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Come from behind wins for Wellington Centurions and Samoans teams, as Silverstream teams win college finals

Matolu Petaia scores for the Wellington Centurions in the second half in their comeback win over the Taranaki Development side at Rugby League Park this afternoon. Photo: Mike Lewis. 

  • By Steven White & Scott MacLean

A round-up of rugby today in Wellington and a bit further afield, with men’s representative wins for the Wellington Centurions and the Wellington Samoans and a successful day for St Pat’s Silverstream team on College Finals Day. The action continues on Sunday, with the First XV Premiership final and the the Wellington Lions in their first home match of the NPC.

Club

The OBU Scallywags and Avalon Wolves march on after today’s matches in the National Under 85s Club Cup. With both sides bolstered by Premier talent from those that took the field at Hataitai Park in the Paul Potiki Shield final a few weeks ago, the Scallywags ended the hopes of the Tawa Ducks winning 18-10 at Lyndhurst, while the Wolves skipped past the Wellington Axemen 31-15 at Fraser Park.

With the actual draw bracket being elusive, we await to see who they’ll play next, which could be each other.

Representative

The Wellington Centurions beat Taranaki Development 31-27 at Rugby League Park, after being down 12-27 at halftime.

The Centurions scored tries to Chicago Doyle, Leon Tuiloma, Matolu Petaia and Benjamin Ben Tuiomanufili. First five Sam Clarke added three conversions.

Taranaki scored five tries but only landed one conversion.

The Wellington Centurions and Taranaki Development teams after their match. Photo: Mike Lewis.

The Wellington U19s missed out 19-52 to the Canterbury U19s in Christchurch.

The Wellington U19s trailed just 19-24 at halftime but the Cantabrians blasted to victory in the second spell.

For Wellington, wing Jacob Kennedy scored two tries and tighthead prop Faenza Snowdon one. First five Elysium Tolova’a – Stanley kicked 2 conversions.

The Wellington Fijians met the Manawatu Pasifika in Palmerston North.

The Wellington Pride beat Taranaki 61-7 in Hawera to earn their second bonus point win of the Women’s NPC Farah Palmer Cup.

The Pride led Taranaki 21-0 at halftime, before pulling clear in the second spell.

Halfback Milly Mackey scored two tries and kicked eight conversions for 26 points, while midfielders Shakira Baker and Monica Tagoai had strong games in the midfield and the pack went well when it clicked into life, with senior forwards Jackie Patea-Fereti and Joanah Ngan-Woo each scoring tries.

The Wellington Pride Development beat their Manawatu counterparts in Palmerston North.

The Wellington Samoans won the inaugural Connor Garden-Bachop Taonga with a thrill-a-minute 40-35 win over Wellington Māori in their annual clash at Ngāti Toa Domain this afternoon.

Both sides came out to play positive, expansive rugby from the opening whistle, and there was no shortage of end-to-end action and some exciting long range tries.

The Samoans won the game over the closing 15 minutes through their powerful bench, and physical ball runners. The Samoans scored the last three tries of the match after trailing 32-19 midway through the second half, and playing into the wind.

In the 65th minute, the first of these tries was scored through some multi-phase play close to the line, to close the gap to 32-26. They then scored two tries in as many minutes to take the game away from the Māori.

Almost from the very next kick-off, centre Ethan Webster-Nonu made a telling break up the middle of the park and passed inside to the unmarked replacement Christian Semu. First five Solomona Uelese kicked the conversion to put them in front 33-32.

A few minutes later, the Samoans attacked from a lineout on the 22 and Webster-Nonu cleaned up a loose ball in midfield just outside is 22 and sprinted all the way to the try line to score the match-winner and make it 40-32.

The Māori had a flicker of a late chance to win when they won a penalty in the 79th minute, and replacement Rory Woollett kicked the penalty to close it to a one-score game. The Māori tried hard to break out from the kick-off but were repelled by strong defence and the match finished with a turnover on halfway.

The Māori led 20-19 at halftime after they had scored four unconverted tries, and the Samoans three tries and two conversions.

Playing into the wind, the Māori started at breakneck speed and were finally rewarded in the 15th minute when halfback Jimmy-Lee Hongara made a fast bust and passed to unmarked wing Te Manawa Staples-Rei who scored out wide.

The Samoans quickly hit back through lock Ruperake Oloapu who broke through at close range and scored. They almost scored again from the very next re-start. Instead, the Māori turned the ball over near their own line and ran back a sweeping 95-metre try in the opposite corner.

The Māori then scored again a minute later, off the kick-off, through left wing Rewiti Katene Leat and they then led 15-7.

The scoring continued at a hot pace with the Samoans replying through captain and No. 8 James Tuiatua after a penalty and lineout in the corner to close the gap to 15-12.

The Māori scored their fourth try of the first half through tighthead prop Geordie Bean, and the halftime refreshments were well received by both teams.

Now with the wind behind them, the Māori made a similar strong start to the second half and would score back-to-back tries through hooker Damien Henare and replacement centre Caleb Robson. Only one of these conversions was successful which meant that the Māori kicked only one out of six attempts in the match, albeit in windy conditions.

Try time for Damien Henare early in the second half.

As both sides emptied their benches and the match took its final decisive momentum change, the wind dropped away, the sky darkened and drizzle started to fall – another factor in the Samoans’ strong finish.

Heartland Championship

A winning start away for Horowhenua-Kapiti in the Heartland Championship as they beat North Otago 16-14 in Oamaru. The home side led 14-13 at the interval, but a penalty to the visitors was the lone second-half score. It wasn’t the same for Wairarapa-Bush going down at home on the Memorial Park turf 24-27 to Thames Valley, after the Swamp Foxes led 7-16 at the break.

In the headline game of the round, South Canterbury edged out Whanganui 37-36 at Cooks Gardens in the River City. Elsewhere Buller beat East Coast 13-11 in Ruatoria, West Coast won at home 38-29 over Poverty Bay, and Mid-Canterbury had a successful foray north, beating King Country 30-27 in Taumarunui

College

A “Stream Sweep” remains in play after today’s College finals with the Upper Hutt-based powerhouse winning the Premier 2, Premier 3, and Under 15 Division 1 titles, and putting the pressure on their 1st XV for tomorrow.

The St Pat’s Silverstream U15 team after their win this afternoon over St Pat’s Town. Photo: Andy McArthur.

Played in steadily deteriorating conditions, it was a torrid first half in the Premier 2 final as unbeaten pair the Silverstream and Wellington College 2nd XVs duked it out with Stream holding a narrow 8-7 lead at the break. Turning into a freshening northerly College took the lead early into the second stanza, but Stream would cross twice to run out 20-12 winners and extend their lengthy streak of winning this grade. Silverstream made in three-in-a-row in the Under 15s, as they absorbed a solid examination from Town to prevail 29-10, while the Stream 3rds won Premier 3 by 22-8 after fending off an impressive first half by the St Bernard’s 2nds who led 8-0 at the interval but who’s discipline imploded after the break.

In the other finals the St Pat’s Town Seniors XV reminded their Colts side who’s boss in winning the Premier 4 title 31-19 at Evans Bay. Aotea Blue took the Division 2A crown by beating Rongotai 32-12, Bishop Viard won the 3A decider 36-14 over Silverstream Blue, and Aotea White and the Town U14s shared 3B with a 15-all draw. In the last weight-grade final St Bernard’s got the chocolates, beating the combined Town/Scots side 24-3.

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