Exciting rugby at home and Palmerston North for Wellington teams

It was an exciting day of representative rugby in Wellington and up the line in the Manawatu for Wellington’s school First XV and representative teams, with some thrilling results and close games.

In two close results at Porirua Park, the Wellington Samoans beat Wellington Maori 35-33 and the Wellington U18 Girls edged the Wellington Samoan Women 34-32.

At Kilbirnie Park, the Wellington Pride Development side lost 27-58 to the Tasman Women’s team, but theWellington Pride beat the Manawatu Cyclones 25-20 in a tense fourth round Women’s encounter at a blustery Palmerston North.

The Wellington U19s beat the Hurricanes Barbarians 76-5 in their opening round Hurricanes region Central Shield tournament. Manawatu beat the Hawke’s Bay U19s 56-7 in the other game of this series.

Also at Arena Manawatu, It was a mixed day for Wellington’s two First XV teams in the Hurricanes region Boys and Girls finals seeking qualification to the National Top 4 tournament in the same city next weekend. St Mary’s College thrashed Feilding High School 58-12 to progress but Wellington College were soundly beaten 40-14 by Hastings Boys’ High School. The Hurricanes Co-ed Cup final was won by Feilding High School who beat Wairarapa College 31-15.

In Wellington secondary school lower grade finals, the St Pat’s Silverstream Second XV beat Tawa College to win the Premier 2 Murray Jensen Cup, Onslow College beat Naenae College 24-10 to win the Premier 3 final and St Pat’s Town edged St Pat’s Silverstream 26-24 in the U15 Division 1 final.

See below for a round-up of selected fixtures:

Wellington Pride (25) – Manawatu Cyclones (20)

For the second week in succession, the Wellington Pride have hung tough in the fourth quarter to take their Women’s NPC fourth round victory over Manawatu.

Playing with the aid of the strong wind over their shoulders, the Pride scored two first half tries and led 15-0 at the turnaround. But would it be enough?

Twice in the second half the Cyclones roared back to threaten their lead, but both times the Pride found another gear and kicked clear again.

Manawatu came back with two tries to close the gap to 15-12, but Pride right wing Vaine Marsters scored her second try of the match, after a sustained build-up, to make it 20-12.

Manawatu’s most dangerous player, captain and fullback Selica Winiata, crossed to close the gap to 20-17. But Pride left wing Ayesha Leta-liga flashed in up the shortside off the shoulder of Marsters for what proved the match-winner with just over 10 minutes to play.

The Pride’s fringe defence and the workrate in general play by the forwards was a key facet in their win, carrying them to fulltime. No. 8 and captain Jackie Patea was a standout, as were both locks Sanita Levave and Joanah Ngan-Woo, young tyro prop Brooke Tauaneai and second five-eighth Fa’asua Makisi. The Pride also got good value from their bench in the second half.

Previously, the Pride had made a lightning start with lock Ngan-Woo crossing to put the Pride up 5-0. The Pride then lost openside flanker Kiri Mei to injury, before flyhalf Lizzie Goulden kicked a penalty. A strong build-up by the forwards, led to Marsters scoring her first try and Goulden converted for the 15-0 lead.

Wellington should have gone further ahead just before the interval, but failed to capitalise on another strong raid and then a 5-metre scrum that was turned over. This could have proved costly on another day.

Next week the Pride are back at home against Otago, who were beaten 10-58 by Counties Manukau today.

Wellington U19s (76) – Hurricanes Barbarians (5)

The Wellington U19s thrashed the Hurricanes Barbarians 76-5. The Barbarians were originally an U19 selection, but a host of sudden injuries and withdrawals led to the acquisition of five open aged players.

Old Boys' University captain Finnbarr Kerr-Newell was one addition to the Hurricanes squad and he scored the first try from a pick and drive.

Despite the encouraging beginning by the Hurricanes, Wellington's superior fitness and organisation became quickly apparent.

Playing into a fierce north easterly, Wellington led 27-5 at halftime. First-Five Sam Fox only converted one out of five tries. In the second-half, Fox converted all seven tries as Wellington scored a most resounding victory.    

Tries for the Wellington U19's were scored by: Jimmy Hewitt (2), Malie Koloto (2), Lester Maulolo (2),  Levi Harmon, Losi Filipo, Sam Fox, Folau Vea, Elijah Va'a Brooking and Alex Ropeti.

Loosehead Sitiveni Paongo had a storming game. Hooker Hewitt's lineout throwing was tidy into the breeze. Lock Jarimar Schuster carried strongly as did blindside Vea. Koloto broke three times from the same scrum move and looked hungry for work as did right wing Filipo who often drew the attention of multiple defenders.

St Mary’s College (58) v Feilding High School (12)

St Mary’s College swept to a 58-12 win over Manawatu champions Feilding High School in the Hurricanes region Girls final at Arena Manawatu. Physical in the forwards and swift in the backs, St Mary’s deserved their big win over a shell-shocked Feilding who have been regular Top 4 contenders.

Playing into the strong wind in the first half, St Mary’s scored two early tries and then added a third when centre Monica Tagoai burgled an intercept and sprinted clear to score to make it 17-0.

