The last of the club rugby finals in Wellington was this afternoon, with top qualifiers and first round winners the Wellington Axemen beating the Petone Brotherhood 29-22 to win the Reserve Grade Division 1 John Davies Cup title.

The John Davies Cup trophy presentation. Photo: Mike Lewis Pictures.

Elsewhere, the Wellington U18 Pasifika side beat the Manawatu Māori Colts 53-14 in Palmerston North in their inaugural hit out.

The Wellington Pasifika U18 team scored nine tries, with Fraser Lindsay scoring a hat-trick, Ethan Matega 2 and Mesi Latele, Liko Sialava’a, Taysian Davey-Tiotio and Drayton Maui one each.

Te Upoko Wellington Māori missed out 26-52 to Waiataha Canterbury Māori in Christchurch this afternoon. The home side defended the Sir Eruera Tirikatene Shield.

The Manawatu Development team beat Wellington Samoa 42-12 in their fixture on Porirua Par

There were two representative matches at Rugby League Park today. The Wellington U19s and the Wellington Centurions both had narrow wins over Hawke’s Bay opposition. Accounts of both below.

As far as their Central Region Shield U19 title defence goes, Wellington will be happy with their bonus point 24-22 win over their Hawkes Bay counterparts this afternoon, particularly so after hearing of the other result of the afternoon in Palmerston North which was a 25-19 win to the Hurricanes Heartland side over the Manawatu U19s.

But it was a fortuitous win in an often-scratchy performance.

Wellington won the game with a try a few minutes from the end to replacement halfback Jake Lawson after two minutes in possession.

Hawke’s Bay will count themselves unlucky not to at least have drawn the game after first five/fullback Luke Thomas missed a sitter of a conversion. This made the score 22-17 and not 24-17 at the next re-start.

Hawke’s Bay were all over Wellington throughout the second half after Wellington led three tries to nil at halftime. The Junior Magpies scored early from a penalty and lineout to close the margin to 17-10. They then missed out on scoring three consecutive tries over the next 15 minutes, with two knock-ons close to the line, a held-up player over the line and a yellow card to a Wellington player.

The Magpies finally scored when former Wellington flanker Drew Berg-McLean took a tap penalty and dived through under the posts to make it 17-17. They scored again after Wellington’s lineout broke down inside their 22 and came up with a similar try.

Earlier, Wellington had scored three tries to lead 17-3 at halftime.

Wellington scored a try at the start and the end of the first half, and one in the middle.

The first was from an attacking scrum and a dart at the line by starting halfback Mike Brown. The second was scored from a lineout drive in the carpark corner by hooker Semurana Fepule’ai, and the third by lock Sam Thomson after a galloping break in midfield by No. 8 Ollie Church.

Lock Sam Thomson scores for the Wellington U19s. Photo: Andy McArthur.

Hawke’s Bay scored their only points of the first half through a Thomas penalty. They were competitive in the first half but made a number of unforced errors, and Wellington’s tackling was good.

The other Hurricanes U19s Central Region Shield match played at Ongley Park, Palmerston North, saw the Hurricanes Heartland side beat the Manawatu U19s 25-19.

Both teams scored two tries apiece in the first half as the Heartland team went into the break leading 17-12. It remained close in the second spell, with the winning points coming via two penalty kicks.

The Wellington Centurions beat the Hawkes Bay Saracens 45-40 in the battle of the Development sides in the second game at Rugby League Park.

There was plenty of action in the Centurions – Saracens match today. Photo: Andy McArthur.

As the high score suggests, defence was often porous throughout the game. But it was called upon over the final few frantic minutes by the Centurions. Protecting their one try lead, the visitors should have scored at least three times to have a shot at winning in the dying minutes, including being held up over the line once and failing to score from two lineouts in the corner.

Hawke’s Bay had come back in the fourth quarter with two quickfire tries after the Centurions had seemingly been in control when leading 45-26, and with fresh legs entering the match off the bench.

Centurions halfback Mitch McLeod scored two and set up two tries, including their last one by right wing Finlay Sharp after running back the re-start from the previous try and breaking through up the grandstand touchline.

McLeod then converted Sharp’s try from out wide and was duly subbed. At this point, the home team threatened to run away with it, but the Saracens had other ideas and momentum shifted in their favour.

After a minute of broken play, fullback CJ Mienie sprinted clear to score under the posts, followed by another burst which led to a second consecutive converted try.

Up to this point, Hawkes Bay were always in touch but never threatening to win. The Centurions led 24-19 at halftime and then stayed ahead as the second half unfolded.

Wellington had led 17-5 after 25 minutes, scoring three tries after cutting through gaping holes in centre field.

Hawkes Bay’s first try came via a charge-down with flanker Ryeon Yoon scoring.

The scoring continued right up to halftime with blindside flankers Lansen Randell and Conner Tuifao scoring for their teams Hawkes Bay and Wellington respectively.

Try time for the Hawke’s Bay Saracens. Photo: Andy McArthur.

After halftime, the Centurions punished Hawkes Bay for an exit play error inside their 22, leading to McLeod scoring the first try of the second half. This was followed by Hawkes Bay scoring a lovely 70 metre breakout try from a scrum to their left wing. This set the tone for the remainder of the second half which was often loose and frenetic, especially after both sides emptied their benches.

In the Heartland Championship, lower North Island sides Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa-Bush had a win and a loss.

Horowhenua-Kapiti missed out 40-27 to Mid Canterbury in Ashburton while Wairarapa Bush defeated North Otago 56-29 down the road in Oamaru. It was 29-14 to Wairarapa-Bush, who went on the rampage in the second half scoring 42 unanswered points.

In the Farah Palmer Cup Women’s NPC competition, the Wellington Pride beat the North Harbour Hibiscus 28-10 away in Albany.

The Pride brought a superior set-piece, plenty of patience on defence and they took their chances in winning their second win.

Bouncing back from their loss to Otago last Sunday, the Pride took the lead early when fullback Keira Su’a Smith ran on to a pinpoint cross-kick by first-five Arene Landon Lane.

Hooker and captain Valini Vaka broke free from a maul to dot down in the corner, before veteran lock Sanita Levave and wing Harmony Kautai crossed the whitewash after another sweeping movement to give them their bonus point.

The Pride led 20-3 at halftime and that score stayed that way until replacement Norths wing Baylee Meroiti scored again in the 70th minute. The Hibiscus scored a consolation in referee’s time to finish the game.

The Manawatu Cyclones host the Hawke’s Bay Tui on Sunday afternoon, while the men’s teams, the Manawatu Turbos and Wellington Lions, meet in the match that follows in the NPC.

College

Feilding High School defeated Hastings Boys’ High School 52-26 to win the Hurricanes Region Final today.

Feilding led 19-12 at halftime but put the afterburners on in the second spell to pull clear and win well.

Feilding will play the Blues winners, either Kings College Auckland or Westlake Boys’ High School, in their Top 4 opener on Friday.

There were two College Sport Wellington rugby finals today, with St Bernard’s College beating Aotea College 75-7 in the U65kg Division 3 final and the Porirua College Second XV defeating Wellington College U16 Black 27-24 to claim the Premier 5 Plate.

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