Hat-trick for Henry Smith in decisive win for Norths over MSP

Above: It was an arm-wrestle at William Jones Park between home side Wainuiomata and visitors Tawa, with two evenly matched packs going full throttle against each other all afternoon

Jubilee Cup Round 2 results (home team first):

Northern United 31 v Marist St Pat's 10; Oriental Rongotai 45 v Upper Hutt 3; Hutt Old Boys Marist 23 v Petone 23; Wainuiomata 10 v Tawa 5

Hardham Cup Round 2 results (home team first):

Poneke 46 v Johnsonville 0; Rimutaka 8 v Old Boys University 24; Wainuiomata B 0 v Wests Roosters 34; Norths B 20 v MSP B 33

Northern United captain Henry Smith was a happy hooker on Saturday, scoring a hat-trick of tries in his side's 31-10 win over Marist St Pat's at Porirua Park in round 2 of the Jubilee Cup.

Smith crossed for two tries in the first half, including a key try right on halftime, and one early in the second to put his side out to 26-3 playing into a strong northerly wind.

MSP, who comfortably beat first round Swindale Shield champions Hutt Old Boys Marist in their Jubilee Cup opener last week, came back with just one try in reply from a mistake at the back with fullback Andrew Wells accepting the loose ball.

Norths held firm for the rest of the match however, and when centre Nene Va'alepu crossed for their fourth try with the last act of the game they had a bonus point win under their engine against one of the Jubilee Cup pre-competition favourites.

Earlier, MSP made all the early running, but it was Norths that came up with the points. Penalties put them ahead 6-0 and then 9-3 before Smith scored his first try soon after to put them ahead 14-3. His second on halftime made it 19-3 and MSP had all the work to do with the wind now at their backs.

Instead, a break by No. 8 Mana Faraimo off the back of a scrum early in the second half led directly to Smith coming up with his hat trick, pushing the lead out beyond three converted tries which proved too great in the end for MSP.

At the Polo Ground, Defending champions Oriental-Rongotai also earned a resounding second round bonus point victory, overhwelming Upper Hutt 45-3 to grab their second successive win of the Jubilee Cup round.

With Hurricanes Motu Matu'u and Mark Reddish on board in a powerful pack, Ories had too many guns for their under strength opposites. Ories pulled clear early in the match and raced to a 26-3 lead at halftime before relying on their increasingly dominant scrum and driving play of their pack to shut Upper Hutt out of the game.

Ories centre Paulo Aukuso and halfback Sean Hay have both been in great form this season and it was their combination with big wing Afa Fa'atau that led to Aukuso scoring their first try to take a 7-0 lead. The forwards were warming up, and a series of thrusts at the line resulted in their second try to Fa'atau. Flanker Joe Maiava crossed from broken play to make it 21-3 ahead of Maiava scoring his second and Ories' fourth and bonus point try before haltime to put them ahead 26-3 at the break.

Ories doubled their try tally to eight tries for the game, with Hay scoring a try and kicking five conversions for a personal haul of 15 points.

Another feature of Ories' team was two sets of brothers in the forwards, with the Reddish brothers, Mark and Dan, joined by the Halafihi brothers, Halafihi and Pau.

The two Jubilee Cup matches in the Hutt Valley proved tight affairs.

At the Hutt Recreation Ground, the home side HOBM were held to a 23-23 draw by Petone whose first five-eighth Dan Kirkpatrick had the chance to win the game at the end with an ambitious long-range penalty attempt that sailed wide.

In a game marred by several yellow cards to prominent players, such as to HOBM locks Polonga Pedro and Hurricane Jeremy Thrush and Petone's tall timber Chris Molenaar, HOBM took a two-try lead into halftime with the strong wind at their backs.

At the end of the first half Eagles fullback Glen Walters swooped on a wayward Petone 22-dropout and ran in his side's second try to give HOBM a 20-7 lead at the turnaround.

Petone came back at their arch-rivals after halftime and scored consecutive tries to strapping wing Belgium Tutagaloa and fullback Andrew Quinlivan to lock the scores up to 20-all. Now on tenderhooks, both teams traded penalties and the score remained deadlocked at fulltime.

Across the hill at William Jones Park home side Wainuiomata battled to a 10-5 win over a tenacious Tawa who fought hammer and tongs in an at times absorbing arm-wrestle.

There was nothing in this game between two even, similarly styled packs, but in the end it was Wainuiomata's early penalty followed by their converted try to industrious No. 8 Genesis Mamea late in the first half and converted from out wide by first five-eighth John Monu that proved the key difference.

With Tawa lock Na Ioane in the sinbin, Wainuiomata had several cracks at Tawa's defence through attacking scrums. Finally the seven-man advantage paid off and halfback Corey Draper linked up blindside off the set-piece with Mamea who scored in the corner and the home side took a 10-0 lead into the halftime turnaround.

