Thriller at Porirua Park as representative season gets underway and college semi-finals confirmed

Wellington Māori tighthead prop Geordie Bean scores the second of his two tries today at Porirua Park, as part of their high scoring narrow win over the Horowhenua-Kapiti Heartland Championship squad. 

• By Steven White & Scott MacLean

The atmosphere at Porirua Park today was several notches more subdued than a week prior on club rugby Finals Day, but the ending to the match on Jerry Collins Stadium was no less spectacular as that seen last Saturday.

The Wellington Māori side beat the Horowhenua-Kapiti Heartland Championship squad with a last-play try, to seal a 43-40 win. Some more on this game below.

The Wellington U19s were on the wrong side of the ledger this afternoon at Taihape Memorial Park, going down to Waikato U19s 14-31.

The Wellington U19s scored two converted tries through flanker Braith Ingram and second five Ietitia Cambell, who also kicked the conversions. Waikato led 14-7 at halftime.

At Eketahuna, Manawatu Development beat the Wairarapa-Bush Heartland squad 31-19.

Club rugby

The last of the Wellington club rugby finals will be played next weekend, with unbeaten Marist St Pat’s Internationals set to host the Wests Roosters Mixed Veges in their Reserve Grade Division 2 Alan Seerup Cup decider.

In today’s semi-finals, the MSP Internationals beat the Upper Hutt Rams Thirstys 24-13 and the Wests Roosters Mixed Veges defeated the OBU Righteous Pink Ginners 20-17.

Wellington Māori pip Horowhenua-Kapiti at the death

With time up, Wellington Māori scored this try in the corner, to OBU’s Josh Morgan Ranui to win the game:

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Only a few minutes earlier first-five Rory Woolett had wriggled his way over the chalk to put the Māori within striking distance at 38-40 behind, but it appeared that Horowhenua-Kapiti were going to score again or at least hold their lead to fulltime when the Māori broke out from a free-kick at scrumtime which led to the winning try (shown above).

Horowhenua-Kapiti had scored six tries and Brandyn Laursen had converted five of them, as they turned with the light wind in the second half holding a 21-14 lead and kept their noses in front until almost up to the end.

The game was played in quarters, with Horowhenua-Kapiti also leading 14-7 after the first 20 minutes and again 35-26 at the 60-minute mark.

The visitors’ first two tries were scored by the midfielders slicing through, centre Mason Pakau-Wallace opening the scoring and second-five Connor Paki scoring off the top of a lineout. Their third try was scored by lock Michael Laursen.

The Māori team’s first try was scored by Norths lock Xavier Tavai and their second through tighthead prop Geordie Bean after a penalty and lineout in the clubrooms corner.

Māori prop Bean scored the second of his two tries to level the scores at 21-21 early in the second quarter, but a break by halfback Esi Komaisavai helped set up the next try out wide for a 28-21 lead.

The Māori ran back a quickly thrown lineout from halfway, leading to loosehead prop Evan Bishop scoring under the posts.

Horowhenua-Kapiti tighthead prop Sebastian Jackson-Lomax made a storming run up towards the 22, which helped set up the next try to first five Laursen. The HOBM flyhalf converted his own try to put them up by 11 points.

Once more, the Maori hit back, centre Morgan-Ranui scoring the first of his two tries after a scrum turnover to close the gap to 35-31, but the Heartland side stretched their lead to 40-31. It wouldn’t be enough though, as the Māori finished strongly.

Match highlights and photo galleries of this match to come.

College

Results went as expected in the last round of the Premiership with the four sides moving on to next weekend’s semifinals winning but to varying degrees. Wellington College go forward as top qualifier after completing the round-robin undefeated with a 40-10 win over Tawa College in a match played at MacAlister Park with Wellington College’s grounds resembling a pond more than rugby fields. College will face Scots after the Strathmore school beat St Bernard’s 56-24. The other semifinal with see the two St Patrick’s schools meet again after very contrasting results; Silverstream were far too good for Paraparaumu winning by a massive 85-0, while Town were pushed all the way by bottom-side Hutt International before winning 20-18. The final match of the round saw fifth beat sixth in Masterton as Rongotai came away with a 20-12 win over Wairarapa College.

The major point of interest in Premier 2 was who would take the top seeding, and the Silverstream 2nds put that to rest early in beating Bishop Viard 68-0. That meant the Wellington College 2nds needed to run up a near-100 points margin against their Rongotai counterparts but could only manage a 43-5 win. Porirua College will go into the playoffs in strong form after crushing neighbours Aotea 62-5, while in the one match that had no bearing on the finals picture Taita beat the Town 2nds 31-19. Next week’s semifinals will see Silverstream host Porirua, while Hutt Valley High – who had the bye today – will head to the city and a meeting with Wellington College.

The semi-finalists have also been found in the Premier 3 grade. The St Bernard’s 2nds beat Wellington College’s 3rds 37-6 to set up a meeting with Onslow/Newlands next week, with Mana beating Kapiti 20-15 up the coast to book a time against top qualifiers the Silverstream 3rds.