Representative Rugby taking centre stage this weekend

• By Scott MacLean

Updated: For the first time since early April, there isn’t a club or college game taking in Wellington tomorrow. There is still rugby happening though, with representative footy taking centre stage both at home and away.

Representative

The weekend starts early, with an abbreviated Māori rugby tournament at Porirua Park today and tomorrow. It gets underway with visitors Canterbury and Poverty Bay squaring off, followed by Te Upoko Wellington Māori against invited guests Wellington Fijians. Tomorrow Poverty Bay leads off against the Fijians, followed at 2.45pm by Te Upoko against Canterbury for the Tirakatene Shield.

The other rugby on in the capital this weekend is at Rugby League Park. The Wellington Pride complete their preparations for this years Farah Palmer Cup Championship campaign against rivals and Premiership side Manawatu at 1.00pm, preceded at 11.00am by a Pride Development side taking on the Whanganui representative team. The finalised Pride squad for the FPC will be named by coach Matt Poutoa on Sunday.

The Wellington Centurions and  Wellington Under 20s are both on the road, playing a twin bill at Napier’s Tremain Field against their Hawke’s Bay counterparts with the 20s game being the opening round of the Central Region Shield. Kick-off of both games side-by-side is 1.00pm.

The second Central Region Shield match tomorrow is between the Manawatu U20s and the Hurricanes Heartland U21s in Palmerston North.

Two Wellington Pasifika teams are in action at Colquhoun Park, Palmerston North. The U20s are playing Manawatu U20s B and the U18s are meeting the Manawatu counterparts. Kick-offs at 12.00pm and 1.30pm.

The weekend concludes on Sunday afternoon, with the Wellington Lions looking to put their horror outing against North Harbour behind them as they take on Otago under the roof at Forsyth Barr. Recent OBU player Harry Irving is on the bench for the home side. The game is for the Mike Gibson Memorial Trophy.

Under 85kg National Club Cup

A trip south for Poneke for their quarter-final in the national lightweight competition to take on Canterbury Country side Darfield in the last eight. The hosts have been impressive so far with wins over fellow Canterbury sides West Melton (46-15), Waihora (22-7), and New Brighton (31-0) so last year’s runners-up can’t underestimate them. Poneke will have been hardened by their wins over Johnsonville, New Plymouth OB, and last week’s comprehensive one over Pare-Plim and will want to go one better than last year.

Should they progress, Poneke will face the winner of the all-northern quarter between 2024 winners Pakuranga and Waiuku while on the opposite side of the draw the other central side still standing, New Plymouth’s Tukapa, hosts Karaka out of the north and the north-south crossover has Silverdale hosting defending champions High School Old Boys from Christchurch.

College

One Wellington college team is in action this weekend, with newly-crowned Wellington champions St Pats Silverstream on the road to Hastings to face Lindisfarne College in the Hurricanes region semi-finals with Lindisfarne reaching this stage as the top school from the franchise area out of the Central North Island competition. The other side pits Super 8 rivals Napier and Hastings against each other.

Heartland

Road trips for both Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa-Bush tomorrow. The Bush go south to Ashburton to take on defending champions Mid-Canterbury and looking to back up their opening win over Poverty Bay last Saturday. That is where H-K are headed, wanting to rebound from their home loss to King Country a week ago.

In the other matches King Country host Thames Valley, Whanganui are at home against Ngati Porou East Coast, Buller welcome North Otago to the coast, and South Canterbury face West Coast in Timaru.

_______________________________________________________________________

Teams (as supplied):

Wellington Lions

1.Geordie Bean (OBU)
2. James O’Reilly (HOBM)
3. Alex Hewitt (Upper Hutt)
4. Johnny Falloon (OBU)
5. Hugo Plummer (Tawa)
6. Caleb Delany © (OBU)
7. Du’Plessis Kirifi (Norths)
8. Matolu Petaia (Tawa)
9. Logan Henry (Petone)
10. Cam Burgess (MSP)
11. Reo Matsushita (Japan)
12. Divad Palu (Import)
13. Jackson Ropata (Import)
14. Isi Saumaki (Tawa)
15. Jordan Soli (Ories)
16. Penieli Poasa (Ories)
17. Jake Turnbull (Import)
18. Samuela Tawake (Import)
19. Murphy Taramai (Upper Hutt)
20. Dominic Ropeti (Ories)
21. Riley Williams (Import)
22. Piri Paraone (Petone)
23. Matt Proctor (Wellington)

Wellington Centurions

1.Senio Sanele (Upper Hutt)
2. Kaleb Saxon (Petone)
3. Harry Rankin (Petone)
4. Jack Riley (OBU)
5. Viliame Rarasea (MSP)
6. David Johnson (Ories)
7. Connor Tuifao (Petone)
8. Braydon Soi (Wainuiomata)
9. Waylon Tuhoro-Robinson (HOBM)
10. Jacob Waikari-Jones © (Petone)
11. Jacob Kennedy (Jville)
12. Ieti Campbell (Upper Hutt)
13. Caleb Robson (HOBM)
14. Fritz Rayasi (HOBM)
15. Dawson Smith (Upper Hutt)
16. Conley Alexander (Petone)
17. Jade Langi (Upper Hutt)
18. Luke Kapene (Wellington)
19. Mitchell Shields (OBU)
20. Luke Bidois (Tawa)
21. Emmanuel Solomona (Wainuiomata)
22. Bradley Crichton (Norths)
23. Archie Treadwell (Wellington)
24. Daniel Tafili (Ories)

