Representative fixtures and college finals continue this weekend

Fritz Rayasi, Kapu Broughton-Winterburn and the Wellington Centurions are in New Plymouth this Saturday to play the Taranaki B team. Photo: Tane Nathan.

• By Scott MacLean

A buffet of rugby this weekend, with representative fixtures on both days, school finals and more this weekend.

In a result in on Friday evening, Hutt Valley High School have beaten Tawa College 33-12 in the Wellington Co-ed Cup final, played at North Park in Petone. HVHS won 5 tries to 2.

UPDATED Preview and teamlists (as received/seen) below.

Club

Only two club fixtures happening tomorrow in the one grade still going; the Reserve Grade Division 1 who are at the semi-finals stage. Top seeds and Mike Copeland Cup winners Wellington look to add the John Davies Cup to their collection and host the Paremata-Plimmerton Punters at Hataitai Park in one of those, while the other sees Tawa and the Petone Brotherhood clash at Lyndhurst for the second week in a row. Kick-off in both is at 2.45pm.

College

A bumper 24 hours coming up in the Wellington College grades with the bulk of their finals taking place, following-on from the three played last Saturday. That starts tonight at North Park in Petone with Premier 2 side Hutt Valley High facing Premiership squad Tawa College in the final of the Coed Cup which is a repeat of last years decider. Kick-off 5.00pm.

Attention tomorrow switches to Silverstream and no fewer than eight finals. The hosts feature heavily in the two flagship deciders; the Premier 2 final for the Murray Jensen Cup is an all-Silverstream affair as the 2nds face the 3rds after the latter’s upset win over the Wellington College 2nds last Saturday while the Under 15 Division 1 final sees them take on top qualifiers St Pats Town for the Fr Gus Hill Cup.

The Premier 3 final sees the Town and Wellington College Gold U16s clash for the new Willie Leota Taonga, while the Onslow Cup is the prize for the HIBS 2nd XV and Wainuiomata 1st XV in Premier 4.

The lower Under 15 divisions have Kapiti College facing Aotea in Division 2, with the Newlands/Onslow combined side taking on HVHS in Division 3. The last final is that for the real lightweights of college rugby with HIBS and Wellington College meeting to decide the Under 55kg David Scott Cup.

In the middle of all that, there’s one more high-stakes First XV match as Wellington champions Silverstream switch to regional mode to host Hastings Boys’ High School in their Top Four semifinal.

The winner will proceed to next weeks Hurricanes Final against either Super 8 winners Palmerston North Boys’ High School or CNI champions Feilding High School who clash in a Manawatu derby.

Representative

Only one match here locally tomorrow, but it is the always eagerly anticipated clash between Te Upoko Wellington Māori and their Samoan counterparts in the “Clash of Cultures” at Ngati Toa Domain.

Elsewhere the Wellington Centurions head north to New Plymouth to take on Taranaki B, while the Under 19s set sail across the Strait to take on Tasman.

Sunday the attention turns to the doubleheader against Otago at Porirua Park. First up are the Pride who will not only be looking to put together a polished 80-minutes after their stuttering start against Tasman last weekend, but to atone for their shock loss to the same side in last years semi-final. Fusi Feaunati and his staff have charged 22 of the same 23 to deliver that, starting with an unchanged pack. In the backs Madi Gold and Baylee Meroiti swap with Nahliah Tagatauli-Tolova’a and Ivana Samani, while the sole change on the bench sees Fono Bason drop out and her place taken by Poneke’s Jessica Jackson – daughter of Kilbirnie legend John – for her potential debut.

The Wellington Lions follow, looking to bring last Saturday’s effort from Waikato Stadium home. We previewed this match yesterday, but in the team news the same front five have been retained with Sione Halalilo starting in place of Peter Lakai who drops out of the 23 with skipper Brad Shields back meaning Dom Ropeti reverts to the bench. Esi Komaisavai gets his first start at halfback on a field he knows very well with Nui Muriwai dropping out, while Tom Maiava is a straight swap with Losi Filipo on the right wing. On the bench Asafo Aumua returns from injury to get some minutes here, with Mitch McLeod also joining the pine squad.

