One-sided matches in representative rugby as Pōneke U85kgs win in extra time countback

Wing Fritz Rayasi attacking early in the second half for the Centurions today, with teammates in close support. 

• By Steven White & Scott MacLean

One-sided results were the order of the day in three matches played in and around Palmerston North today.

The Wellington Centurions sailed to a 79-14 win over Manawatu Development at Bill Brown Park, the Wellington U19s accounted for the Manawatu U19s 87-0 out at Pahiatua and the Hawke’s Bay Development side beat Wellington Samoa 81-12 over at Ongley Park.

The Wellington-Manawatu Development fixture was played on Bill Brown #2, meaning the strong westerly wind in Palmerston North today whipped its way down the ground.

The Centurions has first use of it and scored their opening try within a couple of minutes to captain and hooker Harry Press off a lineout in the corner.

Halfback Mitchell McLeod made his second break of the game and passed to second five Ieti Campbell and Solomona Ualese’s conversion had them up 14-0.

Manawatu hit back with some converted ball carrying, which led to first five Conor Davey slicing over under the posts to close it to 14-7.

Another penalty and lineout and some phase play led to Centurions prop Jake Wetere crashing over for their third to put them up 21-7.

Halfback McLeod was in on it again as he found No. 8 Cody Lokutui in the clear and the Axemen loose forward poured through to score their fourth try. Right on halftime centre Ethan Webster-Nonu crossed in the corner and it was 33-7 at halftime.

Manawatu started the second half by scoring their second and final try of the afternoon, a Wellington breakdown was collected by second-five Ollie Cole and he sprinted 70 metres to make it 33-14.

Normal service quickly resumed, with Press, now playing prop, scoring his second and then one of the two pink panthers on the field, flanker David Leota-Johnson, scoring out wide for a 45-15 lead.

From there, the Centurions flew home into the wind with another six tries, amongst Caleb Robson (playing first-five in the second half), midfielder Olly Paotonu, wing Jacob Walmsley (2), replacement halfback Logan Henry and fullback Tom Maiava. Robson kicked four second half conversions.

At Ongley Park, where the wind was less of a factor as it was somewhat sheltered and ground is orientated north to south, the Hawke’s Bay Development team were fast out of the blocks with a try to second five Le Roux Malan for an early 7-0 lead.

Wellington Samoa replied soon with a try up the touchline inside the 22, before Malan and right wing Kere Penitito flew in to put them up 21-5.

Wellington Samoa kept in touch by scoring their second try to lock Jacob Blacklock following a lineout in the far corner and some phase play in front of the posts with both Campbell Cowie and Skivvi Va’a involved.

That was as close as they got, as the Hawke’s Bay, in particular their backs, put on the afterburners and crushed them with a burst of five straight tries before halftime. This included Malan scoring a hat-trick and centre Bogi Kikau and right wing Penitito scoring first half doubles. New Zealand U20s first five Will Cole had the ball on a string and slotted several conversions in the wind, while fullback CJ Mienie was full of running.

Wellington Samoa fumbled the opening second half kick-off and Hawke’s Bay captialised, Cole offloading to centre Kikau who completed his hat-trick. Kikau was in again soon after for his fourth try as they moved past 50 points.

There was no let-up for the Wellington Samoa side, Mienie scoring next, followed by right wing Penitito running in his hat-trick. Their forwards got in on the try scoring for the next try off a lineout, while replacement back Bryson Ioane cut through for their 13^th and final try of the afternoon.

The official reason given by MRU officials for playing the second round Central Shield U19s match between the Manawatu 19s and the Wellington U19s at Bush Park, Pahiatua was a lack of grounds. It’s a busy time in the region at the moment with rugby Top 4 on too, as well as school football nationals at Massey.

The Wellington U19s took a liking to the venue, beating Manawatu 87-0 in a wholly one-sided game.

Wellington led 40-0 at halftime and didn’t ease of in the second spell.

Nine try-scorers scored 13 tries, while Tawa first-five Eden Govind kicked 11 conversions.

