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Paremata-Plimmerton celebrate with Ol’ Swinny at Rugby League Park this afternoon, the first time they have savoured first round success.
- By Steven White & Scott MacLean
Paremata-Plimmerton and Tawa are the latest two title winners in Wellington club rugby, the former winning the Swindale Shield for the first time in the club’s history and the latter retaining the Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield.
Both teams were competition leaders heading into the 13th and final afternoon of the first round competitions, but their wins weren’t guaranteed.
In the Swindale Shield, Paremata-Plimmerton just needed a solitary bonus point to see off recent past champions Old Boys University and win the title on their own. They achieved this about five minutes before halftime when left wing Louis Northcott finished off a length of the field movement and crossed for their bonus point try.
Paremata-Plimmerton would go on and win 43-31, their 12th straight win of the first round after dropping their opener by a point to the Upper Hutt Rams. More on this game below.
Next week’s top four Jubilee Cup semi-finals will see Paremata-Plimmerton (1) host the Rams (4) and Johnsonville (2) entertain OBU (3). Johnsonville and OBU finished the first round on the same points but Johnsonville are seeded ahead of them based on their win over them a few weeks ago.
Johnsonville came from behind to beat Wainuiomata 32-18 at William Jones Park this afternoon, while the Rams were beaten 24-23 by Oriental-Rongotai in a thriller for the Bob Lendrum Cup at the Polo Ground.
That win for Ories saw them snatch eighth place ahead of Hutt Old Boys Marist who flew to a 68-17 win over the Avalon Wolves at home. More on this game below.
The other final round match today of significance was Marist St Pat’s pipping Petone 23-20 at home at Evans Bay Park for the Bill Elvy Shield, while Tawa beat Northern United 39-14 for the Sammy Saili Trophy on their Old Timers’ Day at Lyndhurst Park.
Norths scored the game’s first try against Tawa, but the home side quickly got in front through tries to loose forwards Akira Ieremia and Titi Ioane, and would score twice before halftime to have their four-try bonus point. One of those tries was hooker Joyner Gaualofa’s 10th try of the season.
Next week’s 5-8 Jubilee Cup matches will see MSP (5) host Ories (8) and Petone (6) play Tawa (7).
HOBM (9), Poneke (10), Wainuiomata (11), Norths (12), Avalon (13) and Wellington (14) will play in the first weekend of Hardham Cup matches next Saturday. The draw for these games is yet to be confirmed.
In the seventh match today, that didn’t affect the order of finishing, Poneke defeated the Wellington Axemen 60-29 for the Spud Lindsay Memorial Trophy.
For Poneke, fullback Nick Robertson scored four first half tries for Poneke but was subbed at halftime with Poneke leading 36-7.
In the Harper Lock Shield, Tawa needed to beat Northern United without worrying about results elsewhere and they did so by winning this game in style, 90-12.
Their nearest rivals just a point behind heading into today’s final round of the Premier 2 round-robin competition, Petone, did all they could do should have Tawa have stumbled. Petone beat MSP 36-21.
Next week’s top four second round Premier 2 Ed Chaney Cup matches see Tawa (1) play Hutt Old Boys Marist (4) and Petone (2) play Poneke (3).
HOBM defeated Avalon 53-26 today, while Poneke beat Stokes Valley 48-35 in another high scoring match.
The top 8 teams had already been decided heading into this round, with Ories (5), Upper Hutt Rams (6), MSP (7) and Stokes Valley (8) making up the top eight.
The theme of high scoring continued at the Polo Ground with Ories edging the Rams 41-38, as it did at Rugby League Park where Paremata-Plimmerton accounted for OBU 59-26. The lowest scoring match of the round today was Wainuiomata’s 17-8 win over Johnsonville in the William Jones Park curtainraiser.
The bottom 6 teams will contest the HD Morgan Memorial Premier 2, Division 2 competition from next weekend, these being Paremata-Plimmerton (9), OBU (10), Norths (11) Wainuiomata (12), Johnsonville (13) and Avalon (14).
