Academy match and pre-season club fixtures this Saturday

It’s the third and final Hurricanes region inter-Academy series match and the start of pre-season club rugby for Wellington clubs on Saturday.

The Wellington and Hawke’s Bay Academy squads meet on neutral ground at Massey University to conclude this series, ahead of the Hurricanes U20 squad selection for the upcoming National U20 Super Rugby tournament in Taupo in April.

Wellington is coming off a 28-42 loss to Manawatu at Porirua last weekend, run down in the final few minutes after scores were all square at 28-28.

Hawke’s Bay drew 26-26 with Manawatu in the Academy series opener at Massey a fortnight ago, themselves coming back from a large deficit to force a mistake at the back and a match equalising try off a 5-m scrum with only a few minutes to play.

The match at Massey kicks off at 12.00pm – but is being played under Covid-19 Level 2 restrictions so no spectators are allowed.

The two squads for this match are (both subject to change):

Wellington:

1. Bradley Crichton
2. Kaleb Sinclair
3. Luke Chisholm
4. Hugo Plummer (C)
5. Lipa Saveatama
6. Rory Woods
7. Ronaldo Seumanufagi
8. Sione Halalilo
9. George Sims
10. Luke Walmsley
11. Ropati So’oialo
12. Riley Higgins
13. Reon Paul
14. Owen Wright
15. Leyton Tapa
PINE RIDERS:
16. Joyner Gaualofa
17. Blake Rogers
18. Jonty Bird
19.Jabez Peniata
20. Akira Ieremia
21.Jono Bailey
22. Dominic Ropeti
23.Peter Lakai
24.Tana Rangiwhetu
25.Issac Bracewell
26.Keisar Valilolo

Hawke’s Bay:

1 Jayden Walker
2 Dom Devine
3 Troy McIvor
4 Tiaki Fabish (C)
5 Jacob Ward
6 Emil Crichton
7 Tupou Ma’afu Afungia
8 Cooper Flanders
9 Ezekiel Stewart
10 Harry Godfrey
11 Joeli Suka
12 Jordan Thompson Dunn
13 Jayden Stok
14 Kere Penitito
15 Jonty Stewart
BENCH DWELLERS
16 Jackman Byrne
17 Sean Ormond
18 Hugh Taylor
19 Lexus Greening
20 Boris Van Bruchen
21 Brad Campbell
22 Bethal Malaysia

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In Wellington there are a couple of confirmed pre-season club rugby fixtures and one cancellation.

The cancelled match is the one at Helston Park between Johnsonville and Spotswood, owing to the Taranaki team’s inability to generate sufficent numbers because of a local rugby league tournament. This pre-season clash has become an annual fixture, so it is a shame, more so given the insular nature of Taranaki teams who rarely venture outside their region for games or sevens tournaments.

At Maidstone Park, the Upper Hutt Rams, Feilding Yellows and Johnsonville (re-scheduled)  meet at Maidstone Park at 2.00pm in a three-way Premier squads clash. Manawatu club rugby starts in a fortnight, so the visitors will be eager to test their game skills and combinations against the Wellington teams who are still four weeks away from their season starting.

At Aotea College, the Paremata-Plimmerton and Hutt Old Boys Marist Premier and Premier Reserve squads kick-off their game of four quarters at 12.00pm

The Paramata-Plimmerton Women play the Massey University Women at Massey.

Again, all club rugby is being played under Level 2 conditions, so no spectators.

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The Hurricanes play the Crusaders in Christchurch at 4.35pm on Sunday. The Hurricanes Development side meets the Crusaders Knights Development team on Sunday in Christchurch as well, both games rescheduled from Saturday.

Aisle be Back: Hurricanes v Crusaders