Feilding came back to close the score to 17-12 at halftime, but St Mary’s scored their fourth and fifth tries straightway to advance their advantage to 29-12.

From there, St Mary’s kicked well clear through another intercept try and more more long-range strikes to seal a comfortable win.

St Mary’s are back in Palmerston North on Friday for the Girls Top 4 semi-finals, where they will play defending champions Hamilton Girls’ High School.

Hastings Boys’ High School (40) v Wellington College (14)

Hastings Boys' High School will return to the National Top Four for the first time since 2004 after overwhelming Wellington College.

Hastings have won all 17 games in 2016 and will play Hamilton BHS in a replay of the Super 8 final in Friday's National semi-finals. 
 
Hastings settled the contest in the first-half racing to a 28-0 lead at the interval.
 
Wellington started brightly enough. In the fifth minute a clean break by fullback Reece Plumtree forced Hastings to scramble in their 22. Playing against the fierce breeze, Wellington kicked infrequently, but could ill-afford basic handling errors. Unfortunately abrasive defence by Hastings forced mistakes and the scoring commenced as soon as Hastings entered the Wellington 22.
 
In the tenth minute first-five Lincoln McClutchie juggled the ball, held on and steeped past multiple defenders to ferret in for the first try against the run of play. Fullback Danny Toala converted impressively from the touchline.
 
Hastings Folau Fakatava kept the Wellington defence guessing with his varied and effective option taking.  The halfback battled over from close range to double Hastings advantage.
 
Wellington fullback Josh Morgan-Ranui had a nightmare judging the swirling wind. Two restarts were dispatched out on the full and another kickoff failed to find ten-meters as Wellington gifted Hastings favourable field position. Wing Dennon Robinson completed the first-half scoring by collecting a double. His second try from an 8/9 movement on halfway was a cracker.
 
Wellington's problems mounted early in the second-half when second-five Liam Udy-Johns snatched an intercept and dashed 40-metres for try number five. 
 
To their credit Wellington showed resilience and enjoyed most of possession and territory in the second-spell. However the sheer speed and accuracy of Hastings play was a telling difference.
 
Plumtree brought up 200 points for the season by scoring two soft tries, the last from an intercept. Trent Hape had the final say for Hastings when he finished a Toala break down the short side.
 
Wellington's season ends with a 15-5 record. Lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi and blindside Callum Watts-Pointer were the best in a beaten pack.

Wellington Samoans (35) – Wellington Maori (33)

Wellington Samoans Men beat Wellington Maori Men thanks to a Fa'atonu Fili penalty on the hooter.

Wellington Maori controlled much of the game thanks to their set-piece dominance, which saw them break an early deficit. 

Down 17-6 after 20 minutes, Wellington Maori went on a 22-point blitz across the next half hour, capped by a penalty try after the Samoans repeatedly collapsed the Maori driving maul. Though the tide would quickly turn.

Avoiding scrums and line-outs by all means, the Samoans responded with a run of their own to swing the scoreboard back into their favour. Paulo Aukuso began the scoring, taking advantage of a Ryan Setefano break, before Aukuso Tuitama scored almost immediately after the kick off, bamboozling the final Maori defender with great footwork.

A Fili penalty put the Samoans up 32-28 but Tuakana Metuarau looked to have spoiled the Samoans day, scoring just minutes before the final hooter. 

However, the veteran Fa'atonu Fili slotted the game-winner 30-metres out, 10 in from touch, to see the Samoans bounce back from last week's lost to the U19s.

Wellington U18 Girls (34) – Wellington Samoans (32)

The Wellington U18 Girls held off the Wellington Samoans Women’s side to win 34-32 in a thrilling finish.

When Samoan No. 8 Ana Pereira stormed over off the back of the scrum with 15 minutes to play, she put her side up 27-22 to continue what had been very much a topsy-turvy game, though that try only kicked the U18s into gear.

Five minutes later U18 captain Mani Siaosi got close to scoring, losing control of the ball as she dived over the line through heavy traffic, though the U18s soon found themselves back in good scoring position.

Fullback Jane Bryce took a quick-tap penalty and swerved her way over for her second try of the game to tie the scores at 27 before Siaosi, the best player on the field, made the defining play of the match.

Returning a kick inside her own 22-metre with just four minutes to play, wing Priscilla Solo stepped the chasing Samoan defence to run 50-metres down the left flank. Taken down just inside Samoan territory, Siaosi took the ball from the base of the ruck and ran, what looked like aimlessly, across the field, only to straighten into a gap in the defence to run away and score a great individual try.

Bryce added the extras which would prove the difference after the Samoans' last gasp effort. Again, in a great solo effort, Jodeci Rere scored off the back of a 50-metre run down her wing but it wasn't enough to tie the scores as the conversion fell short.

It looked early on as though it may be a tough day at the office for the U18s, losing star flanker Tylah Aukuso to injury just minutes into the match and then conceding a try to Pereira.

However, to their credit, and with only three substitutes, while the Samoans were utilising a 9-woman bench with rolling subs, the U18s saw off the Samoans in an impressive victory for the schoolgirls.