Wellington Gold win U16s tournament, Lions preparing for Hawke’s Bay in final Ranfurly Shield match of the year

Wellington Lions players Kemara Hauiti-Parapara and Ruben Love celebrate with Losi Filipo after the latter’s seventh try of the season last Sunday against North Harbour. Photo: Andy McArthur.

Wellington Gold won the Hurricanes U16s tournament played this week in Hastings in a thriller.

In the final on Thursday, Wellington Gold and Hawke’s Bay A fought out a 22-22 draw as Hawke’s Bay came

back from a 10-point halftime deficit.

The Wellington team won the tournament and Don Broughton Shield on the countback that they had won their pool play match. This had been a 17-15 win on Monday.

Isireli Qaranivalu (Hawke’s Bay) was the Player of the Tournament. See the tournament team on the HYRC website HERE

Manawatu beat Wellington Black 26-19 in the playoff for third.

The Division 2 Saracens Cup, Hawke’s Bay Development came from behind to beat Poverty Bay 19-17. Whanganui beat Wairarapa-Bush 29-0 to finish third.

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The Wellington Lions are preparing to host Hawke’s Bay in their ninth round NPC fixture on Saturday.

The Lions have already qualified top for the quarter-finals next weekend, against either Auckland, Waikato, Counties Manukau or North Harbour, but still have much to play for tomorrow.

The Ranfurly Shield is on the line for their eighth defence of their current tenure and last of this year.

Hawke’s Bay will be out for revenge, as the team that the Lions took the Shield off last year in Napier (winning 19-12), while the Lions also stopped the Magpies in last year’s quarter-final (28-21) a fortnight later.

Word out of the Lions camp is that they have been training as hard as ever this week and are fully focused on retaining the Log ‘o Wood and not keen for a repeat of 1922 when the Maurice-Brownlie inspired Magpies came to Wellington and won 19-9 in a surprise snatch and grab. From there, the Magpies went on a famous Ranfurly Shield run.

The Lions are also playing to win their 22^nd straight first-class win and 20^th overall in the NPC.

The Magpies last beat Wellington in 2021, which was their first win in the capital since 1977. Hawke’s Bay won 10-6 that day, with MSP’s Murray Tocker scoring the winning try.

The two unions have met each other 112 times overall. Wellington has won 75, Hawke’s Bay 33 and there have been four draws. Wellington has scored 2,775 points and conceded 1,754.

The Magpies have a number of familiar faces in their squad for local autograph hunters to seek out after the game.

Former Wellington players or those who have spent time playing in Wellington club rugby include Nick Grigg (former Petone), Ollie Sapsford (Wellington Axemen), Chase Tiatia (HOBM), Marino Maikaele Tu’u (OBU), Sam Smith (Wainuiomata), Joel Hintz (OBU), Tyrone Thompson (MSP), Harry Godfrey (Petone), Josh Gimblett (OBU) and Joe Apikotoa (HOBM, away at the RWC with Tonga).

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Reviewing the NZ Schools matches that were played on Thursday (By Adam Julian):

New Zealand Barbarians: 41 (Eli Oudenryn, Nathan Salmon 4, Cooper Roberts, Liam O’Connor tries; O’Connor 2 con, Hugh Robinson con) New Zealand Māori Ngā Mareikura U18: 5 (Dylan Eti try)

Referee: Andrew Morton (Bay of Plenty)

Venue: St. Paul’s Collegiate, Hamilton

The New Zealand Barbarians punished the Māori who appeared to miss the wet weather memo. A bundle of rushed and reckless mistakes, coupled with the better territorial kicking of the Barbarians, saw the Māori come unstuck – and the harder they tried, the worse they got.

It took 15 minutes for the stalemate to be broken. The Māori fumbled inside their 22 and some vigorous ‘round the corner’ forward thrusts saw Palmerston North BHS hooker Eli Oudenryn smash over.

The elusiveness of fullback Cohen Norrie was an essential factor in Sacred Heart winning the 1A Auckland championship this season. The diminutive flyer skated into a hole and released Nathan Salmon who had an easy 25-meter finish for the first of his four tries. The same pair would combine in almost identical fashion in the second spell while charitable hands from the Maori gifted Salmon a 65-meter runaway ten minutes before the interval as the Māori floundered.

Canterbury centre Cooper Roberts again impressed for the Barbarians. His direct running and sound defence were rewarded with a try before halftime from a Māori mistake and concerted phase play.

The Māori, who’d never lost to the Barbarians, did find some joy from their lineout drive but sporadic breaks were undone by frustrating inaccuracy.

Scots lock Harry Irving (Barbarians) and Petone fullback Stanley Solomon (Māori) were Wellington connections in the game.

Blindside Radford Powell and lock Lenz Morunga-Itunu were damaging for the Barbarians.

New Zealand Schools: 34 (Logan Wallace, Oli Mathis, Josh Tengbald, Aisake Vikasiuola tries; Rico Simpson 4 con, 2 pen) Australian Under 18: 3 (c pen)

Venue: Viking Park, Canberra

Referee: George Myers (Australia)

The horror week in Australian rugby has continued with the New Zealand Secondary Schools scoring their second-largest victory against the Aussies in Canberra.

A 31-0 whitewash in the second half paved the way for a resounding 34-3 victory. New Zealand’s largest win against Australia was 45-9 in Sydney in 1995.  Doug Howlett, to become the All Blacks leading Test try scorer (49 in 62 Tests) scored two tries in that romp.

New Zealand’s victory was built on greater patience and an ability to speed the game up to a pace the hosts couldn’t match. First-Five Rico Simpson exploited the stiff southerly at his back in the second half and was faultless with six attempts from the tee.

It was an ugly first half with repeat errors a by-product of a lack of composure and some jarring defense. While Australia had an obvious advantage in the scrum earning four penalties (Tighthead Will Goddard is a unit) their lineout was a shambles and their attack lacked the imagination, width, and skill of their counterparts.

Australian centre Xavier Rubens was red-carded for tackling New Zealand fullback Isacc Murray-McGregor in the air after 15 minutes. Reduced to 14 players for 20 minutes, Australia was dogged and all Simpson had to show for New Zealand was a penalty. Australian fullback Finn Prass kicked a 48-meter monster as scores were tied at the interval.

New Zealand’s breakthrough finally came after repeat thrusts at the Aussie line in the 56th minute. Palmerston North BHS prop Logan Wallace flopped over from close range and Simpson’s conversion made it 10-3.

The floodgates shortly opened with the imperious New Zealand captain Oli Mathis running rampant. A 30-meter burst by replacement hooker Shaun Kempton resulted in an offload to Mathis who swerved around his immediate marker and stepped the last defender in a finish that Howlett, would be jealous of. Another overthrown Aussie lineout saw Mathis pounce, surging 30 meters and setting up lock Josh Tengbald.

The interplay between backs and forwards really flowed in the last quarter and the try scored by Aisake Vikasiuola involved the exchange of possession through multiple pairs of hands.

Jake Frost, Quinten Holland, and Mosese Bason weren’t flashy, but their no-nonsense industry was pivotal. Simpson grew immeasurably in confidence but as a collective, the backline will be hoping to improve their chemistry ahead of the second Test on Monday. A lot of passes went astray, but there were signs of promise from Caelys-Paul Putoko, Tevita Naufahu, and Isacc Murray-McGregor.