The early game at Polo was truly a game of two halves. A three-try blitz had the Rams up 26-10 at the break, but just seven minutes into the second Ories were up 31-26. The teams traded further tries with Ories up 41-33 before a Rams consolation, and with the two to do it all over again next week.
Elsewhere, the Hutt Old Boys Marist Green Colts team have won the Colts first round Paris Memorial Trophy with next week’s final round to spare.
HOBM beat mid-table contenders Marist St Pat’s 34-22 to take an 8-point lead into next week’s final round of the Paris Memorial Trophy. HOBM have their bye next week so can put their feet up and watch the action unfold on the last afternoon of the round-robin part of the season.
Nearest rivals and defending Colts championship winners Petone defeated the Wellington Axemen 29-5 in one of three Friday night games this weekend to maintain their grip on second place.
The Oriental-Rongotai Colts launched themselves into the top four on the Paris Memorial standings with a solid 39-17 win over Tawa at Lyndhurst Park, while Norths Blue took down OBU Green 38-32 in a free-wheeling kind of encounter at Rugby League Park.
The second Colts game played today resulted in Poneke beat winless Wainuiomata 70-7 at Kilbirnie Park.
In JC Bowl U85kg matches today, the OBU Scallywags have hit 50 points on the table with their 10th straight bonus point win. This was a 47-26 win over the Poneke Wanderers who were third heading into today’s round.
Poneke are still third, but the Tawa Ducks are only team keeping pace with OBU, winning their ninth match of the season this afternoon by convincingly beating Marist St Pat’s 73-0.
Petone rounds out the top four, but were held to a 17-17 draw by Stokes Valley, while Wellington edged the Wests Roosters 25-24 in their match.
Elsewhere, Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Eastbourne 47-0 and Hutt Old Boys Marist battled to a 7-5 win over the Johnsonville Terrahawks.
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In some more about the Paremata-Plimmerton – Old Boys University Swindale Shield game, the Hammerheads won 43-31 to annex their maiden Swindale Shield title in front of a large vocal crowd at Rugby League Park.
After Paremata-Plimmerton led 33-12 at halftime, OBU fought back with a sweet try off a first phase scrum attack to right wing Isaac Wilson to close to 33-19. They then scored their bonus point try after another concerted phase of attack to close to 33-26.
With about 10 minutes to play, OBU scored again from close range after a series of penalties near the line, but the conversion was missed from a handy angle by first five Tom Henderson, and Paremata-Plimmerton hung on 33-31.
The Hammerheads sealed their win in emphatic style by scoring their last try of the match after regaining possession inside OBU’s 22, followed by first five Sam Clarke kicking a 50-metre penalty at the end to celebrate the win as well as the title.
As alluded to earlier, win, lose or draw, Paremata-Plimmerton won the Swindale Shield outright when they scored a swashbuckling try five minutes before half time, finished off by left wing Northcott after a 90-metre attack. This put Paremata-Plimmerton up 28-5 at the time, and they were seemingly going to run away with the contest at that point, only for OBU to mount their second half comeback and make it close.
OBU had started the game in hot fashion when they scored the first try in the fifth minute off the top of a lineout 40 metres out on the full grandstand side of play. Right wing Wilson broke the line and OBU recycled inside the 22 and passed to centre Reece Plumtree who scored in the embankment corner to make it 5-0.
Paremata-Plimmerton would strike back with two emphatic tries over the next 10 minutes, the first scored by hard-working and popular prop Pasilio Tosi, and the second by centre Ethan Webster-Nonu, following a clinical build-up and then him punching through a hole 15 metres out to score under the posts to make it 14-5.
OBU fought back immediately but failed to take two chances, the first being a break by the backs and a pass missing its target and thrown into touch, and the second after a penalty and lineout drive in the car park corner of the ground that was defended well by the Hammerheads.
Paremata-Plimmerton turned this defensive pressure into more points when they scored their third try from another concerted build-up and then a quick tap close to the line, followed by Northcott’s bonus point try that won them the silverware.
Both teams scored further tries just before half time, right wing Jpe Faleafaga latching on to a half break by fullback Luke Kapene who reeled in a wide pass from a scrum by first five Clarke, and OBU scored their try just before half time through first five Henderson who scooped a dropped ball near half way and sprinted clear to dot down under the posts.