Wellington U20s

1.Hamish Huggins (Poneke)
2. Kaleb Tapara (Pare-Plim)
3. Corban King (MSP)
4. Archie Schrader (Petone)
5. Tane Landon-Lane (Norths)
6. Brandon Lo (HOBM)
7. Elijah Solomona © (Wainuiomata)
8. Matthew Andrews (Avalon)
9. Bentley Faulkner (MSP)
10. Advent Va’a (Ories)
11. Max Reynolds (MSP)
12. Jeremiah Tuhenga-Vaitupu (Poneke)
13. Brodee Tetevano (HOBM)
14. Navrin Campbell (MSP)
15. Liam Slight (Upper Hutt)
16. Cazna Sale (MSP)
17. Elijah Talalupe (Ories)
18. Heath Tuifao (Petone)
19. Taniela Tuangalu (Wellington)
20. Ele Lupo (Tawa)
21. Fa’a Lokeni (Wellington)
22. Mike Brown (Poneke)
23. Kian O’Connell (HOBM)

Hawke’s Bay U20s

1. Louie Uregei (Hastings)
2. JJ Lilo-Iosefo (Hastings)
3. Nehemiah Lauvao (Havelock North)
4. Zach Taulapapa (NOBM)
5. Luka Kyle (Taradale)
6. Kane Ngawhare (NOBM)
7. Perez Malo (Hastings)
8. Lachlan Varcoe (NOBM)
9. Le’Sharn Reiri-Paku (Havelock North)
10. Joe Jury-Senitu (Taradale)
11. John Lameko (Hastings)
12. Malachi Osman (Napier Tech)
13. Jaziah Symons (Napier Tech)
14. Konnor Vainu (Havelock North)
15. Khan Pokere (MAC)
16. Jericho Wharehinga (Pirates)
17. Tobiuz Lowe (NOBM)
18. Membranz Tahu (Hastings)
19. Eli Southwick (Clive)
20. Drew Berg-McLean (Pirates)
21. Marcus Leach (Havelock North)
22. Isimeli Vono (Napier Tech)
23. Triumph Voice (Hastings)

Wairarapa Bush

1.Stan Wright, Jr (Marist)
2. Leon Tuiloma (Loan – Upper Hutt)
3. Lewis Bush (Greytown)
4. Malakai Biumaiwai (Greytown)
5. Cody Cunningham (Martinborough)
6. Van Prenter (East Coast)
7. Thomas Williams (East Coast)
8. Folau Finau-Vea (Loan – OBU)
9. Daryl Pickering © (Carterton)
10. Hoera Stephenson (Loan – Havelock North)
11. Soli Malatai (Greytown)
12. Josh Cavanagh (Carterton)
13. Fuila Tamielau (Carterton)
14. Hayden Cooper (Marist)
15. Gracyn Evans (Greytown)
16. George Parkes (East Coast)
17. Jerry Mapusua (Marist)
18. Sam Siaosi (Marist)
19. Marcus Ale (Marist)
20. Charlie Gain (East Coast)
21. Inia Katia (Carterton)
22. Archie Bennett (East Coast)
23. Josh Pepperell (Marist)

Horowhenua-Kapiti

1. Brett Manaia (Loan – HOBM)
2. John MacNeilage (Paraparaumu)
3. Ted Northcott (Rahui)
4. Isaac Carter (Waikanae)
5. Michael Laursen (Foxton)
6. Zeek Fiso (Loan – Pare-Plim)
7. Lesen Huiarangi (Paraparaumu)
8. Massie Harvey (Foxton)
9. Kahn Fotuali’I (Foxton)
10. Ethan Woodmass (Foxton)
11. Leighton Ralph (Rahui)
12. Leka Tupuola (Loan – HOBM)
13. Connor Paki (Foxton)
14. Taine Hata (Waikanae)
15. Zane Ainslie (Loan – HOBM)
16. Brad Reilly (Paraparaumu)
17. Max Saunders (Paraparaumu)
18. David McErlean (Foxton)
19. Junior Sione (Wanderers)
20. Aaron Lahmert (Waikanae)
21. TJ Barnsley (Paraparaumu)
22. Himiona Henare (Wanderers)
23. Darren Falaniko (Wanderers)

Poneke Under 85s

1. Nathan Marsh ©
2. Jasper Spencer
3. Will “Bootstrap Bill” Tobin
4. Pa Taikato
5. Jack MacGill
6. Matthias Lima
7. Remi Diouf
8. Sam Gard’ner
9. Jimmy-Lee Hongara
10. Cam Bond
11. Ethan Rangi
12. Alex Morrisey
13. Benjamin Huntley
14. Jason Love
15. Potene Rolls
16. Oscar Wilson
17. Geoff Botherway
18. Lucas Carroll
19. Declan Hay
20. Max Rodgers
21. Adam Lodge

Wellington Pasifika U18s: