Jubilee and Hardham Cups heat up despite weather bomb

Wild weather that cut through Wellington on Saturday caused chaos across many of the region's sports fields and influenced the fifth round of Jubilee and Hardham Cup matches.

The ferocious storm accompanied by thunder and lightning, heavy rain and high winds from the north arrived around mid-afternoon - early in the second half of the early Hardham Cup between HOBM B and the Wests Roosters and on cue for the start of most other 3.00pm matches. At the Hutt Recreation Ground, the skies blackened and the heavens opened. Then the rain went away and the gales arrived.

Up the road at Upper Hutt, the main Jubilee Cup game between Upper Hutt and Petone turned into a water polo match, Rimutaka and Tawa were almost blown off Maoribank Park and the First XV Premier 1 college match between home school HIBS and Scots College was called off for that very reason.

Despite all this, both the leading competitions in Wellington remain on tenderhooks heading into the semi-finals in a fortnight's time, after another exhilarating set of results.

In the Jubilee Cup, home team Oriental-Rongotai held out eastern suburbs rivals Poneke 23-19 at the Polo Ground, to remain unbeaten after five rounds and become the first team to officially qualify for the semi-finals.

At William Jones Park, Wainuiomata, with the help of super-sub Piri Weepu in the second half, came back to score a late converted try to draw their match 7-7 with Northern United, who remain in third place behind Ories and Poneke.

At the Hutt Recreation Ground, home side HOBM earned a convincing 24-0 win over understrength Marist St. Pat's to leapfrog the Eagles into the fourth place with two rounds remaining.

Up the road, Petone climbed from seventh to sixth and kept alive their playoff chances for another week with a 26-0 win over winless Upper Hutt.

In the Hardham Cup, leaders Old Boys University shook off the challenge of second placed Poneke B at the Hawkins Basin Reserve to win 32-9, to register their fifth straight second round victory and qualify for a home semi-final with two rounds to spare.

OBU (23) points can't be headed for the top qualifier's berth by new joint placed Poneke B and Avalon (both 12) and can sit back and enjoy the show unfolding below in the final two weeks as six of the other seven teams will be fighting it out for the semi-finals and four teams will be chasing three Swindale Shield spots still up for grabs for 2012.

This after another tight round at the other three venues, that saw Avalon and the Wests Roosters edge out the two ‘B' teams and Rimutaka harness the elements to defeat Tawa 12-8 in what could be a crucial result for both teams heading into the business end of the season.

At Fraser Park Avalon overtook Norths B in the second half to win 11-6, while the Wests Roosters battled themselves, the conditions and a plucky HOBM B side to prevail 10-0 at the Hutt Recreation Ground number 2.

Close results were the order of the day in round 5 of the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup. Four of the five matches were decided by just 5 points or fewer.

Petone remain unbeaten after five rounds on 24 points, edging out Tawa 25-24. OBU have joined Johnsonville in equal second place on 19 points after OBU pipped Marist St. Pat's 21-20 and Johnsonville went down to Ories 17-20.

Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton bucked the trend of low scoring results in their match, Avalon grabbing its first win of the Ed Chaney Cup by prevailing 39-34. In the round's other match Wainuiomata also secured its first win, beating Stokes Valley 23-8.

In the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial, Hutt Old Boys Marist continued its winning ways with the most impressive win across the top three grades, defeating the Wests Rooster 48-7.

HOBM (on 22 points) have moved ahead of the Wellington Axemen (21) who drew with third placed Northern United (17) 13-13.

OBU are now in clear fourth place (15) after defeating MSP 38-0, while Upper Hutt pipped Petone 17-16 in a key mid-table clash and Poneke beat winless Johnsonville 17-8 in the other clash of the Senior 2 round.

In another College First XV result, Wellington College beat Rongotai College 15-12 in their Premier 1 and Traditional match.

Jubilee Cup

The feature game of the fifth round was at the Polo Ground between Ories and Poneke. Both had played well over the opening month leading up to this clash to earn four successive wins.

