Wellington Festival matches get underway in Porirua Park sunshine

Above: Halftime in the Wellington Samoans and Suburbs match at Porirua Park today

The first two matches of the WRFU Festival of Rugby got underway at Porirua Park with Wellington Maori side beating Wellington City 37-31 and Wellington Suburbs beating Wellington Samoans 22-15.

Maori hold off City

In beautiful conditions on the number 2 ground, the match was a game of two halves as the Wellington Maori side proved too strong for City.

City got off to the perfect start when Pau Halafihi burst through some weak defence to coast in for the first try of the afternoon. The conversion was unsuccessful and City led 5-0.

However, the Maori side hit back immediately. Dean Brunsdon and Gabe Papuni scored two tries in quick succession in the left hand corner. A Proctor penalty had the Maori side in control midway through the first half with a 13-5 lead.

Mistakes and discipline hurt City in the first half. The Maori's fourth try of the afternoon came from a quick throw in gone wrong. Augustine Escalona from OBU foolishly threw the ball in play and Deina Morete intercepted the ball with glee.

Another try followed when the Upper Hutt Rams' Jason Henry crashed over and with an added James Proctor conversion, the Maori led 27-5 and City were heading for an embarrassing defeat.

City didn't throw in the towel. OBU's Te Wehi Wright out on the left wing produced a trademark step to score at the end of the half. Wellington's Hilton Mexted missed his second conversion of the afternoon but his team were in trouble at the break, down 27-10.

The second forty minutes were much better for City. Petone second five Nick Grigg and MSP's Andrew Wells scoring in the first 10 minutes along with OBU's Greg Mullany coming off the bench to take over kicking, ensured a change of fortunes for the City team.

Both these tries came from line-breaks, with MSP's Matt Peni exposing some tired defence en route to the Wells try.

City were down by 3 points and even though the Maori led 27-24, City had a swagger in their step.

Grigg would score his second try with 20 minutes to go and his try, along with another Mullany conversion had City leading 31-27.

But discipline and poor passing let City down in the final ten. Johnsonville's Mike Williams ran away to score from a loose pass and Randall Bishop would kick a penalty to ensure a Maori victory.

Wellington Maori 37 (Dean Brunsdon, Gabe Papuni, Denina Morete Jarrod Henry, Mike Williams tries; James Proctor pen, con; Randall Bishop pen, con) defeated Wellington City 31( Pau Halafihi, Te Wehi Wright, Nick Grigg (2), Andrew Wells tries; Greg Mullany 3 cons)

Garden-Bachop helps Suburbs to win

Jackson Garden-Bachop was the hero for Suburbs as he led his team to a 22-14 victory over the Wellington Samoans in front of a small crowd at Porirua Park.

The Wellington Samoans scored early and started with a hiss and a roar.

However, in a scrappy first half with plenty of handling errors, Jackson Garden-Bachop would kick a sole penalty for Suburbs in the first half.

The Samoans led 7-3 at the break with a try and conversion from Garden-Bachop's Northern United's team mate Dudley Parsons, who squared off against his Norths team mate at first five.

The second half started positively for Suburbs with two Garden-Bachop penalties. However the second try from the Samoans MSP fullback Ryan Setefano had the crowd on their feet.

Blindside flanker Murphy Taramai, from the Upper Hutt Rams, found acres of space down the left hand side of the field. With Norths wing Aukuso Tuitama rushing up, Taramai put in an outstanding grubber kick into the in goal area past the posts. Setefano swooped on to it and the Samoans reclaimed the lead they had lost.

A Parsons conversion had the Samoans leading 14 to 9.

But as everyone knows, it is a cardinal sin to give up points when you have scored, which is exactly what the Samoans did. Ories' Lucky Tuiatua was pinged for not rolling away and Garden-Bachop kicked his fourth penalty of the afternoon.

With ten minutes to go and Suburbs being down by two, they had to strike.

Lucky for them, their sole try came through a plethora of pick and goes on the Wellington Samoans tryline. Tawa hooker Lotu Nuku crashed over as a reward for their endeavours.

A Garden-Bachop conversion and penalty following the try would complete the win for Suburbs.

Wellington Suburbs 22 (Lotu Nuku try, Jackson Garden Bachop 5 pens, con) defeated Wellington Samoans 15 (Ryan Setefano, TBC tries; Dudley Parsons, penalty,con)

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