Three close games and a blowout in second round Jubilee Cup games

Above: Hutt Old Boys Marist centre Ope Peleseuma gets a pass way in the midfield today against Wainuiomata.

Updated: There were three close matches and a thrashing in the four second round Jubilee Cup matches played today in lovely sunny conditions.

The two closest results of the day were Marist St Pat’s beating Oriental-Rongotai 33-31 at home at Evans Bay Park and Tawa holding on to beat Northern United 30-26 at Lyndhurst Park. Both matches had all the drama and passion associated with the Jubilee Cup.

For MSP, Andrew Wells slotted a 76th minute penalty from 35 metres out to win the game for his side after Ories had scored through the ever-dangerous Tuitama brothers in midfield to give them a one-point lead with the clock winding down. Earlier, MSP had taken a 25-17 lead with a penalty try after a lineout drive, Ories had closed to 25-24 with a champagne try to Malo Tuitama and MSP had scored again through captain and hooker Valentine Meachen. MSP had led 18-12 at halftime.

For Tawa, second five-eighth James So’oialo kicked a late penalty to give Tawa a buffer after his opposite Perry Hayman had carved through for Norths to make it 26-27 and to set up a grandstand finish. Norths finished the game hot on attack searching for a 5-pointer to win the game but were denied by the sort of heroic defence that had characterised much of the game. There was little between the sides and it had been 19-19 at halftime.

2015 champions Old Boys University have emerged as the team to beat, with a 72-12 victory over Petone at Nairnville Park.

OBU raced to an early 12-0 lead and had their bonus point in the bank at 26-0 at halftime. Prop Finnbarr Kerr-Newell scorched 30 metres to score early in the second half to extend their lead to 33-0. Petone hit back with two tries while OBU had a man in the bin, but the last 25 minutes or so it became the eyesore of Mysore for Petone fans as the Goats poured through to score several more tries. One player to get in on the try feast was flanker Daven Candy who crossed for a hat-trick in the 10 tries to two win. 

HOBM beat Wainuiomata 36-14 at home at the Hutt Rec, courtesy of a dominant scrum and a hat-trick to hooker James O’Reilly.

HOBM won two penalties and two tightheads from the scrum the opening quarter, O’Reilly rumbled over for two tries to give them an early 14-0 lead. At the half hour mark, Wainuiomata fullback Tau Mamea got injured, resulting in a long delay and a change in fields to the No. 2 ground. Wainuiomata lock Bevan Clark scored a try from a maul to close the gap to 14-7. HOBM halfback Sheridan Rangihuna kicked a penalty to make it 17-7 at halftime.

In the second half, Wainuiomata had possession and territory for a good 10 minutes but failed to make use of it. This proved telling, as happy hooker O’Reilly rumbled over from a maul to score his hat-trick to make it 24-7.The green and blacks replied through hulking No. 8 Ben Tupuola who scored their second try from a free kick to close the gap to 24-14. The rest of the match was a scrappy affair, HOBM closing out a bonus point victory with two further tries.

Hardham Cup

There were three close run affairs in the Hardham Cup, with wins for Johnsonville and the Upper Hutt Rams to see those sides go two from two in the Premier Reserve competition, and an opening victory of the season for Avalon.

Johnsonville inflicted a second straight Hardham Cup defeat on Poneke, beating them 27-14 at home at Helston Park. Fullback Tiwi Davies scored two tries and kicked two penalties and three conversions for a personal haul of 22 points, while right wing Jacob Walmsley scored their other try. Johnsonville also won this match after being handed four yellow cards and scoring one of their tries with two players in the bin at the same time.

The Rams pulled clear to beat the Wellington Axemen 33-11, in a five tries to two victory. The brothers Schrijvers scored three of the Rams’ tries, with openside flanker Dan scoring two and halfback Hayden one try.

Avalon enjoyed a 21-15 win over Paremata-Plimmerton on their Old Timers’ Day at Fraser Park.

Premier Reserve

First round winners Old Boys University, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Tawa all recorded their second straight victories of the second round Ed Chaney Cup in today’s Premier Reserve fixtures.

