Sideline Conversions 19 August (some rugby news and information to start the week)

Julian  Savea scores one of his two tries for the Lions in a splash at Porirua Park yesterday.  Savea scored two tries for Wellington in an NPC game for the first time since a 37-35 win over Bay of Plenty at Sky Stadium in the first round of the 2022 NPC.

Updates: With rugby supporters back to work or study today, many will be still be drying out after a dull Saturday and wet Sunday. When the sun comes out, we can look forward to another weekend of busy games throughout the Wellington and lower North Island region.

In much of what is happening this coming up (check back on Friday for our full preview), Taita College host Kuranui College (Greytown) on Thursday at 1.45pm in their annual traditional fixture.

Moving on to Friday, the first day of the Te Upoko o te Ika tournament hosted by Wellington Māori is at the NZCIS in Upper Hutt. Day two is on Saturday. Draw to follow.

The Wellington Samoans host Manawatu Pasifika at Ngati Toa Domain at 12.00pm.

There is a double header at Rugby League Park, with the Wellington U19s opening up their Hurricanes Central Region Shield defence against the Manawatu U19s at 12.00pm. The Hawke’s Bay U19s host the Hurricanes Heartland U20s in the other match.

In the second match at Rugby League Park at 2.00pm the Wellington Centurions tackle the Manawatu Evergreens in the battle of the Development teams.

Expect to see a couple more games in the Under 85kgs Club Cup appear in this weekend’s slate. Poneke and Avalon are drawn to meet each other, while the OBU Scallywags have a home clash with New Plymouth Old Boys, who put 90 points in Johnsonville a fortnight ago.

The Wellington Co-ed Cup final is on Saturday, between the Tawa College and Hutt Valley High School First XVs. Kick-off at Lyndhurst Park is 1.00pm.

The Boys Hurricanes Top Four this coming weekend sees Silverstream head up to Palmerston North looking to avenge the loss to Palmy from earlier in the year, while Feilding High, who cruised through the Central North Island competition this season, takes on Gisborne. On the Girls side, St Mary’s College and Hastings’ Girls High School meet this Wednesday in Masterton with the winner likely to face Manukura in the regional final.

In the Heartland Championship, first round winners Horowhenua-Kapiti return home to host East Coast in Levin at 2.30pm.  Wairarapa-Bush and Whanganui are both away to South Canterbury and Poverty Bay respectively.

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A massive 29 carries and 16 tackles by Peter Lakai in Wellington’s 26-19 victory over Premiership Champions Taranaki at Jerry Collins Stadium. Taranaki suffered their first loss in six NPC matches.

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Torrential rain pre kick-off and steady rain during much of yesterday’s NPC game -spare a thought for the Porirua City Council team who have only week to get Jerry Collins Stadium presentable again after yesterday’s doubleheader with a triple header – Pride Development vs Manawatu B, Pride vs Cyclones, and Lions vs Turbos – scheduled for it for this coming Sunday.

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A solid bonus point win to the Wellington Lions over Taranaki, who came out firing and went 19-6 up at halftime. But the Lions played with calmness and precision to reel them in and score 19 unanswered points themselves. A Jackson Garden-Bachop conversion miss on fulltime was a relief to Taranaki as they still came away with two bonus points.

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The St Patrick’s College Silverstream 2nd XV are unbeaten in 33 successive matches in the Murray Jensen Cup.

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Black Ferns Rugby World Cup winner in 2022 Joanah Ngan-Woo played her first game for Wellington since August 27, 2023 in the 61-7 FPC Championship victory over Taranaki in Hawera.

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Three tries for regular Hutt Old Boys Marist Premier outside back Kobe Joe Vulu for the Avalon Wolves U85kgs against the Wellington Axemen on Saturday in the National Knockout Cup.

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Now the First XV Final is over, questions must be asked as to why it was played on 11.15am on a Sunday morning.

One reason we thought was that Sky TV wanted to cover it and the union and CSW wanted to promote it to a national audience, but their cameras were set up but no-one was home for this game! The Wellington Lions kicked off at 2.05pm, so the other idea was to make it a double header. But with a full hour’s gap between the end of the First XV final and presentation and kick-off of the NPC game it was really two separate events. Sky TV commentator Grant Nisbett remarked to co-commentator Piri Weepu early in his Lions call that it must have been a good game as when he was entering the ground everyone was leaving.

We say that the First XV final should be its own event, and perhaps tied in with the U15 and Premier 2 finals in a triple header. Just like we think that club rugby Finals Day should be split over two weekends with some finals one Saturday and some the next. And don’t get us started on playing Hurricanes games on Saturday afternoons.

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Time for a First XV Premiership Player of the Final gong like the Jim Brown medal?  Plenty of contenders worthy of it being named after but should focus on someone who’s kicked on who had a profound influence on the match itself. Lima Sopoaga and Billy Procter are two names that spring to mind.

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Cooks Garden in Whanganui will host a two-match series for the Heartland XV against New Zealand Māori Selection on October 29, followed by the New Zealand Barbarians on November 2.