The Heartland Championship gets underway tomorrow. Both Wairarapa-Bush and Horowhenua-Kapiti open up at home against sides from the South Island. The Bush face the challenge of recent heavyweights South Canterbury at Memorial Park, with The ‘Nua taking on Buller at the Levin Domain.

Teams (where supplied):

Wellington Lions

1. Xavier Numia (Ories), 2. James O’Reilly (HOBM), 3. PJ Sheck (Tawa), 4. Hugo Plummer (Tawa), 5. Akira Ieremia (Tawa), 6. Caleb Delany (OBU), 7. Sione Halalilo (Ories), 8. Brad Shields (Petone – captain), 9.Esi Komaisavai (Pare-Plim), 10. Jackson Garden-Bachop (Norths), 11. Tjay Clarke (Petone), 12. Julian Savea (Ories), 13. Matt Proctor (Ories), 14. Tom Maiava (Ories), 15. Callum Harkin (OBU) | 16. Asafo Aumua (Avalon), 17. Kenshi Yamamoto (Japan) 18. Siale Lauaki (Norths), 19. Matolu Petaia (Tawa), 20. Dominic Ropeti (Ories), 21. Mitch McLeod (OBU), 22. Losi Filipo (Petone), 23. Stanley Solomon (Petone)

Wellington Pride

1. Faythe Finau (Norths), 2. Valini Vaka (MSP – Captain), 3. Dora Laupola (Norths), 4. Sanita Levave (Norths), 5. Xanthe Somerville (MSP), 6. Lourdes Faifua (Petone), 7. Anyis Drossaerts-Lake (Norths), 8. Jackie Patea-Fereti (Petone), 9. Milly Mackey (Petone), 10. Arene Landon-Lane (Norths), 11. Harmony Kautai (Petone), 12. Madi Gold (Petone), 13. Litia Bulicakau (Petone), 14. Baylee Meroiti (Norths), 15. Keira Su’a-Smith (Petone) | 16. Keiana Roffey (Poneke), 17. Lavinia Lea (Petone), 18. Paige Misky (Norths), 19. Canon Hakaraia (Wainuiomata), 20. Jessica Jackson (Poneke – Debut), 21. Te Arani Te Puni (Pare-Plim), 22. Nahliah Tagatauli-Tolova’a (MSP), 23. Ivana Samani (Ories)

Wellington Centurions

1. Salesa Seumanufagai (Ories), 2. Harry Press (HOBM – Captain), 3. Senio Sanele (Upper Hutt), 4. Jack Riley (OBU), 5. Harry Irving (OBU), 6. Conner Tuifao (Petone), 7. David Johnston (Ories), 8. Cody Lokotui (Wellington), 9. Waylon Tuhoro-Robinson (HOBM), 10. Solomon Uelese (Tawa), 11. Kapu Broughton-Winterburn (HOBM), 12. Olly Paotonu (Jville), 13. Ethan Webster-Nonu (Pare-Plim), 14. Fritz Rayasi (HOBM), 15. Jacob Walmsley (Jville) | 16. Leon Tuiloma (Upper Hutt), 17. Jake Wetere (MSP), 18. Geordie Bean (OBU), 19. Jeremiah Avei-Collins (Norths), 20. Jordan Chapman (Wellington), 21. Phelan Rona (HOBM), 22. Ieti Campbell (Upper Hutt), 23. Caleb Robson (Poneke), 24. Viliame Rarasea (MSP)

