Poneke grab top spot for Jubilee Cup playoffs

Top qualifier Poneke will host Northern United in one semi-final at Kilbirnie Park and Petone will entertain Marist St. Pat's in the other after Poneke overtook Petone to finish top of the round-robin and win the Andy Leslie Trophy in the final weekend of regular season Jubilee matches on Saturday.

In glorious sunshine, Poneke beat Oriental-Rongotai 18-5 in their last round match at the Polo Ground while Petone lost to Northern United 29-20 at Porirua to see Poneke end the seven-week round-robin series with six wins from seven and two points clear of previous frontrunners Petone.

Elsewhere, MSP defeated Hutt Old Boys Marist 27-17 to consolidate third place and book a trip out to the Petone Recreation Ground in the semi-finals. In the end MSP and Petone finished equal second on 24 points, but Petone held on for home advantage by virtue of their 13-9 win when they met in round two. Their final points for and against records were almost identical.

The win for Norths over Petone means their bus will be heading to Kilbirnie, with Poneke's win over Ories and MSP's defeat of HOBM ensuring them fourth place no matter what the result of their final round match.

In the remaining match of the Jubilee Cup round which didn't affect the semi-final standings, Tawa got up to beat Upper Hutt 22-12 at home at Lyndhurst Park to consign Upper Hutt to the wooden spoon position.

In the Hardham Cup, top qualifier Old Boys-University will welcome Johnsonville on to the Basin Reserve in one semi-final and the Wests Roosters will host Wainuiomata at Ian Galloway Park in the other.

Old Boys-University, who had already made sure of top spot for the semi-finals, enjoyed a 67-0 win over Poneke B on their home track at the Basin, while the Wests Roosters got up to finish second courtesy of their 26-7 bonus point win over Rimutaka at their home venue.

Wests' four-try win over Rimutaka saw them qualify ahead of both Wainuiomata and Johnsonville whom they were equal with on points heading into the final round. But Wainuiomata only scored three tries in their 31-22 win over MSP B at Hataitai Park and Johnsonville slipped up to Avalon, 24-27 at Fraser Park.

It was also finals day on Saturday in women's Premier division one and division two rugby, with top qualifier and unbeaten Norths just managing to sneak home against Eketahuna 15-13 in the division one final and Petone also just edging MSP 16-14 in the division one season finale.

The Norths women added the Victoria Tavern Trophy to the first round Fleurs Trophy that they previously won ahead of Johnsonville and Eketahuna.

Their win also served as an inspiration to the Norths men's side to finish their regular season on a high and push for an outside chance of a return fixture at home at Porirua Park in the playoffs.

Norths pulled away from Petone late in the first half with two quickfire tries to halfback Tomasi Palu and No. 8 Tui Meavao to take a decisive 16-5 lead, after Petone had struck first through left wing Willie Moala off a break by second five-eighth Micheal Leavala'a.

Petone first five-eighth Hayden Cripps kicked a penalty to close the deficit to 16-8 at halftime, but Norths fullback James So'oialo replied in kind soon after the interval. Further converted tries to Norths through second five-eighth Siaosi Anamani and Petone through centre Greg Walker had Norths ahead 26-15.

An intercept and runaway try to Petone Right wing Fautua Otto closed the gap up to 26-20 midway through the second half, but Norths held firm to the end and So'oialo put the game and a bonus point out of reach of Petone with his fourth penalty.

It was mighty close in Miramar, where home side Ories went into the game needing to throw caution to the wind and score four tries to have any hope of making the playoffs.

But while the conditions were certainly conducive for this at the Polo Ground which was bathed in sunshine, it was always going to be difficult ask against a Poneke side who are just as strong and committed in the forward exchanges and are playing some brilliant wide-ranging rugby this season.

With this in mind, Poneke also worked extra hard to make sure they contained the potentially dangerous Ories team on the counterattack and in open space and who reinforced their intentions early by making their super-boot James Proctor redundant in favour of lineouts and five-pointers.

The home side also let itself down when it lost left wing and Wellington Sevens specialist Johnny Sola to the sinbin for 10 minutes in the first half for an injudicious tackle, while also struggling to contain Poneke's own rampant attacking raids.

The only scoring of the first half was a penalty to Poneke first five-eighth Adrian Grey as the red and blacks led 3-0 at the break.

Ories doubled their efforts for a breakthrough early in the second half but were unable to find a way through a well-organised and equally determined Poneke defensive line. Instead it was Poneke who struck for the game's first try through halfback Brad Faulkner who dummied a pass behind a lineout and then sniped his way around the front of both sets of forwards and set off up the touchline for a try in the left hand corner.

Ories' efforts finally went rewarded in the 55^th minute when their loosehead prop Donal McNamara burrowed his way over the tryline in front of the clubrooms after a series of penalties and quick taps.

