Hurricanes region U16s and U18s matches in Wellington, U85kg representative team on the road

• By Steven White & Scott MacLean 

Up until yesterday all roads led to Maidstone Park.

But that has changed owing to the poor condition of both fields at the Upper Hutt venue. A change in both venues and kick off times for the four matches in Wellington on Saturday see games split between Evans Bay and Lyndhurst Parks.

Matches at a glance are:

Evans Bay Park, Kilbirnie

• Wellington White U16 Boys v Wairarapa Bush U16 Boys @ 12.30pm Kick Off
• Wellington Maori U18 Boys v Wairarapa Bush U18 Boys @ 2pm Kick Off

Lyndhurst Park, Tawa

• Wellington Black U16 Boys v Wellington Gold U16 Boys @ 12.30pm Kick Off
• Centurions U18 Boys v Wellington Samoan U18 Boys @ 2pm Kick Off

The two competitions are the Hurricanes Youth Council’s U16s and U18s ones.

One is starting, whilst the other is concluding.

The Hurricanes U16s tournament proper is being played at Playford Park, Levin on Monday 30 September and Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 October. As is tradition, there is an opening round of pre-tournament matches, which is what is being played tomorrow around the region.

Like the U18s, the U16s is split into A and B divisions. The Wellington Black and Wellington Gold teams who are meeting tomorrow in the first game at Lyndhurst are both in the A division.

The other Division A match is in Napier between the Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu U16s teams.

The second U16s game being played tomorrow is actually a non-competition fixture, between the Wairarapa-Bush U16s who have the first-round bye (five teams in Division B) and Wellington White who are playing some games but not part of the tournament proper.

In U16 Division B, the two competition matches tomorrow are at Spriggens Park, Whanganui, between the home team and Horowhenua-Kapiti, and at Gisborne, between Poverty Bay and East Coast. The fifth team is Hawke’s Bay Development and they join the other sides at Levin next week.

The third and final round of the U18s series is more straightforward – both matches in Wellington are likely silverware deciders.

The Wellington Samoans and Wellington Centurions U18s sides will play for the Trustbank Central Shield in Division A at Lyndhurst Park, while Wairarapa Bush and Wellington Māori play for the inaugural Gordon Noble-Campbell Cup at Evans Bay Park.

In Division A, the Wellington Centurions U18s need at least 2 bonus points from their match against defending champions the Wellington Samoans U18s to win the Trustbank Secondary School Shield. If they don’t get at least 2 bonus points from the game, then Hawke’s Bay can still win should they in turn beat Poverty Bay in Gisborne.

The Wellington Māori U18s and the Wairarapa-Bush U18s are both unbeaten in Division B, so their contest is a straight final.

Whanganui and Horowhenua-Kapiti meet in Whanganui in the other Division 2 third and final round fixture.

U85kg representative 

Following a trial at Hataitai Park, a Wellington representative U85kg team was selected earlier this week, to take on the North Harbour U85kgs in Tauramanui in the King Country.

This follows previous U85kg teams under the Centurions banner, with this one being a fully WRFU selected team.

Kickoff at Taumarunui Rugby and Sports Club is at 1.45pm.

The team is below.

 Heartland Championship

In the sixth round of the Heartland Championship, it’s a big ask that awaits both of Wellington’s neighbouring unions. Sixth-placed Horowhenua-Kapiti have taken their fourth home game on the road to the big smoke, taking on unbeaten leaders and defending champions South Canterbury in Auckland at Eden Park on Sunday afternoon, while Wairarapa-Bush are second from bottom, and are in Whanganui to face the second-placed home side tomorrow.

The quartet of Brandyn Laursen, Esi Komaisavai, Alex Fidow, and William Rua all start for the ‘Nua, Wainuiomata’s Jordan Sului isn’t in the Bush’s 23, but there’s still a solid contingent of players with ties to Wellington in the side.

The rest of the round is being played tomorrow as usual. Third-placed Thames Valley are at home against Buller, fourth-placed Mid Canterbury travel down SH1 to Oamaru and North Otago, bottom-side Poverty Bay hosts King Country, and it’s West meets East with West Coast hosting East Coast in Greymouth.

Women’s NPC

The final of the Women’s Farah Palmer Cup Championship is on Sunday, with the Manawatu Cyclones hosting the Otago Spirit at home at Palmerston North at 4.35pm.

Men’s NPC

The Wellington Lions host the Bay of Plenty Steamers at Wellington Stadium at 3.35pm and the Manawatu Turbos, fresh off their first win of the win on Wednesday night against Southland, round off their Storm Week by hosting Otago at 2.05pm.

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Teamlists (as seen/received):

Wellington

Also on Saturday  – the opening Bledisloe Cup match from Sydney at 5.45pm. More in the link below:

Aisle be Back: All Blacks v Australia 1.0