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Does Wellington have a halfback crunch on its hands? The Lions went into yesterday’s NPC match with Taranaki without a recognised backup to Kyle Preston, and on Saturday the Centurions did as well behind Keanu Kotuhi. TJ Perenara is with the All Blacks, and Mitch McLeod suffered a concussion late against Auckland which combined with one he got in the club playoffs while playing for OBU against HOBM figures to keep him out a while. It is understood that Issac Bracewell is injured as well (to be confirmed). With Kemara Hauiti-Parapara playing for Auckland, Logan Henry with Manawatu, and Esi Komaisavai running for Horowhenua-Kapiti the cupboard starts looking bare very quickly. In our view (in lieu of Bracewell perhaps not being available) Kotuhi, or Johnsonville’s Mark Sutton should be the next man up, but what odds Lions management looks outside the province for reinforcement?

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Two tries for Northern United’s Reon Paul for Bay of Plenty yesterday in their 24-20 win over North Harbour.

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What about the newspaper formerly known as the Dominion Post, now the Post, and their abandonment of covering the Wellington representative rugby team? That’s 150 years of coverage thrown away. For several months of the year, their coverage of a Wellington football team playing in an Australian competition is way overblown at the expense of anything else, so it is not like they can’t do it. In contrast, just up the line, the Manawatu is still mostly well served with its Turbos and Cyclones coverage in the Manawatu Standard.

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Toby Crosby scores from the kick-off for his Warriors team (can’t seem to embed this one, link is to a ‘reel’ on the Warriors Facebook page): https://www.facebook.com/reel/802243588782044

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Some absolute carnage in the National Top Four First XV picture over the weekend, with some results making Silverstream’s win yesterday over Wellington College a mere ripple by comparison.

Super 8 Champions Tauranga Boys’ College were sensationally knocked out of National Top Four contention after a 20-20 draw against Rotorua Boys’ High School in the Chiefs Regional quarter final, a week after inflicting a rare thrashing (37-0) over Hamilton Boys in that final. Both sides scored three tries but Rotorua scored the first. Wellington champions St Patrick’s College Silverstream (2022) and Wellington College (2007) suffered the same fate.

Hawkes Bay pair Napier BHS and Hastings BHS – third and fourth in those standings – are also out. Hastings were eliminated by Palmerston North BHS, while Napier were tipped over by Gisborne Boys BHS in a massive upset.

Elsewhere, favourites Feilding High School were tipped over by St John’s Hamilton 42-33 in the Central North Island final in Taupo. St John’s had a centre who ran it back like Alapati Leiua playing for Norths circa 2009.

Up north, Kelston Boys’ High School knocked over Auckland Grammar School, and they’ll face St Kentigern College in the Auckland 1A final this Saturday after the latter beat Sacred Heart College in the other semifinal.

There was some sanity across Cook Strait, with last year’s National Champions Southland Boys’ High School beating King’s High School in the deep south and Nelson College taking the Crusaders compeition by beating Christchurch Boys’ High School. Nelson hosts the playoff to find the South Island representative this weekend.

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It is also the Hurricanes region First XV Boys Life Members Cup final this Saturday – details to be confirmed.

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Fusi Feuanati has been confirmed as the Hurricanes Poua head coach for next year.

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From a Wellington perspective, just Ayesha Leti-L’iga named in the Black Ferns for their northern trip in September. Marcelle Parkes too, but she plays for Canterbury. No Monica Tagoai, after starting in the midfield in the recent tests against Australia.

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Is loose forward Tyler Laubscher the Josh Southall of the Manawatu Turbos? Loads of talent and huge promise but perennially injured. The Turbos also losing Brayden Iose to injury for a few weeks is a big blow for them.

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The All Blacks are now unbeaten in 50 Eden Park tests. Sam Whitelock played in 23 of those tests, Richie McCaw 22.

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Julian Savea with his trademark bright yellow boots lighting up a dull day at Porirua Park on Sunday.

Here’s what we wrote about him when he first made the Wellington Lions 14 seasons ago in 2010:

There was a representative game at Porirua Park in September last year where Wellington rugby’s newest star Julian Savea was the talking point of the match even before the opening whistle when he took the field wearing an outrageous pair of bright luminescent boots. But by the time he was subbed off after 60 minutes what was being discussed wasn’t his footwear but his dazzling exploits after he’d lit up an overcast afternoon with a sparkling display.

The match was just a non-competition game between the Wellington Colts and the Wellington Samoans and was part two of a double header in which the Wellington U19s had just beaten a strong Hawke’s Bay U20 side, but the crowd left that afternoon knowing they had just been watching a player of the future.

Against a local Samoans backline of experienced Premier club players featuring a couple of his Oriental-Rongotai teammates, centre Savea was the leading light of the afternoon in bagging four tries, including a first half hat trick. He scored his side’s opening three tries to take them to a 20-7 lead in almost as many minutes. He set up his side’s fourth try for his winger with one of several additional eye-catching breaks and then completed his quadruple strike midway through the second half to help the Colts ease to a comfortable win.

At the time Savea had already represented New Zealand at Sevens and Secondary School level, having earlier in the year represented New Zealand in five IRB Sevens tournaments whilst a member Hurricanes Academy for the second consecutive season.

Fast forward ten months and 19-year old Savea’s whirlwind career in the senior ranks is now on a fast track to stardom, following his recent naming in the 2010 Vodafone Wellington Lions squad and of course the biggest accolade of all so far on his CV – the IRB Junior Player of the Year title.