The match lived up to its star billing, Ories racing to a 23-3 lead at halftime, only to see the red and blacks come roaring back in the second half to close to within four points at the end.

In previous seasons Ories may have wilted under pressure, but not this year. They showed their new-found fighting spirit right up to the end when Poneke were searching for a late try that would have given them an unlikely win just 40 minutes previously.

There was just one team in it in the first spell as Ories first five-eighth Trevor Marama scored two converted tries to see the home side gallop to a 20-0 lead late in the half. Left wing Ambrose Curtis then kicked his third penalty of the half to extend their lead even further.

Curtis had opened the scoring with two penalties before right wing Afa Fa'atau picked up a loose ball and combined with Marama for the first try. Marama scored his second try from an intercept and runaway.

But the red and blacks must have ingested more than just oranges at halftime and they came out firing. First, openside flanker Ally Paine crossed for a converted try to make it 23-10. Then first five-eighth Jeremy Te Huia slotted three consecutive penalties and it was game on with about 10 minutes to play.

Poneke kept pressing for victory but were held out to the end and Ories celebrated making the semi-finals and focused their sites on a home playoff at the end of July.

In atrocious conditions at Maidstone Park, Petone scored their fourth and bonus point try right at the end to beat Upper Hutt 26-0 and also keep alive their slim chances for playoff glory. Now needing to beat MSP and HOBM in its last two games and hope results go their way, Petone at least gave themselves a chance when second five-eighth Nick Grigg scored with a few minutes to go.

Petone had earlier scored three unconverted tries in the first half and led 15-0 at halftime. Left wing Willie Moala crossed first inside the opening 10 minutes, followed by centre Cam Incledon and right wing Belgium Tuatagaloa. Veteran first five-eighth Ben Aoina, a former Upper Hutt player, stuck two penalties after the break to extend the advantage to 21-0 before Grigg's try presented them with maximum points.

It was a wild day over the hill in Wainuiomata as the home side continued its historic season with a top performance over first round champions Norths. They didn't win and they're too far back to make the semi-finals, but the 7-7 draw gave them renewed confidence that they can finish their season well against Upper Hutt in round six and then Ories in the last round.

Wainuiomata came back to score the match equalising try late in the match through?No. 8 Genesis?Mamea that was converted by replacement Piri Weepu.

Earlier, the under strength Norths side, had scored its only try of the match when flanker Dean Brunsdon kicked through a dropped ball that forced Wainuiomata to scramble in defence. Awarded a penalty, Norths took a quick tap and halfback Nene Va'alepu crossed for a seven-pointer.

At the Hutt Recreation Ground, hanging on towards the end and stemming the flow of points was all visitors Marist St. Pat's could really hope for once the home side HOBM had sealed the result in their favour with a fantastic long-range try finished off by left wing Leka Tupuola and new first five-eighth Brandyn Laursen had converted from the sideline.

This try put the Eagles ahead 17-0 with just under 20 minutes to go, and with their tails up and the strong wind at their backs the game was won. The Eagles scored again at the end and Laursen added the extras to clinch the win.

MSP were left rueing missed chances in the first half, unable to put any points on the board with the elements in their favour. They also went into this clash severely undercooked up front. A propping crisis at the club saw three hookers playing in the front row. With young guns Jeff Allen and Solomona Sakalia, and Sean Cockburn and veteran Jamie Parkinson all injured and Arden David not allowed to play after coming off the bench for the Wellington XV the previous day, they were battling from the outset.

Following a scoreless first half, that also saw MSP lose halfback Anthony Bradshaw to what appeared to be a serious injury, HOBM finally put points on the board through a Laursen penalty after about 50 minutes.

Their first try came five minutes later following a concerted period of attack and driving by the forwards near MSP's line - halfback Nick Risdon selling a dummy from a ruck and finding blindside flanker Dan McCool with an inside pass. Laursen's conversion made it 10-0.

