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The Wellington U19s on their field after their victory over the Hurricanes Heartland U20s at Maidstone Park this afternoon. They were presented with the Central Region Shield at the post-match presentations.
- By Steven White & Scott MacLean
Another showcase afternoon of late season rugby this afternoon, with several leading matches played in Wellington and elsewhere. A summary of much of this is below.
The Centurions Development side started the day off with a thumping 80-28 win over Tasman B at Evans Bay Park.
The Centurions scored 12 tries and kicked 10 conversion, against Tasman’s tally of four converted tries. They led 42-7 at halftime.
Both wings, Jacob Denyer and Fritz Rayasi, scored hat-tricks, while flanker David Leota Johnson and halfback Mitchell McLeod both scored two tries.
Other try-scorers were flanker Connor Connor Tuifao and Jacob Walmsley. First-five Waylon Tuhoro-Robinson kicked nine of the conversions.
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The first of the three matches played on Maidstone Park was the opening Hurricanes U18 competition fixture between the Wellington Centurions and the Wellington Samoans, which the Centurions U18s won 30-5.
This was a Division A fixture for the John Hornal Trophy, and a replay of the last game of this competition last season in which the Centurions won with a last-gasp try and won the title.
There were few such dramas for the defending champions Centurions in this game that was played in mostly dry but moody conditions and following heavy overnight and morning rain.
The game was a well-contested fixture throughout with the battle of the breakdowns a real feature. But the lineouts were often a shambles with both sides contesting each other’s ball and causing numerous turnovers in that area.
The Centurions put together some lucid moments of continuity on attack, while first five Archie Sims gave them good field position with his kicking game, leading to tries in the 4th, 15th and 26th minutes as they built what proved to be a match-winning 17-0 lead.
Halfback Kian O’Connell opened the scoring with a well-taken try in the northwest corner of Maidstone 2, followed by tries to wings Shea Bosher and Liam Phelps.
The Samoans grew into the game as did their physicality, and their ball running loose forwards Dru Faletolu, Lazarus Webster and captain and No. 8 Elijah Solomona started making in-roads. This led to their sole try of the game just before halftime to second-five Perenise Patu following a penalty and lineout in the corner.
With skies darkening and the breeze picking up, the second half was more of a grind than anything spectacular. The Centurions scored their fourth try directly off a lineout in the corner and skipped ahead 22-5.
Sims then kicked a penalty from in front to make it 25-5.
There was no further scoring until just before fulltime when the Centurions finished off a passage of over a minute on attack with their fifth try, to replacement Laifone Kamoto.
In other opening U18 competition games today, three other matches were played.
In the other Division 1 fixture, the Hawke’s Bay Saracens defeated Poverty Bay 109-5.
In the Division 2 Gordon Noble-Campbell Cup, Whanganui beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 46-19 and Wairarapa-Bush beat Wellington Maori 33-5.
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The Wellington U19s kicked off their final match of their campaign on Maidstone 1 just as the U18 game was winding down.
They scored early through prop Corban King and then were in again soon after to right wing Dante Ford-Tuveve to double their lead to 10-0.
The Hurricanes Heartland U20s were in the game for long periods and created chances in the attacking zone but defence held them out.
The Wellington U19s scored two more well-taken tries in broken play, to halfback Jake Lawson and fullback Adam Jansen van Vuuren.
The Heartland team remained competitive in the second half, but two consecutive tries to lock Johnny Falloon early in the second half sealed victory.
These were followed by three more, to right Ford-Tuveve, second five Jayde Burns and replacement wing Fili Suakanaceva.
The Heartland team scored a well-deserved consolation try on fulltime to make the final score 49-5.
In the other Hurricanes U19 competition match Hawke’s Bay beat Manawatu 62-7 in Napier to seal second.
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Also in Napier, the Wellington Lions met a heavy defeat at the hands of the Hawke’s Bay Magpies.
The Magpies won their NPC round six encounter 45-19, making a strong start and finishing the game off well to sink the Lions.
Indeed, the closest the Lions got was when fullback Stanley Solomon ran in to score and first-five Jackson Garden-Bachop converted to level it up at 7-7 after 12 minutes.
The Magpies added to more converted tries and a penalty to Harry Godfrey to lead 24-7 after 30 minutes.
There was no further scoring by either side for another half hour until the Magpies crossed again through Jonah Lowe to make it 31-7.
The Lions replied with tries though left wing TJ Clarke and a customary one to replacement halfback Esi Komaisavai to cut the deficit to 31-19, but there would be no fairytale finish over the final 10 minutes as the home team scored another two seven-pointers.
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It will be back to Whangarei again next weekend for the Wellington Pride, as their hopes of a home semi-final were felled by the Northland Kauri 22-13 in Kaikohe.
The Pride were first on the board through an Arene Landon-Lane penalty, but the rest of the half belonged to the hosts as they ran in three tries without reply. A fourth soon after the resumption had Northland out to 22-3, and although the Pride scored a quickfire pair through Harmony Kautai and Keira Su’a-Smith, any hopes of a comeback petered out.
