Wellington Academy v Manawatu Academy Match Highlights

The Wellington Academy beat their Manawatu counterparts 48-14 in the opening match of the Hurricanes U20s Academy series at the Campus of Innovation and Sport on Saturday.

Scoring highlights from the match below:

Wellington won the match by a margin of eight tries to two, after leading 19-0 at halftime.

In blazing sunshine, Wellington broke a scoreless deadlock and scored three tries before halftime, two from lineout drives in the corner to hooker Joyner Gaualofa and flanker Neru Scheck and one to right wing Francis Mettrick.

Wellington pulled clear after halftime with two further tries, both to captain and blindside flanker Dom Ropeti, to make it 31-0.

Manawatu put themselves on the board when replacement halfback Joggi Viljoen darted from a scrum and dived between the poles, but Wellington scored twice more in quick succession to pull well clear.

Viljoen scored his second try to close the score to 38-14, but Wellington scored twice more to seal victory, with tries to both wings Mettrick and Garry Tuilekutu.

This fixture was the first of three matches between the Wellington, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay U20s sides as part of the new  Sam Doyle Memorial Trophy presented by the Hurricanes Alumni.

The two matches to come are in Palmerston North, with Wellington playing Hawke’s Bay there on 18 February and Manawatu playing Hawke’s Bay there on 25 February.

The teams as listed for this match are below:

1 Senio Sanele

2 Joyner Gaualofa

3 Bradley Crichton

4 Jono Bailey

5 Matolu Petaia

6 Dominic Ropeti

7 Neru Scheck

8 Toby Crosby

9 Sam Howling

10 TJ Clarke

11 Garry Tuilekutu

12 Tofuka Paongo

13 Jack O’Brien

14 Francis Mettrick

15 Chicago Doyle

16 Lennox Easthope

17 Salesa Seumanufagai

18 Ben Kershaw

19 Leon Tuiloma

20 Jeremiah Collins

21 Stanley Solomon

22 Elijah Maene-Lokeni

23 Jackson Wright

24 Carlos Hihi

25 Logan Love

Manawatu

1. Malaki Hala-Ngatai
2. Vernon Bason
3. Feleti Sae Tau’ufo’ou
4. John Samuelu
5. Lawrence Leung – Wai
6. Sam Lyon
7. Wiremu Barrett
8. Cody Borlase
9. Vince Tahiwi
10. Isaiah Armstrong – Ravula
11. Hayden Cooper
12. Darren Faleniko
13. Josh Brunger
14. Tadgh O’Connor
15. Sam Coles
    Substitutes from:
16. Aloysius Autagvaia
17. Darius Mafile’o
18. Tutangiora Mafi
19. Moses Armstrong – Ravula
20. Sam Kane
21. Kees Pereka
22. Nikora Brown
23. Joe Simpson – Smith
24. Matt Antis
25. Jordi Viljoen
26. Ben Harris
27. Lafo Takiari – Ah Ching
28. Max Hosking
29. Jacob Rauhihi – Collis