale finish for Petone caps big weekend of celebrations

Petone's supporters celebrated long into the night on Saturday following their team's memorable last-gasp 28-21 win over Poneke on their 125th Anniversary weekend feature match at a packed Petone Recreation Ground.

In a fairytale finish, captain and hooker Eugene Smith burrowed over the tryline after 20 pulsating phases of pressure cooker rugby to score the match winning try with the final act of the game.

Smith's stunning try, converted by first five-eighth Ben Aoina, broke a 21-21 deadlock after both sides' goal kickers had each missed with late chances to win the game in a exhilarating final five minutes of play.

Aoina had seen a previous conversion from almost in front of the sticks that would have put Petone in the lead charged down by Poneke winger Evan Belford, after replacement flanker Api Sione scored in the 70th minute to level the scores up.

Then, replacement Poneke first five-eighth Jeremy Te Huia lined up two separate successive penalties to retake the lead and win the game for his side but both missed their mark.

The home side dug deep in one final push to create the winning play of the game. Keeping the ball close to their experienced forwards, the Villagers rumbled up towards the Poneke goaline - something they had been unable to do throughout the entire second half - and scored the try in one last frantic raid at the chalk.

In doing so, Petone also retained both the Fred Tilyard Memorial Shield and the Bill Brien Challenge Cup against their red and black adversaries, in a rivalry that stretches back to 1885 when the Petone RFC was formed two years after Poneke.

The win for Petone was also their third of the Swindale Shield competition to go with two earlier draws and lifted them to near the top of a crowded points table. Petone are now third equal on 20 points with Poneke and Hutt Old Boys Marist.

Northern United are out in front on 29 points after registering their sixth straight win of the season and fifth bonus point victory in their 54-7 toppling of Old Boys-University on the students' Old Timers' Day at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve.

With five rounds remaining, Norths have a four-point cushion to second placed Oriental Rongotai who defeated Johnsonville 55-24 on their Old Timers' Day at the Polo Ground.

At Lyndhurst Park, Hutt Old Boys Marist grabbed their second successive hard fought win with a 20-11 victory over home side Tawa.
At William Jones Park in Wainuiomata, Marist St. Pat's earned their third consecutive win of the year after three defeats, beating the home side 53-15.

At Old Timers' Day at Maidstone Park, Upper Hutt finally grabbed their first win of the season in a tense 21-7 victory over the Wests Roosters who now languish in eleventh place and just above winless Johnsonville.

In some highlights of this week's action, Northern United surpassed 300 points for the season in racking up their half century of points against Old Boys-University.

Steaming into the wind into the first half, Norths fought hard for an early 12-0 lead on the back of tries to prop Anthony Perenise and fullback Buxton Popoalii. First five-eighth Leon Ellison then crossed late in the spell and right wing James So'oialo converted to give Norths a 19-0 lead at halftime.

OBU came back briefly in the second half, scoring a converted try to right wing Beau Brown, but Norths pulled clear with another bundle of tries to win comfortably. Popoalii grabbed a second try and he now has 11 tries for the season, while second five-eighth Alapati Leiua scored his eighth of the year. So'oialo kicked his 100th point of the year.

Upper Hutt right wing Ofa Pongi continued his hot try scoring form, dotting down for his sixth five-pointer of the season in a side that has struggled up until this win against Wests.

In the context of the match, Pongi's second half try was a key score and one that saw Upper Hutt take a 14-7 lead after fullback Jason Woodward had previously kicked his third penalty to put Upper Hutt in front 9-7.

In a tough encounter, the Roosters had scored the only try of the first half to No. 8 Galu Taufale after Upper Hutt had been reduced to 14 men with flanker Brook Cowan sent to the sin bin. But Upper Hutt hung tough and they trailed by a single point at the halftime interval through two Woodward penalties.

Pongi's try after the break was followed by right wing Clayton Masina's try in the corner to clinch the match, New Zealand U20 fullback Woodward converting from the sideline.

A fast improving MSP were impressive against Wainuiomata, racking up seven tries in a much more comfortable than expected victory. Left winger Mark Le provided the individual highlight with a hat trick of tries, his first multiple bag at Premier after previously scoring eight tries in 22 appearances since 2007.

It was close early on after Wainuiomata grabbed an early 5-0 lead through right wing Michael Williams who scored the first of his two tries. But Le replied with the first of his tries and first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili added the conversion and a subsequent penalty to put MSP in front at 10-5 after 20 minutes.

Williams bagged his brace before the interval, but MSP pulled further ahead to take a 20-15 lead into halftime and then pulled clear through converted tries to No. 8 Wim Baars and centre Chris Slade. Fullback Apoua Stewart scored another try and Le completed his hat trick to bring up the half century.

It was also extremely close for much of the contest between HOBM and Tawa at Lyndhurst Park, HOBM scoring a converted try to two Tawa penalties to hold a 7-6 halftime lead. But the Eagles pulled clear with two unconverted tries to lead 20-6 and eventually hold on to win. Blindside flanker Thomas Benson scored two tries for HOBM, in No. 8 Polonga Pedro's 150th Premier game.

New Zealand U20 centre Julian Savea and right wing Johnny Sola both scored hat tricks against Johnsonville as Oriental-Rongotai continued their impressive run of form.

Ories were fast out of the blocks and were never really troubled by Johnsonville, who came back in the fourth quarter and scored three tries but that was after the home side had already piled on 50 points.

Ories raced to a 24-0 lead after 20 minutes and led 31-3 at halftime, right wing Hayden Whelan scoring their fourth and bonus point try just before the interval. With Savea and Sola running strongly, Ories pulled clear after the break and had the game well and truly sewn up with half an hour still to play.