In the early game at Nairnville Park, OBU beat Petone 31-19, while HOBM defeated Wainuiomata 46-22 and Tawa beat Northern United 26-17.

MSP stretched out to a 81-19 win over Oriental-Rongotai in the Evans Bay Park curtain-raiser in the other Ed Chaney encounter.

The Avalon Wolves second XV made it two from two over Paremata-Plimmerton teams on their Old Timers’ Day with a five tries to three 33-24 win in their HD Morgan Memorial encounter.

The other two division 2 HD Morgan Premier Reserve matches saw the Upper Hutt Rams beat Wellington 67-7 and Poneke overcome Johnsonville 54-14.

U85kg and First Grade

There was also more silverware decided today in these grades.

The Wellington Axemen have defended the first round JC Bowl U85kg title, defeating the Tawa Titans 29-10 in their virtual final today at Redwood Park.

In two other JC Bowl clashes, the Avalon Wolves beat the Wests Roosters 69-14 and the OBU Bunnies defeated Eastbourne 43-10.

Poneke won the division 2 Phillip Wiggins Trophy, the Cavs defeating Stokes Valley 50-26 in their match with the bonus point they needed to pip Kapiti for the title.

The HOBM Barbarians defeated Norths Red 45-27 to win the first round Thompson Memorial First Grade competition. The Norths Usos finished second, two points back in the standings, after their win by default over MSP.

The Petone Brotherhood and OBU drew their First Grade fixture 23-23.

The Johnsonville Cripples won the First Grade divison 2 JRD Cup, securing that win with an 81-0 assault over the Upper Hutt Rams Pirates.

Women’s

Oriental-Rongotai took an efficient five tries to one victory over the Old Boys University Impalas today to maintain their unbeaten record at the top of the Victoria Tavern Trophy standings after four rounds. Left wing Ayesha Leti-l'iga scored a hat-trick for Ories. 

It was a clash of contrasting styles in the other Victoria Tavern Trophy match at William Jones Park. Wainuiomata kept the ball tight and used their forwards to dominate territory and possession while MSP used their outside speed to launch lightning attacks, highlighted by MSP winning a turnover under their own posts after absorbing 5 minutes of pressure and Cheyne Copeland scampering 100m to score.  The two sides traded tries throughout the match, but MSP eventually won out 34-26, scoring their last right on fulltime to deny the hosts a second bonus point.

The Tawa side defaulted to Petone in their Women’s Division 2 encounter, leaving just Hutt Old Boys Marist and Paremata-Plimmerton to square off in the other match, with HOBM winning 34-26 in a lively encounter.

Colts

A set of enthralling results today in the second week of the second round division 1 John E Kelly Cup.

Petone continued their winning ways, edging traditional Colts powerhouse OBU Green 24-19 in their match at Kelburn Park.

Ories have defeated Marist St Pat’s 41-35 in a seven tries to five win. First round division 2 winners Paremata-Plimmerton have defeated HOBM Green 34-18 and Tawa have over-run Norths Blue 55-13 in the early game at Redwood Park.

College Weltec Premiership

It was a series of high scoring matches in the fourth round of the top college grade.

St Pat’s Silverstream enjoyed another romp in beating Wairarapa College 86-0, with Scots keeping pace winning their eastern suburbs derby over St Pat’s Town 48-34. Wellington College again prevailed in their annual match with Rongotai winning 23-14 and Hutt Valley High School at least crossed the chalk today, but still went down 12-46 to Tawa College in what also doubled as a Co-ed Cup game.

The closest result was at Porirua College, where the home side played out a cracker with Kapiti College. The two sides were locked up 19-all at halftime after a frenetic start and simply carried on after the break. Both sides added to their tally after the break: but the decisive score was a 40m penalty kicked by Kapiti with 5 minutes left, and time simply ran out on Porirua, crossing for their fifth try with time already up.

Two other matches today also doubled as Coed Cup games, both in the Premier 3 grade, with Mana beating Wainuiomata 33-19 and Onslow getting the better of Upper Hutt 27-20.