Now with the wind in their favour, Tawa came back into the contest and with the home side's skipper and lock James Saolele in the sin bin, in-form replacement flanker Ephraim Reynolds burst through the back of a lineout and crashed over to score to make it 10-5 after 55 minutes.

In an gripping battle on a heavy, cut up ground, the rest of the second half was old school rugby at it best. Both sides absorbed pressure from the other but neither could add to their score.

With 15 minutes remaining, Tawa went close to scoring again but the home side's defence was up to the task and both these sides finished their opening two Jubilee Cup matches with a win and a loss each.

Hardham Cup

Poneke emphasised their Premier 2 credentials with a comprehensive 46-0 win over 2013 Swindale Shield hopefuls Johnsonville.

The big news out of Kilbirnie Park earlier in the day was the announcement that their fill-in coach Inoke Afeaki is heading to Singapore in mid-July to take up an overseas coaching role. Current assistant Sam Rasch will be joined on the cones by No. 8 Misapalauni Moananu for the last two-four weeks of the season.

The red and blacks pulled clear with the boisterous wind at their backs in the second half.

They led 7-0 at halftime but turned with the elements and strode out in the second spell. Hurricanes Reg Goodes and Dane Coles saw game time in the Poneke's pack, whilst Charlie Ngatai came off the bench and scored a try. Ngatai's comeback was good news as he had previously injured himself playing for Poneke against OBU late in the Swindale Shield round whilst in the midst of playing a blinder.

Fullback Ben Huntley (2), Coles, No. 8 Misipaualini Moananu,? Dutch international lock Stefan Vos, wing Peter Shand and replacement loosie Roy McGrath all scored tries for Poneke.

OBU defeated an improving Rimutaka 24-8 at Maoribank Park and won their second successive bonus point win in the Hardham Cup. The students scored three tries in the first and led 19-3 at the break but after halftime it was more even with both teams adding a try a piece.

MSP B won the battle of the B teams, beating Northern United B at Porirua Park, while the Wests Roosters downed Wainuiomata B 34-0 at Mary Crowther Park in Wainuiomata.

It was a relieved Wests who scored their fourth and bonus point try right on fulltime after a break out from their own half.

Against a plucky Wainuiomata who dominated them at scrum time and matched them in the forward exchanges, and who fielded at least five players who have played Swindale Shield rugby this year the Roosters took a long time to settle into the match and only led 6-0 after 35 minutes with a strong wind in their favour.

Goal kicking prop Andrew Newson, who also slotted all four conversions, kicked penalties in the 10^th and 15^th minutes, but Wainuiomata went close themselves on a couple of occasions to score with missed penalties and a promising break out or two.

With time counting down towards halftime Wests prop Emani Laveta was sinbinned, but this act stirred Wests into life who struck with two lightning tries before the break to fullback Steve Johhson and left wing Aukuso Aukuso, putting the Roosters ahead 20-0 at the oranges.

Wainuiomata continued to compete after the break,their cause not helped by a couple of injuries such as to first five-eighth Junior Taumaoe, but Wests went further ahead when they strung an attack together and flanker Taulagi Lepupa chipped and chased close to the line to score their third try to put them ahead 27-0.

Right wing Isireli Baleitavuki then scored their fourth try at the death that could ultimately prove important when the competition points are counted up.

In the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup, Avalon, Wellington, Poneke and Petone all recorded their second wins of the round.

Avalon defeated OBU 17-12, Wellington beat Paremata-Plimmerton 41-10, Poneke edged Tawa 11-10 and Petone defeated HOBM 27-7.

OBU and HOBM are the two unbeaten sides after the opening fortnight of the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial. OBU beat Poneke 31-17 and HOBM pipped Petone 15-13.

In the other Senior 2 results, Ories edged Stokes Valley 17-14, MSP held off Norths 19-15 and Avalon defeated Wests 15-8.

In a tight Senior 2 round, four of the five games were decided by seven points or fewer and OBU were the only bonus point winners.

Premier Women's fifth round results saw wins for OBU over Wainuiomata 17-12, Stokes Valley over Ories 20-8 and Eketahuna over Norths 22-7.

Eketahuna's win away at Porirua Park was Norths' first loss of the second round and puts the leading four teams all within seven competition points of each other at the halfway mark of the double round-robin Victoria Tavern Trophy.

In the three Premier 1 schools first round First XV games played on Saturday Wellington College were held to a 15-13 win against St Bernard's, Scots edged HIBS 24-20 and St Pat's Town beat Aotea College 22-3.

In Senior age-grade rugby, the Wellington U21s beat Petone Blue to win the first round Colts Paris Memorial Trophy.

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