A spirited MSP battled hard over the next several minutes to mount a comeback, but a turnover 70 metres out after a drive from a lineout presented HOBM's backs with the opportunity they had been waiting for. Spinning the ball from the ruck they counter-attacked, Norths style, and Tupuola finished off the sweeping movement in the left hand corner.

MSP's slim chances evaporated with about several minutes remaining, following another raid inside HOBM's 22 being snuffed and the sinbinning for second five-eighth Joe Wright for the rest of the match for a high tackle. With both sets of backs as onlookers, HOBM prop Simon Malaeulu burrowed over for their third try at the end.

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Hardham Cup

Old Boys-University can sleep well over the next fortnight after officially qualifying for a home semi-final. The students have Norths B and Avalon to go, so their motivation will be to remain unbeaten in the round-robin.

Against Poneke B at the Hawkins Basin Reserve, OBU outscored the visitors six tries to nil. Three different players scored two tries each - wing Tim Mowbray, fullback Beau Brown and lock Mike Scott. On a tough day for kicking, first five-eighth Mike Newell could only add one conversion.

A Seminar Manu cross kick put Mowbray away in the corner and Newell converted to put them ahead 7-3. Poneke, with the wind, kept in touch in the first half with two penalties to first five-eighth Chris Thomsen. Another Manu kick was almost reeled in by Mowbray again before Scott scored his first try to put them ahead 12-6 at the break.

The Manu-Mowbray show continued early in the second spell for their third try and fullback Brown cut through making it 22-9 to OBU. Two further unconverted tries sealed their comfortable win.

The action at the other three venues wasn't comfortable in any way. Maoribank Park, opposite the Hutt River, is exposed on a gentle day.But with the wind blowing it made for a tough afternoon for the home side Rimutaka and visitors Tawa. This was also a vital clash for both sides, both desperately needing points.

After battling to a 12-0 halftime lead with the wind in their favour, the Rams dug deep in the second half to hold off Tawa in the second spell. Rimutaka first five-eighth Te Ari Mahuri's four penalties proved enough as Tawa came back with a penalty and try in the corner to close to 12-8 but they couldn't score again.

At Fraser Park, fullback Joyner Keys might have scored Avalon's most important try of the season that gave his side four competition points against Norths B. With scores locked up at 6-6 since early in the second half when Norths kicked their second penalty, Keys' try in the corner broke the deadlock and gave Avalon a vital win ahead of a massive clash next week against Rimutaka as part of the overall promotion-relegation battle. Avalon then plays OBU in the last round.

It was a similarly vital win for the Wests Roosters against HOBM B. Their run home sees them play Poneke B away then host Tawa at home so gaining the points from this game was always going to be crucial.

Whilst grateful just to get the win after the bad weather arrived, the Roosters' margin of victory could have been more than 10-0, after they scored two tries that would have been awarded if there were video replays in club rugby games. Halfback Sean Winters also missed an easy penalty out in front of the sticks on halftime that on another day he could have kicked with his left foot.

HOBM B had their chances to score too, in two separate concerted periods of attack early and midway through the first half. In an even opening 30 minutes the score remained 0-0 and the sun was still shining. After blowing a try from a penalty and lineout in the corner, the Roosters attacked from a similar set-up and second five-eighth Richard Henderson crashed over in a pile of bodies near the uprights. But the referee was unsighted and HOBM held on. They couldn't hold out the Roosters' left wing who shot through after an overlap had been created and after 35 minutes Wests were finally on the board.

Winters' penalty miss following this could have been crucial, before the Wests right winger sprinted on to a perfectly weighted end-on-end kick into the clubrooms corner and dotted down with just a few blades of grass to spare early in the second half. But without technology, the officials made the correct call not to award the try and the score remained 5-0.

Then the rain arrived. In a battle of attrition for both sides, Wests spent the best part of 15 minutes just trying to create more territory but mistakes and forced passes kept them pinned on their own side of halfway.

Finally, in driving rain, they kicked a penalty into the corner, rumbled on from an attacking lineout and prop Ben Van Berkel came up with what was the match winning try with about 15 minutes to play.