B before A for Wellington in Hurricanes Under-16 finals

Above: members of the Wellington and Hawke's Bay U16A teams after today's Hurricanes final. PHOTO: David Brownlie Photography 

The 46th annual Hurricanes Under-16 tournament has concluded in Masterton this afternoon.  Wellington Development retained their Saracens Cup title against Hawke’s Bay, who had the last laugh winning the premier prize for just the second time since 2010.

Don Broughton Shield Final

Hawke’s Bay have won the Don Broughton Shield for the first time since 2014 after a gripping 40-36 win over Wellington.

The decider featured five lead changes and 11 tries with the runners-up actually outscoring the junior Magpies six tries to five.

With about 15 minutes reaming Wellington turned a 30-24 deficit into a lead when second-five Riley Higgins wriggled over close to the posts for a converted try.

Hawke’s Bay responded immediately with halfback Treyah Kingi-Taukamo illustrating why he was selected the Player of the Tournament. Kingi-Taukamo snipped rapidly from a ruck to outwit the Wellington defence and set up his own converted score.

In a genuinely close tussle, Wellington was left to rue slightly inferior discipline and handling errors.

With six minutes left Kingi-Taukamo kicked his third penalty to extend the lead to 40-31. Despite a feverish finnish by Wellington, Hawke’s Bay held on girlmly for their second success in three days over the capital based opposition.

Hawke’s Bay struck first, but Wellington’s reply was spectacular. Lock Junior Tefoto was like an unhinged bull, rampaging 30-metres to the line.

Wellington’s lead was short-lived. A Kingi-Taukamo penalty made it 8-7 to Hawke’s Bay, but No.8 Ronaldo Seumanufagai restored Wellington’s advantage following a driving maul which ended handy to the posts.

Hawke’s Bay struck a purple patch ten minutes before halftime, striking three times to take a 27-19 lead to the oranges.

Wellington was outflanked by a series of swift passes on the left side as Hawke’s Bay went 15-12 ahead.

Wing Donny Godinet then caught fire claiming a cross-kick to out sprint Mitch Southall to the corner before intercepting a loose pass to dash 50-metres.

Godinet, curiously absent from the tournament team, completed a hat-trick in the second-half.

Bradley Crighton, Peter Lakai and Toby Cook were the other Wellington try scorers while lock Dominic Ropeti had an excellent game.

Wellington won the title in 2017 beating Hawke’s Bay 31-16 in Wanganui.

Saracens Cup Final

Wellington Development produced a commanding second-half to overpower Hawke’s Bay 40-20. Down 13-12 at the break, Wellington conceded a converted try on fulltime in an otherwise unblemished climax.

In this age group all reserves are required to play at least 35 minutes and the impact of Wellington’s bench was papble with a one point deficit turned into a 33-13 lead in 15 minutes.

Wellington reduced their error rate and used their greater size to dominate the collisions, prevailing six tries to two.

For Wellington, Pati Olive (2), Jonathan Bailey, Maea Tema-Schmidt, , Levi Smith and Heilyn Tuia crossed the paint with Olive the Naenae College wing a standout.

Hawke’s Bay’s first-five was a well organised player scoring 15 points.