Wellington were particularly destructive in the midfield, with second-five Jayden Burns scoring a hat-trick and centre Dante Ford-Tuveve scoring two tries. It became a Marist St Pat’s benefit when their teammate Preston Moanau also scored two tries.

Other try scorers were lock Sam Thomson, flanker Luke Bidois, wing Brodee Tetevano, fullback Adam Jansen Van Vurren, hooker Canza Sale and halfback Jake Lawson.

In the other U19s game today, the Hawke’s Bay U19s beat the Hurricanes Heartland U2os 50-12 in Napier.

Wellington will just need to savour victory over the Hurricanes Heartland side next week to hoist the Central Region Shield high.

With one competition concluding next week, another one starts, with the Hurricanes U18s getting going. The Wellington Samoa U18s warmed up for that with a 53-32 win over the recently formed Wellington Pasifika U18s at Evans Bay Park.

The game was played in four quarters, with Wellington Samoa leading 36-31 at three-quarter time before running clear at close to a point a minute in the final stanza.

For the Wellington Pasifika U18s, Tavita “Tex” Bula scored two tries, and captain Taniela Tuangala, Junior Faavale and Kini Bryce one apiece. Rio Kosaka kicked three conversions. Taita College’s Faavale was the team’s Player of the Match for his high workrate around the field.

Up at Rugby League Park, the Wellington Māori team met the Wellington Fijians, with Wellington Māori winning 56-36.

Pōneke travelled to play Silverdale in North Harbour in their quarter-final clash of the U85kg National Knockout Cup.

The two sides drew 29-29 in an epic extra time encounter, with Pōneke progressing to the next round courtesy of them scoring the game’s first try.

Indeed, Pōneke had made a flying start and scored two tries to go 10-0 inside as many minutes.

The home side got themselves back into the game and closed the gap with a converted try. Pōneke then scored their third try to extend their lead to 17-7 after half an hour.

Silverdale answered with their second converted try and Pōneke went into halftime leading 17-14.

Under darkening skies, the home team then went ahead for the first time, making it 19-17.

Pōneke lost a player to a yellow card and Silverdale kicked a penalty to extend this to 22-17.

Pōneke then conceded what could have a match-winning intercept try on another day, the runaway try and conversion putting the North Harbour contenders up 29-17.

The red and blacks dug deep and closed to within seven points with a pick and go try through the forwards. They then defended their line from a massive wave of Silverdale attack and got back down the other end. In the 78^th minute they were awarded a penalty and they tapped and went and No. 8 Troy Howe burrowed over under the posts to lock it up and send the game to golden point extra time of 5 minutes each way.

The skies opened up and Silverdale just missed a 50 metre penalty at the end of the first spell of extra time. There was no scoring in the second five minutes and Pōneke won courtesy of them scoring the game’s first try.

In the Heartland Championship, It was a roller coaster afternoon for the three lower North Island teams, with all three losing at home.

Horowhenua-Kapiti went down to Hurricanes cousins Poverty Bay 26-19 at Levin and the Whanganui Butcher Boys were carved up 19-38 by West Coast.

Club Rugby was on hand at Masterton where Wairarapa-Bush succumbed 33-36 to Mid Canterbury.

Visitors Mid-Canterbury maintained their unbeaten start to the Heartland Championship, but only just and had winger Raitube Vasurakuta to thank as the big Fijian danced down the touchline in his 50th game for the union to score a 78th-minute winner and break the hearts of home side Wairarapa-Bush.

Aside from a shanked kickoff, the hosts started brightly and were across inside six minutes when lock Malakai Biumaiwai produced a high-quality offload to put his blindside flanker brother Isireli across. The visitors responded within minutes as Wai-Bush were slow to react to a quick tap and openside Declan McCormack profited, though the home team would have some rather justified complaints about where the tap was allowed to happen.

