Petone, Norths and Upper Hutt Early Cup Pacesetters

Round 2 Review Petone, Northern United and Upper Hutt are the unbeaten teams after two rounds of the Jubilee Cup. Of the trio, Norths enjoyed the easiest ride in round two, winning comfortably over neighbours Tawa, while Petone made hard work of beating an unimaginative Marist St. Pats, and Upper Hutt outlasted Western Suburbs. Poneke were the other winners of the round, dining out on Avalon. The leading three sides have already opened up a handy buffer over the three winless teams, Avalon, Wests and Tawa, who find themselves in a must-win situation next week to keep in touch.

The in-form Petone made it seven wins in a row and signalled a warning to the other contenders by accounting for MSP in this week?s feature match at the Petone Recreation Ground. But the Villagers, who always looked the likely winners - being the only side of the two that looked like crossing the tryline - didn?t make it easy for themselves. They made most of the running in the first half, but handed MSP a 15-14 lead at halftime through some misguided play and ill discipline, before scoring two tries early in the second half for a deserved win.

Petone raced to an 11-0 lead, which included a try to fullback Jeremy Pigou after right wing Willie Moala and centre August Collins linked up on the short side. Pigou should have scored again, but knocked on over the line. MSP hung in there though, and as always, competed well in the forwards, and first five-eighth Sam Rasch kicked four first half penalties and a dropped goal.

Petone scored two slick tries soon after the break, both to blindside flanker Lani Tuita, the first from a blindside scrum move following an MSP mistake at the back, the second through the midfield, with second five-eighth Joe Collins offloading to him.
Shortly after, Tuita was sinbinned for repeated infringing at the breakdown and Rasch reduced the deficit to ten points on the three quarter mark with his fifth penalty. Both sides then bumbled their way to fulltime.

Elsewhere, it was a clash of styles at Kilbirnie Park, where for the second time this season the structured and organised Poneke easily accounted for the free-flowing attacking Avalon. Ironically four of Poneke?s five tries were scored by the backs, with left wing Evan Belford grabbing two to move to nine tries for the season. A surge of supremacy by Norths midway through the second half left Tawa in their wake at Porirua Park. Tawa were in touch at 19-10 down before Norths scored three tries in six minutes to close the match.

Upper Hutt pulled away from Wests with two late tries in a tight clash at Ian Galloway Park. After a promising start by the Roosters which saw second five-eighth Jack Tarrant score from an attacking scrum move, Wests lost their way, with first five-eighth Scott Leighton having an off day with the boot, and with two separate sinbinnings including playmaker Leighton just before halftime. Second half tries to Upper Hutt through loose forward Damien Mei and midfielder Cory Aporo gave them their 12th win from 13 games this year.

Leading points scorers (after Jubilee Cup round two):

Scott Leighton (Wests) 145
Brad Cooper (Poneke) 136
Sam Rasch (MSP) 124
Cameron Cross (Avalon) 87
Riki Flutey (Petone) 74
Ben Aoina (Upper Hutt) 74
Gene Johnston (Tawa) 70
Cory Aporo (Upper Hutt) 62
Rob Aloe (Norths) 58
Willie Lafaele (Tawa) 57
Evan Belford (Poneke) 45
Fa'atonu Fili (MSP) 42
Steve McColl (Poneke) 41
Junior Togia (Tawa) 40
Peato Lafaele (Norths) 35


Leading try scorers (after Jubilee Cup round two):

Evan Belford (Poneke) 9
Junior Togia (Tawa) 8
Willie Moala (Petone) 7
Vila Apu?ula (Avalon) 7
Siaosi Anamani (Norths) 6
Thomas Waldrom (Avalon) 6
Tristian Meo (Wests) 5
Tu Umaga-Marshall (Petone) 5
Steve McColl (Poneke) 5
Rob Aloe (Norths) 5
Patolo Patelesio (Norths) 5
Chris Puketapu (Upper Hutt) 5
Brad Baker (Upper Hutt) 5
Willie Lafaele (Tawa) 4
Shaun O'Conner (Poneke) 4