Key weekend of Women?s and lower grade rugby coming up

Above: The Northern United Women’s team are top qualifiers for Saturday’s Victoria Tavern Trophy semi-finals.

While it’s the last round of the? Jubilee and Hardham Cup competitions this Saturday ahead of the championship semi-finals, the action is also set to spice up throughout the lower and Women’s grades of Wellington club rugby.

It kicks off with the Premier Women’s Victoria Tavern Trophy semi-finals, the first set of playoff matches of the year.

Top qualifier and unbeaten Northern United host an Old Boys-University side they have easily accounted for twice this season already by 44-0 and 22-5 and defending second round champions Wainuiomata travel to play Oriental Rongotai ,with the hosts having also won both games this year by margins of 17-12 and 26-5.

The semi-final between Norths and OBU is on the main ground at Porirua Park starting at 11.15 am and the Ories and Wainuiomata playoff is at the Polo Ground from 11.30 am.

Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup and Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup

Including this Saturday’s matches, there are three rounds of the regular season remaining in the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup and four in the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup competition.
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In the 10-team Ed Chaney Cup the top three teams, leaders Paremata-Plimmerton (on 23 points) and second placed Tawa and third placed Wainuiomata (both on 20), will all take large strides towards booking upcoming semi-finals places if they win in round seven.

Unbeaten Paremata-Plimmerton hosts sixth place Petone (17) at Ngatitoa Domain at 3.00 pm, Tawa hosts eighth placed Poneke (9) at Lyndhurst Park at 1.15pm and Wainuiomata welcomes fifth placed Ories (17) to William Jones at 1pm. ?

Should any of the leading teams lose their matches, it’s likely to be all on after Saturday with the semi-finals spots still wide open.

Pending the results of these three matches above, the door is still ajar for first round Senior 2 winners and fourth placed Hutt Old Boys Marist (18) to sneak into a leading position. They play seventh placed Norths (9) at Porirua Park at 12.45 pm.

At the other end of the table, MSP (8) and Upper Hutt (5) meet at Evans Bay Park at 1.00 pm in a battle of ninth and 10th. With the bottom two sides in this grade falling through the relegation trapdoor to Senior 2 for 2014, both sides will be desperate for a win and a step towards avoiding that fate.

The race to the semi-finals in the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial competition appears to be a lot closer.

Leaders the Wests Roosters (on 20 points) are out in front by four points, but then there’s a group of seven teams all bunched together within a win of each other. Second placed Avalon (16) areonly a bonus-point win ahead of eighth placed Poneke (11).

In games on Saturday, the Roosters will hope to extend their lead and probably book a semi-final with a fortnight to spare if they defeat Poneke at Ian Galloway Park at 1.15 pm.

Second placed OBU (16) and third placed Avalon (15) meet at Prince of Wales Park at 1.15 pm.

Fourth placed Stokes Valley (13) entertain seventh placed Norths (11) at 3.00 pm at Delaney Park, sixth placed Petone (11) visits last placed MSP at Kilbirnie Park #3 at 1.15 pm and ninth placed Johnsonville (5) play fifth placed Wainuiomata (13) at Helston Park at 1.15 pm.


John E Kelly Memorial Cup Colts Division 1

The Colts Division 1 competition enters its last round-robin game this week, as its final is scheduled to be played before both the Hardham and Jubilee Cup finals at the Hutt Rec on Sunday 4 August.

Defending champions OBU Green have been undefeated all season and will host a semi-final next weekend. Before then they face Petone Blue at TeWhaea on Friday night and will be eager to keep their unblemished record intact. For Petone they need an upset win to stay in the play-off picture, otherwise their season is over.

Hutt Old Boys Marist’s Green side have only suffered two losses all year, both to OBU. On Saturday they host a Johnsonville team at 1.15pm that were promoted mid-season and have performed admirably in the top flight. Like OBU, the young Eagles have also secured a home-semi. Norths will finish third regardless of their result on Saturday (unless they default) against a winless Ories side at Porirua Park at 3.00 pm.

Only the fourth place is in contention. Wellington hold it currently and will go into their 1.15 pm game against Poneke at Hataitai with both sides knowing Petone’s result from the night before. If Petone have upset OBU then Poneke will be unable to qualify and the young Axemen will need to win, but if the Friday game goes to form then Poneke would progress with a bonus-point win and not allowing Wellington any competition points.

Under 85kgs

The Division 1 lightweights hope to be back in action this week after the weather and ground availability issues saw their Paul Potiki Memorial Shield games postponed.

The draw is the same as last week with the OBU Bunnies and MSP Reds squaring off at TeWhaea at 1.00 pm, Wellington and the OBU Spartans meeting at Martin Luckie at 1.15 pm and the MSP Blues and Eastbourne locking? horns at Prince of Wales Park at 3.00 pm in the inaugural Centutions RFC Cup match.Tawa has the bye

In round three matches of the U85 kg Division 2 competition, joint leaders the Poneke Cav’s and Stokes Valley play winless Wainuiomata and third placed Upper Hutt respectively, and the fourth and fifth placed Petone Vipers and HOBM meet.