Johnsonville v Wellington at Helston Park, with the Axemen winning 53-15. Photo: Wellington Football Club - Axemen
Wainuiomata (Jubilee Cup) and Wellington (Hardham Cup) are the competition leaders after fourth round Premier club rugby matches played on the shortest day of the year on Saturday.
Despite, losing their first match in seven weeks to neighbours Petone on Saturday, Wainuiomata (15 points) sit top of the Jubilee Cup.
On a fine afternoon, Petone (6) kept their playoff hopes alive with a 33-22 win at home at the Petone Recreation Ground.
The other two Jubilee Cup matches saw Oriental-Rongotai (6) also stay in contention by beating Tawa (10) 32-27 at Lyndhurst Park and first round winners Hutt Old Boys Marist (11) toppling Poneke (6) 44-26 at the Hutt Rec.
Northern United (10) had the Jubilee Cup bye.
In the Hardham Cup, the Wellington Axemen (15) won their third straight bonus point win to start this year’s competition by defeating Johnsonville (2) 53-15.
Elsewhere, Marist St Pats (10) beat the Upper Hutt Rams (9) 59-22 and Paremata-Plimmerton (3) and the Avalon Wolves (8) drew 25-25, as Old Boys University (14) had the bye.
There are three weeks remaining before this year’s semi-finals, with several teams in both grades having much to play for over the coming rounds.
In the Jubilee Cup, Petone centre Willie Fine (2 tries) and second five-eighth and captain Jarrod Adams scored three of their five tries as they burst to life against Wainuiomata from the opening exchanges.
Wainuiomata withstood an early storm and instead it was them that scored the game’s first two tries to move to a 12-0 lead. Fullback Josh Robertson-Weepu scored one and helped set the other to lock Bevan Clark.
Petone hit straight back with tries to wing Sam Blackburn and No. 8 Tupou Sopoaga, who has now scored 12 tries this season. Fine then ran on to a kick and chase by first five-eighth Carne to put Petone in the lead.
With skipper Adams in the sin-bin, Wainuiomata scored again to close it up, but he returned to score the next try, with Fine bagging his brace with a few minutes to play to seal victory for the Villagers.
At Tawa, visiting left wing Reuben Va’a scored a hat-trick and right wing Tuga Mativa scored another as Ories established a 22-8 lead early in the second half, only for Tawa to come back to level to 22-22 and then for Ories to pull away again.
Tawa scored the game’s first try, after a 60 second attacking foray from the opening kick-off, sending fullback PJ Iosefo in for a 5-0 lead.
In an absorbing forwards battle, Ories went into halftime holding a 17-8 lead, before Mativa scored a long-range try from a scrum and break by first five-eighth Trent Renata. Tawa responded with consecutive tries, a similar try scored by Best & Fairest leader and halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara from a scrum and burst by centre Pepesana Patafilo and a clinical strike from a lineout drive to prop Sitiveni Paongo which was converted from the sideline by flyhalf Sam Clarke.
Ories got back in front with a Renata penalty and then Va’a crossed for the match-winner after halfback Hinckley Siaosi collected a high kick and took off up the shortside. Tawa scored once more, through prop James Coburn.
In a similar start at the Hutt Rec, where Poneke No. 8 Greg Foe ran 40 metres to score the opening try of the match. But the home side HOBM hit back quickly, with fullback Brandyn Laursen scoring and converting to put them up 7-5.
Loosehead prop Brett Manaia crossed later in the first half to double their lead and Laursen kicked a penalty to see the Eagles turn with a 17-5 lead.
HOBM then pulled ahead 24-5 just after halftime with their third try, and then scored again on 50 minutes to make it 31-5. Another try made it 38-5, before Poneke broke out from deep inside their own territory to score twice on the trot. One more try made it 38-19, but HOBM sealed their win with two late penalties.
The closest of the six Premier matches was at at Ngati Toa Domain, where Paremata-Plimmerton drew 25-25 with the Avalon Wolves on their Old Timers’ Day and 60th anniversary celebration afternoon.
Paremata-Plmmerton fought back from 3-17 down to score two converted tries on either side of halftime to draw level 17-17. Avalon kicked a penalty to move ahead 20-17, and then scored another try to go ahead 25-17. Paremata-Plimmerton came back with a penalty and a try but neither side was able to break the deadlock before fulltime.
The other two Hardham Cup games were largely one-sided.
The Axemen out-scored Johnsonville seven tries to two at Helston Park, with seven different try-scorers crossing the whitewash. Wing Ollie Marshall continued his strong form, scoring 23 points, made up of a try, six conversions and two penalties. He has now scored 71 points in the Hardham Cup.
At Maoribank Park, the Upper Hutt Rams opened the scoring with a penalty, but from there it was Marist St Pats took control. MSP steadily moved ahead and eventually won the match nine tries to three. Wing Faresa Tasale scored four tries and second five-eighth Isaia Petelo scored two tries. Right wing Todd Svenson (2) and flanker Josh Dewar scored the Rams’ tries.
The four Women’s matches saw Ories beat Old Boys University 45-5 and Norths beat Petone 58-12 in the top flight Tia Paasi Memorial Trophy, while Wainuiomata beat Poneke 22-5 and Paremata-Plimmerton defeated HOBM 36-7. MSP had the bye.
In the match at Nairnville Park, Ories led OBU 21-5 at halftime and pulled clear from there. At Jerry Collins Stadium, Petone halfback Milley Mackey scored both her team’s tries and kicked a conversion.
The Tawa Colts beat Ories 44-31 in a free-flowing Colts Division 1 match at Redwood Park, Tawa score two early tries and also lost a player to the sinbin early, with Ories coming back to draw level with two tries of their own. Tawa crossed twice more before the break to see them leading 26-14. They kept their noses in front in the second spell.
Tawa are joined at the top of the Colts John E Kelly Cup Memorial table on 15 points by HOBM Green who defeated Marist St Pats 40-17. Norths are third after beating Paremata-Plimmerton 59-18, with OBU Green back in fourth after beating Petone 69-12.
The Upper Hutt Rams Colts and Poneke are both on 15 points at the top of the Division 2 Colts table after securing maximum points yesterday. The Rams edged Wainuiomata 17-10, while Poneke beat OBU Black by default. Wellington beat Johnsonville 36-12.
In the Ed Chaney Cup Premier Reserve Division 1, Petone maintained their lead, beating Wainuiomata 62-5. Tawa beat Ories 44-22 in the early fixture on Lyndhurst Park and Poneke also reversed their Premier’s result by overcoming HOBM 37-22.
In Division 2 Premier Reserve, MSP maintained their unbeaten record by easing past the Upper Hutt Rams 58-17, Johnsonville beat Wellington 28-17 in a reversal of the main game that followed and Paremata-Plimmerton and Avalon met at Ngati Toa Domain.
The leading two teams from the first round opened their second round of the compeition for the U85kg Paul Potiki Shield, with Avalon beating the HOBM Howlers 16-9 and the Upper Hutt Rams overcoming Paraparaumu 33-17.
First round winners the Poneke Ruffnuts opened their Reserve Grade Division 1 John Davies Cup campaign with a 36-17 win over the Petone Brotherhood. In a close match, the Johnsonville Cripples beat the Upper Hutt Rams Pirates 28-26.
-WRFU