Wellington club rugby Finals Day at Porirua Park tomorrow

• By Scott MacLean

All roads lead to Porirua Park for Finals Day tomorrow.

There are six finals being played across two fields.

A preview of the day’s action is below.

Premier Jubilee Cup
Tawa (4) vs Old Boys University (1)
Referee: Jamie Fairmaid

For the second time in three years sides that met in the opening round on the playoffs will do so again in the decider. In 2022 Norths reversed the result from the first week to take the prize from Petone and that’s what OBU will be trying to do here and what Tawa will be trying to prevent.

The two clubs can claim seven of the last eleven titles between them (OBU 4, Tawa three), but have never met for one. OBU have never lost a final, and Tawa’s last Jubilee (and only) loss came back in 1998 against Wests.

As named, Tawa’s side contains two changes to that which ran out against Ories a week ago. Solomon Uelese is named at #10 and Sene Nofoaiga on the right wing with Luke Walmsley and Rewiti Leat headed for the bench. The only other change sees Akira Ieremia return to the 22 on the bench and Hunter Sao dropping out in a 5-2 split, but we wonder if Tawa coach Steve So’oialo will make some alterations between now and kick-off.

OBU make three changes to their run-on side from that which beat HOBM away at the Hutt Rec; Cody Quin comes onto the openside so Jack Riley returns to lock and Boston Hunt – winner of the Jim Brown Medal two years ago – misses out after suffering an elbow injury early in the semi-final. Mitch McLeod was also a casualty of that match and his place at fullback is taken by Tom Henderson, and Josh Morgan Ranui comes onto the left wing for Jermaine Pepe.  Tana and Elijah Maene-Lokeni come onto the bench.

There are a number of matchups of note across the park but those of interest to us start up front, and whether OBU can gain some parity against at scrum time against a Tawa front row that has two Super Rugby props in PJ Sheck and Siale Lauaki, and in general play where they are giving away size man-for-man but it should be noted they distinguished themselves against the similar sized Eagles pack a week ago. The lineout would be an area the Goats would have been working at since the last meeting and how to combat Hugo Plummer’s prowess given the way he dominated OBU’s preferred option, Harry Irving. Experienced halves duo Kyle Preston and Callum Harkin would appear to give OBU a considerable edge over their opposites Tristan So’oialo and Uelese (or Walmsley if he starts), while midfield could be a real battle between OBU pair Fuka Paongo, who played for Tawa up until this season, and Ty Poe and Tawa’s Kelim Kelemete and Connor Sharrock.

Across the season Tawa have scored 606 points and scored 88 tries across their 15 games so far. Walmsley (97) and Uelese (62) have kicked the majority of the points from the tee with Sharrock (10) and Leat (8) their leading tryscorers. OBU have tallied 686 points from their 16 outings and have topped the century in tries with 101. Harkin accounts for 161 of those points with Elijah Maene-Lokeni (14), Poe (13), and captain and hooker Louis Calvert (10), all in double-figures.

OBU won 43-29 at Lyndhurst in their Swindale meeting, with Tawa prevailing 31-30 at Rugby League Park three weeks ago.

Premier Hardham Cup
Paremata-Plimmerton (7) vs Wainuiomata (9)
Referee: Ben van Berkel

The first of the Premier prizes however is the Hardham Cup. Paremata-Plimmerton return to finals day albeit in a different final to what they played in last year, while Wainuiomata seek to with the Hardham for the fourth time. The pair meet for the second time in month after clashing at William Jones in the final round of the Swindale which saw Pare-Plim win 22-19.

Wainuiomata have the luxury of being able to name an almost unchanged 22 from the side that put MSP away last weekend with Tui Yandall returning on the bench in place of Daniel Fiso. In the duo of Teru Time, captain Greg Leolofi, Andrew Wells, and Tyler Tane they have a wealth of experience at this level plus Peter Umaga-Jensen’s in the professional game and brothers Keanu and Renata Kotuhi offer real spark to their attack.

Pare-Plim have named an unchanged backline from the side that started in the win over Johnsonville, with a handful upfront. Leni Apisai starts at hooker, joined by Peni Taupau and James Coburn switching to tighthead, with the abrasive Junior Davey starting at lock. There’s a welcome boost on the bench with Esi Komaisavai returning and looking to provide impact from there alongside a group of very experienced forwards.