Wai-Bush regained the lead when Malakai Biumaiwai – the dominant figure of the first 40 – found space in front of him and put OBU loanee Folau Finau Vea into space 25m out. The big No8 isn’t built for speed but had enough to make the line. The next five minute saw an exchange of penalties with Jack Eschenbach kicking two for the Bush either side of one off the boot of Tom Reekie for the southerners, putting the hosts up 20-10.

That lead didn’t last as visiting halfback Kieran McClea exploited some poor goal-line defence to snipe over to close the margin to three. But the hosts defence held firm for the balance of the half with a couple of thumping hits by Finau Vea, and an impressive counter-maul deep into added time after Isireli Biumaiwai saw yellow.

Wai-Bush were able to see out the balance of the disadvantage without any damage, but no sooner were they restored to 15 Mid-Canterbury were in front for the first time, as not for the last they were able to torment Soli Malatai on the home sides right flank with centre Fotu Hala putting fullback Hugh Cameron over. A third Eschenbach penalty put the home team back in front, before Jack Delaney tried a short shovel pass that wasn’t really on and the ball was snaffled by the visitors. A grubber kick behind the line had home fullback Boitumelo Tsatsane scrambling and while he got close, he couldnt beat Hala to the ball.

Now down 23-29, the hosts worked their way downfield and earned a penalty in front of the posts. Given the faltering Wai-Bush scrum, it was something of a surprise they opted for the set piece rather than the points. But it paid off, as they were able to work an overlap on the left for winger Gracyn Evans to crash over. Eschenbach landed the conversion despite the tricky winds, and a fourth penalty minutes later had the hosts in front. Alas for the home crowd and to the delight of the sizeable travelling contingent, it was Vasurakuta who had the final say in a 36-33 scoreline.

Preceeding the Heartland game was the women’s clash between the home side and visitors Thames Valley which had Club Rugby Wairarapa-based arm in the middle.

The visitors side included prop Steph Te Ohaere-Fox, who with a 20+ year career, 105 FPC games for Canterbury, and 25 for the Black Ferns on her resume probably had more experience than the rest of the players combined. And when they scored twice inside the opening 10 minutes – one of which featured an outrageous behind-the-back pass from Te Ohaere-Fox – it seemed a repeat of last week rout by East Coast was on for the hosts. But to their credit they knuckled down and produced two tries of their own, although the visitors were able to reply each time to take a 22-12 lead to the break.

The second half continued the pattern of the first, though as the fatigue went up so did the error and penalty count. Both sides added tries to their tally, before the visitors pulled away with two more in the last 10 minutes. Rugby at this level remains in its infancy north of the Remutaka’s, so the hosts could take some pride from their performance against a union thats managed to build a six-team competition in recent years.

Your correspondent was impressed by Valley’s tall locking duo of Emily James and Hannah Riddle-Petchen, openside Naketa-Rose Tau-atevalu was everywhere and deservedly scored the final try, while winger Te Paea Puha was a constant threat and scored a well-taken try. Flankers Casey Mitchell and Olivia Giddens were tireless workers for the home side, and midfielder Jade Parker showed plenty in the few chances she got.

Auckland’s St Peter’s College maintained their firm grip on the Hurricanes Invitational U15 tournament title, winning this year’s final 29-15 over New Plymouth’s Francis Douglas at St Pats Silverstream this afternoon. Dunedin’s John McGlashan College finished third in the 8-team Division 1 after they accounted for Auckland side Dilworth College 22-15. The 12-team Division 2 section was won by Rongotai College, who overpowered Botany Downs College 64-5 in their final.

The rugby continues on Sunday with Finals Day of the Top 4.

Hurricanes teams Feilding High School and Manukura are both in the finals. Manukura play Hamilton Girls’ High School in their final at 10.30am and Feilding meet Rotorua Boys’ High School in their decider at 12.40pm.

The Wellington Pride and the Wellington Lions are also in action at Porirua Park, the Pride hosting the Taranaki Whio at 11.35am and the Lions Auckland for the Fred Lucas Cup at 2.05pm.