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Action from the Wellington U19s match against the Canterbury U19s on Saturday. This team will see better days over the next few weeks as their campaign continues. Photo: Andy McArthur.
A cold weekend in the lower North Island, but there was plenty of good rugby to warm things up.
A recap on some observations and statistics from the weekend below, but first a look at what’s coming up right around the corner (as always come back and refer to our preview on Friday).
More college finals this coming Saturday, with St Pat’s Silverstream guaranteed to add the Premier 2 title to the Premiership one they won yesterday – with their 2nd and 3rd XVs contesting the Premier 2 final!
The feature U15 Division 1 decider is between St Pat’s Silverstream and St Pat’s Town and the Premier 3 final sees St Pat’s Town and Wellington College’s U15 sides contest.
Moving into senior rugby, the ground could shake at Ngati Toa Domain (venue as listed, subject to change) this Saturday when Wellington Samoa meet Wellington Māori in their annual clash.
We didn’t report the results of these two sides’ games in Saturday’s review because none were available, but we now know that Wellington Samoa beat Manawatu Pasifika 45-3, while Horowhenua-Kapiiti defeated Wellington Māori 45-10 in their match that was played over four quarters.
This Saturday’s club rugby Reserve Grade Division 1 semi-finals are between Wellington Axemen (1) v Paremata-Plimmerton (4) and Tawa (2) and Petone (3). This was reported slightly wrong in our review on Saturday, but like Sky TV (see below for what they have done), the new App has a sting in its tail.
Rugby starts today, with St Mary’s College meeting Hastings Girls’ High School in their Hurricanes semi-final at neutral Masterton. The winner of that plays the winner of Manukura and Feilding High School in the Hurricanes final for the Rex Kerr Cup at a venue and time to be confirmed.
Moving on to Sunday, the Wellington Lions host Otago for the Mike Gibson Memorial Trophy at Porirua Park and the Wellington Pride host the Otago Spirit in the curtain-raiser.
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Another game to watch this coming Saturday is the Wellington First XV Co-ed Cup final. This is between Hutt Valley High School and Tawa College. Tawa are the Beard Trophy holders and the two-time defending champions of the Co-ed Cup. Details of this match to be confirmed.
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When he kicked the conversion of Julian Savea’s try in the 35th minute on Saturday, Wellington Lions first-five Jackson Garden-Bachop moved into second on the all-time Wellington A top points scorers list.
He ended his 102nd match for Wellington with 15 points to see him move to 803 career points, and move ahead of John Gallagher who scored 797 points in 88 games (61 wins).
Garden-Bachop also became the first player to play 100 specific NPC games for Wellington. Jeremy Thrush played 85 NPC games; Brad Shields, on 82, could pass him this season.
Wellington A all time scorers:
- Allan Hewson, 1977-86, 909 points (108 games)
- Jackson Garden-Bachop, 2013 – , 803 points (102)
- John Gallagher, 1984-90, 797 points (88)
- Mick Williment, 1958-68, 748 points (108)
- Jon Preston, 1993-98, 683 points (73)
Garden-Bachop has drawn level with lock Murray Pierce and fullback Brian Cederwall on 102 first-class games for Wellington. He will equal flanker Paul Quinn and prop Brian McGratten on 103 appearances in his next outing.
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This was Wellington’s fifth straight win over Waikato in NPC matches – a new record against them, surpassing the four wins in a row against them between between 1984-88, 2003-05 and 2021-24.
Lookout for Peter Marriott’s Stat Attack from this match in the next day or two.
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After a standout display at openside flanker the previous week, Oli Mathis moved to the wing. He was lively, helping set up Waikato’s first try with a scything run. Mathis gained 89 metres and beat nine defenders, more than any other player on the field. He also made eight tackles. Could New Zealand have found their answer to Kwagga Smith?
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In light of the college semis and finals being dominated by three schools, St Pat’s Silverstream, Wellington College and St Pat’s Town, it time for some schools to look at pulling forces and combining?
For example, a combined Beard Trophy schools First XV team could compete in the Premiership with a Colts side in the U15 competition. All these schools can keep their own identities and field teams elsewhere of course.
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A fairly dominant win for St Pat’s Silverstream over Wellington College in the Premiership final yesterday. At 25-0 up at halftime it was all over, especially when they wind and the rain died away towards the end of the day.