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In U18s girls rugby, the Centurion U18 Girls beat the Whanganui U18s girls 63-14.
Whanganui opened the game with intensity, applying pressure through turnovers and forcing the Centurions offside early on. However, the Centurions quickly settled into their rhythm, showcasing powerful ball carrying across both forwards and backs. With quick ball movement through the hands and a solid defensive effort from the forward pack, the Centurions gained control of the match. Their consistent execution and attacking momentum saw them pull away, securing an emphatic win.
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Avalon’s bid for a maiden national Under 85kg title ran into a solid white wall this afternoon, beaten 36-5 at home at Fraser Park by a very polished Christchurch High School Old Boys.
The Light Bears have lost just one on this competition in the past three years – last year’s final at the Cake Tin – and showed it with a typically Cantabrian performance that squeezed the life out of the Wolves. Avalon kicked off, but the next time they saw the ball was when they did again as HSOB marched downfield and a simple numbers mismatch left centre Ryan McNulty with little to do to score. Halfback Taine Cordell-Hull added the extras via the post.
Avalon had their chance to hit back, but an attacking 5m lineout was botched and the pressure relieved; it was to be the hosts best chance of the opening 40. The visitors were next on the board as they camped on the Wolves line before No.8 Billy Sloan barged over.
The visitors attack was relentless with Sloan and fellow loosies Josh Evans and Luke Robertson particularly prominent, and when they took a break tight forwards Josh Purdon, Tom Northcote, and Callum Nimmo took over, while midfielder Maifea Taiulu Feso – who has dropped 12 kilograms in a month to play in this team – providing added thrust when needed. Avalon could barely get their hands on the ball at this stage and when they did they couldn’t get out of their own half; and if not for the visitors overplaying their hand they could have been further behind.
But the scoreboard kept ticking over. Cordell-Hull added a penalty on the half-hour to take the lead to 15-0, and with flyhalf and captain Jarrod Percival pulling the strings the Bears continued to apply the pressure. Eventually Avalon broke, with Cordell-Hull finding space on the right and fullback Ned Milne had enough to make the line from 20m out with the halfback adding the extras.
Avalon were able to stem the tide at the start of the second half, but spent it almost all on defence. Eventually that told as the HSOB forwards went back to work and Purdon crossed from close range and with half an hour left the outcome seemed rather forgone.
Avalon finally found some degree of party, in-part due to moving Richard Evans taking over the playmaker role, but the white wave kept coming, aided by being able to empty the bench on the 60 minute mark in a way that Rassie Erasmus would be proud of.
The Light Bears final try came in somewhat freakish fashion. A Cordell-Hull grubber was mishandled by the Wolves’ Jack Ena and replacement winger Tom Baines, who’d overrun the ball, suddenly found it in front of him, picked it up, and scored.
Avalon would eventually get across the visitors line. Off a quick tap from a scrum penalty Richard Evans found Daizell Kepa who ran 40m to the line where he was hit high by Sloan. He got the ball down, but referee Campbell Barry decided further sanction was needed and the Light Bears No8 went to the bin. The last few minutes saw no addition to the scoreboard but fellow tryscorers Baines and McNulty also saw yellow, yet to the immense credit of the visitors even down to 12 the hosts couldn’t make an impression on them.
Pick of the bunch for the visitors was Jack Evans with the openside simply relentless all day, but each of the starting XV outshone their opposites. Richard Evans tried his best for the home team, but the Light Bears were just a class above.
HSOB now await the winner of next week’s quarter-final between the Auckland Uni Squids and defending champions the Pakuranga Panthers, while Wellington’s remaining hopes are pinned on Poneke who host New Plymouth Old Boys next Saturday.
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Road success for both of the wider region’s Heartland Championship sides today. Horowhenua-Kapiti triumphed in Te Kuiti beating King Country 46-36 and moving up to sixth on the ladder. HK led 24-21 at the interval and although the home side scored swiftly after the break, a strong next 30 minutes saw the visitors pile on 22 points without reply that proved enough to carry them home.
That’s one spot behind Wairarapa-Bush, who provided the result of the round in toppling unbeaten leaders West Coast 24-14 in Greymouth. That came after a nightmare day of travel with the Bush caught up in yesterday’s weather, which delayed their flight south and forced a bus ride across the Alps after missing their connection to Hokitika and only arrived in town late in the evening. That perhaps showed as the home side led 14-0 after 25 minutes but from that point the scoring was all green and red. Tries to lock Malakai Biumaiwai and bogan-haired Lewis Bush and a Jack Eschenbach conversion had the visitors on near-parity at the break. Winger Fiula Tameilau had the visitors in front 10 minutes into the second half before lock Cody Cunningham sealed matters with a try of his own.
Mid-Canterbury and neighbours South Canterbury remain unbeaten and lead. The Hammers thrashed stragglers East Coast 82-7, with South 35-24 winners over Whanganui. Defending champions Thames Valley lost again, this time 45-36 to North Otago, while Poverty Bay kept Buller tryless winning 38-3.
Horowhenua Kapiti hosts Wairarapa Bush next Saturday.
