Playoff contenders found in Jubilee Cup

The four Jubilee Cup semi-finalists have been determined with next week's seventh and final regular season round to spare after a thrilling afternoon of rugby in bright sunshine across the region on Saturday.

In the three Jubilee Cup matches in the sixth and penultimate round, Oriental-Rongotai beat Northern United 37-33, Old Boys University defeated Tawa 31-12 and Marist St Pat's beat Poneke 43-25. Hutt Old Boys Marist had the bye.

Despite the loss, Norths are still on top of the standings, the order of finishing and who will host home semi-finals amongst the three other confirmed playoff teams will be resolved next week.

The Jubilee Cup points table is : Norths 22, OBU 20, Ories 18, HOBM 17, Poneke 11, MSP 9, Tawa 4.

The three Hardham Cup matches played on Saturday resulted in Wainuiomata beating Johnsonville 46-36, Petone defeating the Upper Hutt Rams 36-26 and Avalon edging Paremata-Plimmerton 33-31. The Wellington Axemen had the bye.

Frontrunners Wainuiomata and Petone have booked semi-finals next weekend, while Johnsonville, the Upper Hutt Rams and the Axemen are still alive and chasing the other two semi-final berths.

The Hardham Cup points table is: Wainuiomata 22, Petone 20, Johnsonville 16, Upper Hutt Rams 14, Wellington 11,  Avalon 8, Paremata-Plimmerton 5.

At Jerry Collins Stadium, A last play try to second five-eighth Alex Ropeti won the match for Ories over Norths.

Down 33-30, and with time already up, Ories attacked continuously for over two minutes before winning a penalty. From a scrum, Ropeti charged at opposite Kienan Higgins who appeared to have restrained the Ories second-five, but a second surge of momentum powered Ropeti over. 

Earlier Norths burst out to a 26-8 lead on the back of two tries for Higgins. Ories rallied and a Ropeti intercept nudged the visitors ahead 27-26.

Norths relentlessly hammered the Ories line,  before openside flanker Du'Plessis Kirifi burst through to reclaim the lead.

Ories No.8 Luca Rees scored twice to boost his season tally to 20 tries. John Tuia was outstanding in the seven jersey in a high quality spectacle that suggests both are serious Jubilee Cup contenders

At Lyndhurst Park, OBU's pack dug deep and lock Will Mangos scored the first try after a series of pick and goes to give them a 10-0 lead. Tawa cut this lead to 10-7 by halftime with a try from a quick tap.

OBU scored a decisive try early in the second half to push them ahead 17-7, through Dutch prop Alex Barendregt after a penalty and a drive to the line. OBU pulled clear with a third try to make it 24-7, before Tawa replacement prop Tolu Fahamokioa crossed, but OBU replacement midfielder Adrian Seumanufagai scored again to seal their win.

At Evans Bay Park, two fourth quarter MSP tries denied Poneke a losing point and ended their tilt at this year's Jubilee Cup.

Leading 31-25, MSP blindside flanker James Tuia scored his second try of the game from a series of pick and goes to make it 38-25 and then centre Billy Proctor scored a try at the end to ensure a positive end of the season for MSP, who have their bye next weekend.

MSP had led 21-18 at halftime, after both sides scored two tries. Early in the second half MSP scored two more tries to go ahead 31-18, before a third try to Poneke made it 31-25 with still over 20 minutes to play.

In the Hardham Cup, Petone scored a runaway try at the death to seal their 10-point win over the Upper Hutt Rams, who had been attacking Petone's line and probing for a winning try. In an entertaining match, Petone had led 24-14 at halftime, despite two yellow cards against them. Both the Rams' tries were from intercepts.  The Rams closed the margin to 24-19 early in the second spell but couldn't reel in the deficit.

Over the hill at William Jones Park, visitors Johnsonville were up 12-0 after 20 minutes when wing Waisea Yabakivou scoring his seventh try of the second round.

But Wainuiomata came back to kick a penalty and then score three tries to lead 20-12. Johnsonville scored again and Wainuiomata led 22-17 at halftime. They then pulled clear in the second spell, more than doubling their score by the end. Flanker and goal-kicker Matt Jacobs scored 21 points.

At Ngatitoa Domain, Paremata-Plimmerton and the Avalon Wolves edged Paremata-Plimmerton 33-31, after being locked up at 18-18 at halftime and Paremata-Plimmerton holding a 15-5 lead before that.

In the Ed Chaney Cup Premier Reserve competition, all seven teams are still in with chances of making the semi-finals next week. In today's matches, MSP beat Poneke 27-17, Tawa edged OBU 21-17 and Norths pulled clear of Ories to win their match 45-36.

MSP hold a one-point lead heading into the final round and have already booked their home semi-final with their bye round next week, while both Norths and Ories can earn home semi-finals.

In the HD Morgan Premier Reserve competition, Petone beat the Upper Hutt Rams 54-14, Wainuiomata edged Johnsonville 26-24 and Paremata-Plimmerton beat Avalon 33-17.

Petone have already secured the top qualifier's berth for the semi-finals with their fifth straight win today, but Johnsonville, Wellington, Wainuiomata and the Upper Hutt Rams all have plenty to play for next weekend.

In the Women's competition, Oriental-Rongotai beat Northern United 43-36  their feature Division 1 clash, meaning both teams are guaranteed home semi-finals ahead of next week's final round-robin games.

Ories leapt to a 21-0 lead, which grew to 21-7 by halftime and then to 31-7, then 38-14, and later 43-19 with only a few minutes to play. Norths launched a furious late assault and Dhys Faleafaga scored a hat-trick up the right wing. They went close to scoring again, but conceded a defensive penalty and Ories held on to win.

Halfback Milly Mackey scored two of 6 tries as Paremata-Plimmerton beat MSP 36-17 to secure their semi-final spot, along with Petone who had the bye.

The Division 2 games today resulted in OBU beating Poneke 57-0 with first five-eighth Montana Heslop scoring a brace, and centre Marina Soloa scoring a double in HOBM's 45-19 win over Avalon.

Norths and HOBM have both booked home semi-finals in the Colts Division 1 John E Kelly Cup competition, with MSP, OBU and Tawa in the mix for the other semi-final spots next week.

Norths beat OBU 29-20, HOBM prevailed over Paremata-Plimmerton 36-31, MSP pipped Tawa 29-16 and the Upper Hutt Rams beat Petone 45-17.

In Colts Division 2, Poneke beat Johnsonville 32-10 to move into second behind Ories who beat the OBU Black outfit by default