The game was played in mild, still conditions, with rain holding off until just before the end. Referee Hamish Mexted was officiating his 100th Premier game.
For Paremata-Plimmerton, this was a genuine team effort, built on defence as well as exciting attacking play. Blindside flanker and captain Tane McMillan-Parata led by example, while the Coburn brothers and Tosi in the front row all produced committed performances. As they did last week against Petone, the backs put the icing on the cake.
The only possible cause for concern for the new champions heading into next week’s Jubilee Cup appears to be livewire halfback Esi Komaisavai who left the field early in the second half, and the in-form Webster-Nonu who departed later on through injury.
At the Polo Ground, Oriental Rongotai got the result they craved as they edged the Upper Hutt Rams 24-23, but it wasn’t without some late drama as the Rams’ Scott Svenson missed a handy late penalty that would have seen the Magpies miss out.
The Rams started the better and were rewarded when Dan Schrijvers scored. Tynan Barrett converted that and added a penalty before Ories eventually responded when Alex Ropeti crashed over from close range, and took the lead when Dom Ropeti picked Kaide McCashin’s pocket and raced away. Barrett added two penalties before Ories third try put them back in front, followed by some Jonno Ryan magic had the Rams ahead. Skivi Va’a then put Ories ahead with 10 to go, and nerves were on edge before referee Zarne Johnson awarded a penalty only for Svenson to horribly miss it and Ories survived to face MSP next week.
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College
By Joe @tackld
Round 6 of the Tranzit Coachlines Premiership started on Wednesday with St Patrick’s College (SIlverstream) defeating Rongotai College 28-12 in their midweek traditional.
Today’s games began with Scots College travelling to Masterton and achieving a substantial 59-7 win over Wairarapa College. Scots and Silverstream have now both accumulated six wins and scored a four-try-bonus-point in each of these victories. The two table toppers meet on Saturday 1 July at Silverstream in a match-up to decide who will be first-seed going into the playoffs.
St Bernard’s achieved a rare win over Wellington College. The 14-7 loss adds pressure to Wellington College as they prepare to host this year’s Quadrangular. Their squad has been hampered by injuries at a crux time of the season. In the Quad, WC play Christ’s College on Tuesday 27 June with a 1.30pm kick off. The school is anticipating a decent crowd, so best to arrive early to ensure you don’t miss any of the festivities. The Whanganui Collegiate vs Nelson College match precedes WC’s game at noon.
St Bernard’s put on one of their displays this season. They looked solid across the field. Regan Gray had another outstanding game at second-five. Regan made many contributions but his ability to secure turnovers from tackles made, helped stem WC’s late rally. Isaac McGuinness is another consistent performer, his lineout play and all round toil definitely helped his team today.
For Wellington College, a quick penalty restart and an incisive run secured captain Jack Riley’s second half try. Injuries to other regular starters has seen lock Harry Law’s workload increase but today’s display suggests he’s up with that challenge.
HIBS got back to their winning ways with a home win over Mana College 44-3. That win moves them to third on the table. St Patrick’s College (Town) made it three wins in a row with their 38-6 victory over Tawa College in Tawa.
HIBS, Waiararapa and St Pat’s (Town) are currently 3rd, 4th and 5th place in the table, respectively and are the most likely contenders to grab one of the remaining top 4 spots. Some crucial games are coming up with Town playing Rongotai (next Saturday) and HIBS vs Waiarapa at Trentham on Saturday 15 July.
This Wednesday (28 June) Mana will play Tawa for the Beard Cup at Ngatitoa Domain, with a 3.45pm kick-off.
In Premier 2 (Murray Jensen Cup), the three second XVs enjoyed a good day. St Patrick’s College (Silverstream) ran in a 76-12 win over Porirua College. WC 2ndXV 24 Aotea 12. St Pat’s (Town) 34 Newlands 19. In the two games played in the Hutt, HVHS will be delighted with beating Paraparaumu 11-5, while Naenae lost to Viard 34-19.