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The Jubilee Cup has the converted Jim Brown Memorial Medal for the player of the final, which raises the question: shouldn’t there be a similar prize for the Premiership First XV final? College Sport Wellington founder John Hornall doesn’t have significant silverware named after him to acknowledge his contributions. What about the Umaga-Jensen/Procter Plate? This award would recognise two families that have made substantial contributions to Wellington rugby, particularly Peter Umaga-Jensen and Billy Proctor, who have reached the highest level by becoming All Blacks. Additionally, Billy, Peter, and Thomas Umaga-Jensen have all won Premiership finals with their respective schools, St. Patrick’s College, Wellington, and Scots College.
Given their frequent success, St. Patrick’s College Silverstream and Wellington College might argue that players from their schools should have one of their players’ names included in this accolade. The Sopoaga and Mannix families would be a strong starting point for consideration.
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A disappointing Whanganui Heartland side at the Hutt Rec on Saturday against the Centurions.
The visitors hardly fired a shot in the 0-41 win against many of the leading club players in Wellington. Although it was a bit lop-sided when the Centurions were able to call on a 13-man bench and take off players such as Jeremiah Avei-Collins and Harry Irving and bring on fresh legs in the form of Braith Ingram and David Leota-Johnson.
The Wellington Centurions head to New Plymouth this coming Saturday for a predicted much sterner challenge against Taranaki’s Development side.
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On the theme of disappointment, look to the Wellington U19s. The side got a wake-up call ahead of the Central Region Shield opener in a couple of weeks, well beaten by Canterbury’s U19s. This coming Saturday they travel to Blenheim to play the Tasman Mako Pups.
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Keira Su’a-Smith was one of the leading women’s club rugby players this year and was Player of the Final. The Petone first-five-fullback recently went to South Africa with the Black Ferns XV side and has returned to carry her good form to the Pride. She was at fullback on Saturday and was the individual backline star for the side. The Pride had to work hard for long periods before eventually subduing Tasman 39-7. Their opponent this week, Otago, pipped North Harbour 34-33 and will be hard to beat. They have a number of experienced players such as No. 8 Greer Muir and fullback Olivia Fowler, both having been in their team for a decade of longer.
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As noted in yesterday afternoon’s final review, St Pat’s Silverstream move on to play in the Hurricanes knockout series to decide the Top 4 tournament qualifier from the region at the tournament in Palmerston North later this month.
They host Hastings Boys’ High School next weekend in the semi-finals, while Palmerston North Boys’ High School travel to play Feilding High School. Earlier in the season, Palmerston North won a thriller by 19-15.
On Saturday, Hastings beat Gisborne Boys’ High School 45-14 and PNBHS beat Napier Boys’ High School 24-21 and also retained the Moascar Cup in their first defence.
The hosts scored four tries compared to Napier’s three, overcoming a 14-12 halftime deficit to secure the win.
Napier proved to be a frustratingly stubborn opponent for Palmerston North, who appeared somewhat flat and struggled to reach the heights of their previous week’s performance. However, there were standout displays from second five-eighths Nehemiah Su’a, and loose forwards Alex Palazzo and Kisione Ma’asi.
Captain Palazzo scored the third maul try, which extended the lead to what turned out to be an insurmountable 24-14.
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UPDATE to below. This copyright strike has been lifted and the content is back online. But we are keeping what we have written below because this is a pattern and they did this to us twice last year, and in case they go after our highlights video (below).
When bullies turn bad.
No one owns the rights to school rugby. No one owns the rights to community rugby.
So why is Sky TV launching You Tube copyright strikes on friends of this website and local streaming provider Huddy Sports, for their coverage of the First XV final on Sunday? What’s more, they have gone after and had taken down their semi-final stream of St Pat’s Town and Wellington College – a game they didn’t cover.
After abandoning school rugby coverage a few years ago, they have swanned back in and cherry picked a handful of Wellington competition matches they have covered this year and perhaps decided that they own the coverage? Come on Sky, don’t be bullies.
Our highlights of the final are at the link below. How long before they go after the little guy here too – something to monitor through the day?
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Southland Boys’ High School beat King’s High School 27-26 with a last-gasp dropped goal in the Highlanders First XV final.
Southland BHS meet Christchurch Boys’ High School in the South Island final to determined who goes to the Top 4.
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What about this result:
Earlier this year the New Zealand Under 85kg rugby team completed one of the most unique and uplifting rugby tours in recent memory — and now fans can go behind the scenes in a new documentary
Link to watch this here: https://www.allblacks.com/news/more-than-a-game-the-heart-of-rugby-in-sri-lanka
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This column is a collaborative effort – please get in touch to contribute.
It was disappointing to have snippets of music and drumming over the PA distract from the atmosphere created by the Stream and College boys at Porirua Park yesterday. In the equivalent final in Christchurch the atmosphere was left to the boys with their chants and airhorns.