The battle of upfront could be decisive but it’s in the backlines where the intrigue rests and who will get the upper hand between the trios of Sam Clarke, Matt Goosen, and Ethan Webster-Nonu against Wells, Tane, and Umaga-Jensen.

Pare-Plim have scored 498 points and 71 tries across the season. Clarke accounts for 153 points with Komaisavai’s 14 tries leading the way. Wainuiomata have totalled 535 points and 83 tries – fattening that account against Wellington and Norths in the past month – with Tane’s 122 points and the absent Niko Patelesio’s 12 tries topping each.

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Premier 2 Ed Chaney Cup
Old Boys-University (1) vs Tawa (2)
Referee: James Taylor

Only one of tomorrow’s finals pits the top two seeds against each other with the same two clubs contesting the Jubilee final having their second sides in the B-tier comp decider. Both OBU and Tawa have been in imperious form all season and both have failed to win on just two occasions; OBU drew with HOBM and their only loss came against Poneke, while Tawa’s only reversals came to Petone (which ended their 50-game unbeaten run) and to OBU 28-14 which snapped their home winning run. Each seems to be at the top of their game so this could be a classic. Will the trophy head to the Cambridge or is it destined for a fourth summer at Lyndhurst?

Premier 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup
Oriental Rongotai (7) vs Upper Hutt Rams (8)
Referee: Hiroya Fukyo

Like Tawa, Ories have the chance to return the trophy they won in a slugfest against Stokes Valley last year back to their clubrooms but face another Hutt side, the Upper Hutt Rams, that will be determined to prevent that. Both sides started the playoffs in the Ed Chaney bracket but dropped down after week one losses, and both arrive at this match having endured hard-fought semi-final encounters; Ories 18-13 over Johnsonville and the Rams 13-12 over MSP. The Rams won their Harper Lock Shield meeting 28-22 back in the early rounds of the season.

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Colts John E Kelly Memorial
Hutt Old Boys Marist (1) vs Tawa (7)
Referee: Ethan Jefferson

As usual, Club Rugby’s editor-in-chief Steven White has taken an in-depth look at the championship Colts decider. To read that, see our story from earlier today:

Hutt Old Boys Marist and Tawa to meet in Colts final on Saturday

Colts Vic Calcinai Memorial
Norths (8) vs Paremata-Plimmerton (10)
Referee: Chris Gill

It’s a local derby in the subsidiary Colts final with Porirua neighbours Norths and Pare-Plim meeting. Like HOBM, Norths had the bye in the first week of the playoffs and returned to beat Wellington 31-10, while Pare-Plim did things the hard way, coming out 18-17 over Poneke away at Kilbirnie Park. Norths took their previous meeting 26-19 so the sides seem relatively evenly-matched, and that bodes well for a close contest.

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If any of these matches are tied at 80 minutes, the following is applied. This differs slightly from the process used in previous weeks:

• Extra-time of 10 minutes each way will be played. There in NO Golden Point
• If still tied then:
• Most tries in the match, but if equal then
• The team with the greater points-difference from the round-robin, but if this is equal then
• Shared Title

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College

College rugby returns in full after the school holidays, and one match of round 8 in the Premiership is already in the books with Silverstream (35*) handing an emotionally-drained Town (30*) a 50-5 rugby lesson in Wednesday’s St Pats Traditional. Tomorrow’s slate sees Wellington College (33) looking to retake the lead when they visit bottom-side Hutt International (5) at the CIS campus at 2.30pm with Rongotai (15) hosting Paraparaumu (10) at the same time. It’s an 11am start for Scots (22) away at Tawa (5), and a 1pm kick-off for St Bernard’s (11) at home against Wairarapa College (14).

In Premier 2 Hutt Valley High (30) are the leaders but have the bye to come and take on one of their pursuers, the Wellington College 2nds (26), in the only 2.30pm match. The Silverstream 2nds (26) are joint-second with Coll, and it’s an 11am kick-off for them at home against Taita (6). The three Porirua sides are all fighting over the fourth playoff spot with two – Porirua and Bishop Viard (both 16) – clashing up behind Cannon’s Creek with Aotea (14) hosting the Rongotai 2nds (1), both at 1pm. The Town 2nds (7) have the bye.

Elsewhere

Just a handful of provinces still going with their club competitions.

Auckland’s Gallaher Shield will be played out between the season’s heavyweights Ponsonby and Pakuranga, with Bay of Plenty’s title to be decided between Te Puke and Greerton Marist. In the south University will face Linwood in the Canterbury Metro decider.