Wellington U19

1. Hamish Huggins (Poneke), 2. Semurana Fepu’leai (Ories), 3. Harry Rankin (Petone), 4. Johnny Falloon (OBU), 5. Sam Thomson (Petone), 6. Ele Lupo (Tawa), 7. Luke Bidois (Tawa), 8. Ollie Church (OBU), 9. Mike Brown (Poneke), 10. Liam Slight (Upper Hutt), 11. Max Reynolds (MSP), 12. Jayde Burns (MSP), 13. Brodee Tetevano (HOBM), 14. Adam Jansen van Vuuren (Petone), 15. Eden Govind (Tawa) | 16. Cazna Logovae-Sale (MSP), 17. Elijah Talalupe (Poneke), 18. Corban King (MSP), 19. Preston Moananu (MSP), 20. Levi Morgan (HOBM), 21. Tyler Craig (HOBM), 22. Jake Lawson (OBU), 23. Jacob Gibbs (Petone), 24. Zack Young-Holdsworth (MSP)

Wellington Maori

1. Connor Lemon (Upper Hutt), 2. Damien Henare (HOBM), 3. Evan Bishop (Tawa), Jared Fermanis (Tawa), 5. Tahana Firmin (Jville), 6. Matt Jacobs (Wainuiomata), 7. Olano Afutoto (Norths), 8. Hemi Fermanis (Tawa), 9. Declan Hay (Ories), 10. Luke Walmsley (Norths), 11. Te Manawa Staples-Rei (Pare-Plim), 12. Tyler Tane (Wainuiomata), 13. Rewiti Katene Leat (Tawa), 14. Randall Bishop (Tawa), 15. Luke Kapene (Wellington) | 16. Evan Paenga (Tawa), 17. TBC, 18. Tane McMillan-Parata (Pare-Plim), 19. Xavier Woodhouse-Tavai (Norths), 20. Jalen Lambert (Norths), 21. Issac Bracewell (Ories), 22. Jordan-Glen Bradbrook (Petone), 23. Randall Paenga (Tawa), 24. Tane Landon-Lane (Norths)

Wellington Samoan

Wairarapa-Bush

1. Tupou Lea’aemanu (Carterton – Captain), 2. Lewis Bush (Greytown), 3. Fakaonga Lea’aemanu (Carterton – Debut), 4. Malakai Biumaiwai (Greytown), 5. Sam Gammie (Eketahuna), 6. Isireli Biumaiwai (Greytown), 7. Marcus Ale (Marist), 8. Folau Finau Vea (Loan (OBU) – Debut), 9. Sam Walton-Sexton (Greytown), 10. Jack Eschenbach (Martinborough – Debut), 11. Bryce Cumming (Martinborough), 12. Jack Delaney (Loan (Feilding) – Debut), 13. Levi Harmon (Pioneer – Debut), 14. Gracyn Evans (Greytown), 15. Tipene Haira (Martinborough) | 16. Terongo Tekii (Carterton), 17. Gareth Ward-Allen (Loan (OBU) – Debut), 18. Stan Wright Jr (Marist), 19. Matt Masoe (Loan (Feilding)), 20. Thomas Williams (East Coast), 21. Daryl Pickering (Carterton), 22. Harry Eschenbach (Martinborough), 23. Nathan Hunt (Martinborough)

Horowhenua-Kapiti

1. George Jacobs (Foxton – Debut), 2. Jeremy David (Foxton), 3. Nonu Tuia (Loan (HOBM) – Debut, 4. Dallas Wiki (Shannon), 5. Mikaere Harvey (Foxton), 6. Aaron Lahmert (Waikanae), 7. Jack Sturmey (Loan), 8. Pene To’o (Loan (Upper Hutt Rams) – Debut), 9. Kahn Fotuali’i (Foxton), 10. Rory Woollett (Loan (Petone) – Debut), 11. Joeli Rauca (Foxton – Debut), 12. Connor Paki (Foxton), 13. Darren Falaniko (Wanderers – Debut), 14. Max Hosking (Paraparaumu – Debut), 15. Sean Pape (Shannon) | 16. Ted Northcott (Rahui), 17. David McErlean (Foxton), 18. Michael Laursen (Foxton), 19. Brad Reilly (Paraparaumu), 20. Thomas Barnsley (Paraparaumu), 21. Albert Hemopo (Foxton – Debut), 22. Jayson Aquila (Paraparaumu – Debut), 23. Willie Paia’aua (College Old Boys)

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