Wellington College defeat St Pat's Town

Wellington College: 20 (Stone Warren-Robertson, Reece Plumtree tries; Plumtree 2 con, 2 pen) St. Patrick's College, Town: 16 (Saia Paese try; Billy Procter 3 pen, Paese 1 con)

Wellington College have ended their two game losing streak in the Centennial Shield by defeating St. Pats Town 20-16 in the 131st annual traditional at Wellington College today.

In the dying minutes Wellington might have had flashbacks to their heartbreaking losses in the previous two years.

Ahead by 20-9, and deep in the Town half, Wellington lost control of possession. Town kicked the ball forward hopefully and it rebounded of a Wellington defender into the arms of wing Saia Paese who raced away to score a try under the posts. He quickly dropped kicked the conversion to reduce the deficit four points. In 2014 Paese scored the winning try on fulltime and last year Wellington was denied a try in the very last play.

Wellington kicked off. It was a low skidding kick which was fumbled by the Town receiver, bending down on his knees to retrieve.

A Town defender then picked up the ball in an offside position and conceded a penalty. Despite missing the kick at goal, centre Reece Plumtree belted the ball dead and wasted enough time to bring the game to fulltime.

Wellington adjusted to the heavy field and chilly southerly, which fluctuated in strength, better than the visitors. They were able to anchor themselves in the Town half for most of the second-spell and backed their defence to force errors.

With about ten minutes remaining Wellington was ahead 13-9 when Plumtree swooped on a mistake by Town in the midfield and sprinted 65m to score. The error was forced by Stone Warren-Robertson who make a jarring tackle.

Warren-Robertson had a strong game. He scored the first try against the run of play. Town held the ball for repeat phases, but Wellington first-five Toka Sopoaga (Lima's brother) caught the Town 'rush' defence napping by chipping over the top for second-five to gather over the line.

It was a game dictated by the conditions. Both sides lacked continuity and struggled to maintain discipline. Plumtree slotted two penalties for Wellington and Billy Procter nailed three for Town. Town's tactics were more ambitious and that was to their detriment. They often dropped the ball seeking space out wide from inside their own half.

For Wellington Naitoa Ah Kohi (lock), Qualen Asi (prop), Gus McPherson (openside) and reserve forwards Oliver Dawson and Sam Green (NZ U18 AFL rep) worked tirelessly on defence. Sopoaga outplayed his opposite and halfback Adrian Seumanufagai grew in stature after a shaky start.

For Town No.8 Kevin Fauatea, who scored two tries in their win against Scots on Saturday never stopped running and Procter was lively despite the limited space provided. Town's error rate was much higher than usual today. A good win for a Wellington side that has lost a lot of close games in recent times.