Four teams with two wins as Mativa intercept sinks Ories at Evans Bay Park

• By Steven White and Scott MacLean

Results and Standings HERE 

Tuga Mativa played 10 seasons for the Oriental-Rongotai Magpies, transferring to Marist St Pat’s this season.

Today at a sun-drenched Evans Bay Park, MSP right wing Mativa broke Ories hearts by scoring a late 90-metre intercept try for MSP against his former Ories teammates.

Mativa’s intercept converted try gave MSP the lead for the first time in the match, before MSP fullback Andrew Wells added a penalty at the end to give them a 23-15 win and shut Ories out of any points from the cross-cutting contest.

Ories had led 10-3 just prior to halftime and then went ahead 15-6 early in the second half with their third unconverted try that was scored by lock Samson Alaimoana.

At that point, MSP were left rueing a high error count and no fewer than three yellow cards against them, while Ories were left to rue missing all three conversions and not being able to capitalise more on a wealth of possession throughout the opening hour. It was also a late yellow card against Ories that helped MSP get back in the game and score their first try through replacement front rower Meinrad Fitisemanu and narrow the score to 15-13 before Mativa’s match-winning snatch.

MSP join Hutt Old Boys Marist, Petone and Poneke as the four teams with two wins from two to start the season, while the Tawa and Paremata-Plimmerton match was called off because of Covid and the two teams share three competition under the bylaw.

The HOBM Eagles beat the Avalon Wolves 38-10 for the Billy Herbert Memorial Trophy at Fraser Park, Petone defeated the Upper Hutt Rams 36-15 at the Rec for the Connolly Cup and Poneke held off the Wellington Axemen 36-12 for the Spud Lindsay Memorial Trophy.

Northern United and Old Boys University earned their opening wins of 2022, Norths beating Johnsonville 26-20 for the Barlow Trophy and OBU taking down Wainuiomata 31-15 for the Peter Dunford Cup.

Both Norths and OBU overcame deficits to win their games.

At Helston Park, Johnsonville led 10-7 at halftime, but Norths scored two converted tries to move ahead 21-10 and then a penalty to go ahead 21-13. Norths held on from there to record victory.

At William Jones Park, Wainuiomata scored early points to move ahead of OBU 10-0. The newlook Billygoats came back with two tries late in the first spell to edge ahead 12-10, before two more unanswered tries to lead 26-10 and press on from there.

For OBU, tighthead prop Nico Aandewiel, blindside flanker Tiaki Fabish and centre Jan Lammers scored a try each, while right wing Josh Ranui scored two tries.

The brand new billiard-flat green field at Fraser Park made its debut as Avalon hosted Hutt Old Boys Marist. The Eagles won comfortably enough in the end, but took until the second half to get a decisive edge over the Wolves who were more than competitive in the close exchanges. Although HOBM scored after just 90 seconds, it was only 14-5 at halftime and Avalon could have been closer had they not wasted an opportunity when HOBM flanker Matt Sleith was binned right on halftime.

The visitors strength in depth came to the fore in the second half and they pulled away with four tries as the hosts tired, though the feeling was that the margin was slightly flattering for the victors. HOBM fullback Zane Ainslie continued his strong early from with a pair of tries and four conversions off the tee.

At Hataitai Park, Poneke led from start to finish in their win over the Wellington Axemen.

Poneke opened up early, tries to fullback Nick Robertson and wing Johannus Taankink putting them up 10-0 after almost as many minutes. Taankink then scored his second try midway through the first half to give Poneke a 17-0 lead. This was the score at halftime.

The Axemen briefly threatened after halftime and scored the opening second half try, but Robertson bagged his brace and then blindside flanker crossed for them again.

The Axemen replied with their second try of the match, but replacement Poneke hooker Moses Tuifao-Galuvao ended proceedings for Poneke crossing for their sixth try.

At the Petone Rec the home side beat the Upper Hutt Rams 36-15. Petone outscored the Rams by five tries to two and led comfortably throughout the contest.

Playing with the fair southerly breeze in the first half, Petone played with positivity and pace – and rode their luck – to score their first four tries inside 35 minutes, which won them the game. Petone scored first half tries through second five Riley Higgins (2), first five Carne Green, and halfback Logan Henry.

Higgins scored the first two tries to see Petone go up 15-3, both coming from stab kicks behind the Rams’ advantage line. The first was accidental by Green as he stuck out his boot to block an opposition kick, the ball bounced kindly for Higgins to re-gather and he burst away in open space. The second was a deliberate kick by Green in general play that was regathered by centre Tom Carter who passed to lock Jack Ross who found that man Higgins in support.

The Rams struck back immediately with their only try of the half from a penalty and lineout drive to trail 15-8.

But the Villagers replied with back-to-back tries, the first to halfback Henry running in support of a line break by fullback Harry Godfrey, and the next try was a 70-metre intercept by Green. Just before halftime, Higgins took a knock and left the field, necessitating a backline reshuffle for the rest of the game. The score was 29-8 at half time.

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The second half failed to reach the same heights as the first, becoming an often-scrappy affair. The Rams improved and, led by marauding flanker Dan Schrijvers, got themselves back in the game. But errors, headed by a malfunctioning lineout, cost them any chance of a comeback.

Petone scored their fifth and last try 10 minutes into the second half after a two-minute sequence of play. This extended their lead to 36-8.

Petone had two clear chances to shut the gates on the Rams, but both times their attacking lineout melted down as well. The Rams stayed in the hunt, and Petone replacement flanker Tupou Sopoaga was sinbinned late in the game, and in his absence the Rams scored a try in the blindside corner off an attacking scrum.

Both sides will have plenty of work to do in the coming weeks to settle their combinations.

There were four full Women’s club rugby matches played in Wellington club rugby today.

In these, Petone beat Poneke 49-5, Paremata-Plimmerton beat Wainuiomata 37-17, Norths defeated Avalon 24-5 and Ories defeated MSP 27-17.

The Ories – MSP fixture was the feature match of the second round of the Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy.

MSP scored first, then Ories twice to make it 10-7 at halftime to the Women’s Magpies side.

The run of play remained extremely tight and halfway through the second-half it was 17-17 but Ories scored two tries at the end. Ories were a bit stronger in the forwards, while MSP’s backs were impressive.

For Ories, Emelei Laai, Mena Tumaai, Raylene Lolo, Bernadine Solo and Ayesha Leti-iga  were their try-scorers.

In the Petone – Poneke match, Petone left wing Tyler Bentley opened her 2022 campaign by scoring four tries. Petone won 9 tries to 1.

The Paremata-Plimmerton -Wainuiomata game was played under ‘Game-On’ as Wainuiomata were short on numbers to play 15s rugby. For Pare-Plim, fullback Alumeci Nawaqatabu scored a hat-trick and openside Kaia Pollock crossed for a double.

There were also several pre-season matches today in the Colts, U85kg and Premier 2 space. The first of these competitions starts in a fortnight.

In one early-season First XV encounter in Wellington today, Hutt International outscored Mana College three tries to two in a game played over four quarters in Trentham.

In a school clash in Palmerston North, Palmerston North Boys’ High School comfortably accounted for Wellington College 40-7.

Just one of the three scheduled fixtures went ahead in Manawatu Senior A club rugby today, with Freyberg beating Kia Toa 36-19.

It was the opening round of the Horowhenua-Kapiti Ramsbottom Cup. Rahui beat College Old Boys 39-15, Shannon ousted Waikanae 37-24 and Foxton beat Paraparaumu.

In a commercial clash at Wellington Stadium, the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 24-21.