But Poneke replied with the match-winner to big right wing Marika Kau after a lovely outside break up into the 22 by centre James Pointon who floated a pass out to fullback Ben Huntley on the sideline, who in turn passed back on the inside to try scorer Kau. Pointon kicked the conversion from a difficult angle and Poneke led 15-5.

Ories were in deeper trouble when replacement flanker Asher Derbyshire was sinbinned and Pointon kicked the resulting penalty to extend the advantage to 18-5. Reduced to 14 men for another 10 minutes, Ories kept their heart and intensity to the end but knew their season was over long before referee Wayne Dickson blew his pea for the final time.

It took a big effort from MSP to overcome HOBM at Evans Bay who were desperate to end their season on a high and put one past their Marist cousins. HOBM struck first through hard running centre Reuben Colquhoun to go 5-0 up, but MSP No. 8 Alex Tulou pinched an overthrown HOBM lineout inside his own territory and galloped half the length of the field of the equaliser.

From there MSP kept their noses in front and sealed their bonus point win with a second try to Tulou and tries to halfback Peter Sciascia and second five-eighth Chris Slade. For HOBM, Colquhoun ended his season with a brace and veteran No. 8 Polonga Pedro also crossed the tryline.

Long-serving Tawa centre Willie Lafaele scored two of his side's four tries en route to their 22-12 win over Upper Hutt. Lafaele, returning from a broken hand that kept him sidelined for several weeks, proved a handful for the Upper Hutt defence, although he also spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin at one point. Tawa's other tries were scored wingers and brothers TJ and Ezra Harris, while Upper Hutt scored tries through their wingers Ofa Pongi and Nick Pearson.

In the Hardham Cup, OBU warmed up for their home semi-final with a comprehensive 12 tries to nil victory over the Poneke second XV who ventured through the tunnel only to spend most of the afternoon tackling. For OBU, blindside flanker Ian Kennedy scored a hat trick of tries and first five-eighth John Marshall, left wing Troy Bramley and I. Gordon each scored twice.

The Wests Roosters overcame an early converted try to Rimutaka first five-eighth Lamesi Sanele to score tries to right wing Isireli Baleitavuki and fullback Liam Townsend, while first five-eighth Scott Mudgway kicked four penalties and a conversion for 16 points.

Avalon finished their season on a high in their narrow three-point win over Johnsonville, but it was all too little too late for them. Avalon out-scored Johnsonville four tries to three and held a 24-12 lead at one point. This closed to 24-19 but a late penalty to fullback Joyner Keys saw them home in the end.

Wainuiomata overcame an early MSP B try and the loss of their New Zealand U20 halfback Frae Wilson to injury just before halftime to pull clear in the second half in their match that was transferred to Hataitai Park.

MSP held a 10-9 lead after the opening 25 minutes following a converted try in the corner to fullback Jackson Martin and a penalty to right wing Ryan Setephano. For Wainuiomata, Wilson kept his side in touch with three penalties.

Flying Wainuiomata fullback Jason Love then raced around to score under the posts after half an hour to put his side ahead 16-10, followed by Wilson's fourth penalty before he left the field injured to give them a 19-10 at the break

Wainuiomata then found themselves in trouble from the opening kick-off to the second half, spilling the ball forward at the re-start and forced to defend a series of scrums and lineouts inside their 22. This pressure soon told and Setephano scored in the corner for MSP after a good run from a blindside scrum by halfback Sean Hay, closing the gap to 19-15.

regained the initiative with right wing Ioane Perenise completing a sweeping counterattacking movement with a try in the corner from inside their own half, also involving some excellent linking and running by openside Greg Lealofi. Love slotted the sideline conversion and the green and blacks now led 26-15.

Love himself almost put the game out of reach of MSP moments later when he charged down a MSP clearing kick but the ball bounced the wrong way for him, instead copping a visit to the bloodbin. However Wainuiomata's win was effectively secured with the scoring of another brilliant long-range try, a solo effort to fullback Tau Mamea who ran back a MSP kick, chipped ahead and re-gathered to score that made it 31-15.

MSP rallied over the final 15 minutes and came back well, Setephano showing good acceleration to run around his marker and score his second try which he converted for the final score on 31-22.

In the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup, Petone made it seven from seven and booked their semi-final spot with two rounds to spare by beating Stokes Valley 19-17 in their top of the table clash.

Petone now have a seven-point buffer at the top to Stokes Valley who fortuitously remained in second place after losses to third placed Ories and fourth placed Tawa. Ories met defeat to OBU 36-10, while Tawa were upset 32-14 by lowly Upper Hutt.

The loss for Tawa sees them slip from fourth to seventh, overtaken by OBU and also HOBM who beat Paramata-Plimmerton 12-8 and Norths who swept past MSP 44-0.

All round seven games in the Senior 2 HD Morgan Trophy were cancelled on account of Thursday's storm in Wellington and wet grounds.

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