At the Petone Recreation, the home side started the game the way it eventually finished it, their cohesive pack dominating early territory and possession and playing with much fervour and aggression.

But with the wind at their backs, first five-eighth Aoina could only convert one of three early penalties to give them just a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes.

Poneke withstood the early pressure and instead it was them who went within a heartbeat of scoring the game's first try with virtually their first foray into Petone's 22 - left wing Belford knocking on over the line in the grandstand corner after a telling break in midfield by second five-eighth Charlie Ngatai.

Petone relieved the pressure by winning a tighthead scrum, only to clear the ball up towards halfway and into the waiting clutches of Belford who combined with Ngatai again to help spark a counterattacking try to Hurricanes hooker Dane Coles.

The dangerous Ngatai created space in broken field for centre Eito Tamura who in turn found Coles on his inside shoulder to race clear. First five-eighth Sam Rasch was unable to add the conversion to Coles' try, but Poneke now had their tails up and a 5-3 lead.

The next period of play was a tale of two openside flankers. First, Petone hit back through Mateaki Kafatolu, Petone's No. 7 gladly accepting a poor Poneke pass under pressure from a defensive ruck situation and scampering away to score a converted try for a 10-5 lead.

Second, Poneke openside Masefau Leuluniu was sinbinned by referee Smith for repeated infringing. Aoina stepped up to kick his second penalty to carry Petone to a 13-5 advantage.

Moments later, the Villagers went close to scoring again through livewire halfback Jared Kahu, who took off into open country after being handed a lovely pop pass on the shortside of a ruck by his captain and hooker Eugene Smith.

But the 14-man Poneke defence scrambled and Petone were unable to capitalise. Instead Poneke worked their way up field and it was Rasch who had the last say of the first half with a penalty to close the gap to 13-8 at the interval.

Now with the wind in the favour, Rasch was successful with the second of two penalty attempts after halftime to cut Petone's lead to 13-11 after 50 minutes.

Poneke quickly swung back on to attack, lock Daniel Ramsay leaping high and missing out by just his fingertips in latching on to a Rasch kick-pass and scoring a try in the corner.

But play was called back and Petone lock Chris Molenaar was shown a yellow card and this time it was Petone's turn to hold on valiantly with a man down.

Rasch couldn't convert the ensuing penalty, but the red and blacks soon broke through to score their second try to put them into the lead for the first time at 18-13.

Leuluniu was the try scorer, but it was again Ngatai that provided the spark to create the try following a concerted build-up. Ngatai burst through but was ankle tapped short of the line, only to regain his feet and hand his supporting flanker the try.

Another Rasch penalty followed, extending Poneke's advantage to 21-13.

But with Molenaar returning and with additional fresh legs off the bench, the home side now lifted another notch while at the same time Poneke made two crucial mistakes that let Petone back into the game.

The first was a Rasch knock-on inside his own half that immediately put Poneke under pressure, leading to an Aoina penalty and a closing of the deficit to five points.

The second was a huge Petone scrum in front of Poneke's goalposts and a scrambled pass from its base by No. 8 Palauni Moananu that instead popped up into the waiting hands of replacement Petone flanker Api Sione who skirted through for a try for Petone.

Sione's try levelled the scores up at 21-21 with just 10 minutes remaining - but Aoina's conversion was charged down by Belford.

Poneke had the better of the next five minutes, and with Rasch off the field his replacement Te Huia had two chances to win the game but missed both penalty attempts. The first was from 39 metres out almost in front and the second was 8 metres in from the lefthand touch near the 22 line.

With the second of Te Huia's misses, the match appeared to be heading for an epic draw - Petone's third of the season. But in darkening skies, Petone's forwards lit up and eventually set up the match winning try to Smith for a victory that will be talked about for many seasons to come.

Senior 1

Unfortunately Petone's Senior 1 couldn't emulate their Premiers, going down 10-17 to Poneke in their round six Harper Lock Shield clash on Petone's number two field.

The defeat for Petone, their fifth in the first six weeks of the season, leaves them near the foot of the table alongside Stokes Valley and Paremata-Plimmerton who also failed to achieve their second wins on Saturday.

Stokes Valley were defeated 3-44 by defending Harper Lock Shield champions Marist St. Pat's at Delaney Park, while Paremata-Plimmerton lost to Ories 12-52 at the Polo Ground.

At the top of the table, Northern United and Hutt Old Boys Marist continue to share the lead on 25 competition points after both sauntering to convincing away bonus point victories.

At Nairnville Park, Norths defeated Old Boys-University 36-0 to relegate OBU from fourth to sixth on the table.

At Lyndurst Park, HOBM beat Tawa 36-10 to see the home side slip from seventh to eighth.

At Maoribank Park, Avalon kept their Hardham Cup chances alive with a 39-25 win over Rimutaka,

Senior 2

Norths beat OBU 36-15 at Nairnville Park in the feature match of the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup to consolidate their lead at the top of the table.

The win for Norths means that at the halfway point of the first round season, all three of their teams are leading the top three grades.
OBU slip from second to fourth behind Avalon and Wellington, who both registered comfortable victories.

At the Hutt Recreation Ground, Avalon beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 39-10.

At Hataitai Park, Wellington celebrated their Old Timers' Day with a bonus point 41-10 victory over Paremata-Plimmerton.

In a tight match at Maidtone Park, Upper Hutt overcame the Wests Roosters 26-20, while MSP earned their second win of the season beating Wainuiomata 22-13.

Poneke climbed from eighth to sixth with their 41-8 win over winless Petone at the Petone Recreation Ground.

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