Wairarapa-Tawa Colleges game top billing in College Finals Day
Right: Defending Premier 2 champions and undefeated Wairarapa College should be well supported again in their Murray Jensen Cup final against Tawa College tomorrow afternoon at St Pat’s Silverstream.
Tomorrow sees the conclusion to the local College Rugby season with the finals day at St Pats Silverstream. With the exception of the Boys Premier 1 and Girls titles, every other grade and division winners will be found. In all there are 13 finals, with 12 different schools being represented; with the host school having the highest representation with seven teams on show.
As well as all these below, Premier 1 winners Scots College are in action playing a Hurricanes regional semi-final against Gisborne Boys’ High in Gisborne. The winner of that game will face either Palmerston North Boys’ High School or Hastings Boys’ High School for a place in the National Top 4 next month.
Premier
The major final of the day is on the #1 ground at 1.30 pm with the Premier 2 decider for the Murray Jensen Cup between Wairarapa College, who won this title last year and beat Porirua 32-7, and Tawa College who reached this stage after a 23-8 win over the Silverstream 2nd XV.
Wairarapa are undefeated in competition games, having won all three grading games – including beating HIBS – but are presently ineligible for Premier 1 status, and then 10-from-10 in Premier 2. They also beat Rongotai College in a revival of their traditional match.
For Tawa, Saturday is their 22nd match of the season, having lost only two (to the St Pats Town 1st XV in grading and to Wairarapa 8-19 in the round-robin) and they won both the Porirua-region Beard Trophy and the regional Co-ed title already this year, and still have a Hurricanes-zone Co-ed match against Feilding High School to follow.
The Premier 3 final for the Paul Cameron Cup is at 1.00 pm on the #2 ground. After dropping into this grade after many years in Premier 2 Newlands College have gone undefeated in the competition rounds, including a 15-8 win over their opponents, the St Pats Town 2nd XV. Newlands beat Wainuiomata HS 17-12 in their semi-final, while the Town 2nds reversed their 13-18 loss earlier in the year to Bishop Viard to win with the same final score.
Premier 4 will be fought out between the Scots 2nds and Onslow College for the Onslow Cup after they prevailed 20-10 and 17-0 over the St Bernard’s and Porirua 2nd XV’s respectively. This is actually a repeat of last year’s final, with Scots the title holders and having narrowly won the meeting between the two earlier in the year by 27-24.
The Ross Findlay Cup will be at stake in the Premier 5 final, between the St Pat’s Town 3rd XV and Newlands College’s 2nds, with the Kilbirnie-side undefeated in the round-robin and including a 59-20 win over Newlands earlier in the year.
Age Grade
Some of the 1st XV stars of the next couple of years will be on show in the Under 15 Division 1 final for the Father Gus Hill Cup.
Top qualifiers St Pat’s Silverstream accounted for Bishop Viard by 57-7 in their semi-final and will be in the familiar surroundings of home. Their opponents will be Wellington College, who booked their place by defeating St Pats Town 20-15. Silverstream have racked up 383 points for and conceded only 51 in their 7 competition games (an average of 54-7), including a 34-12 win over College earlier in the year.
Scots College and the Silverstream 2nd U15 team will contest the Division 2 final. Scots won their semi-final 27-14 against Tawa, while Silverstream won on the road against Porirua College by 13-5. The Division 3 match will be between Newlands College, who won a nail biter 22-21 over Heretaunga, and the Wellington College 2nds who also won away over Taita.
Weight-restricted Grades
Silverstream’s domination of the weight-restricted grades this season is evidenced by the fact that only one of the six finals doesn’t involve one of the school’s teams.
The Under 80kg Arthur Reeve Cup will be decided between Silverstream’s ‘A’ squad and Hutt Valley HS. Both sides are actually undefeated on the field, with the sides’ two meetings this season having been cancelled or involved a default; and the match likely to be far closer than what either have experienced in competition so far.
In the Under 65kg grade the Division 1 final for the Ina Hansen Cup will be played out between in a straight final between Silverstream and St Pat’s Town after the two finished 1 & 2 after the conclusion of the round robin last weekend. This match could be a real cracker, as they have split their two meetings so far this season; Stream winning the first match 25-19 before Town won the second by 32-27.
Division 2 was probably the most competitive across all the grades with no side winning more than 5 of their 7 round-robin grades. Onslow and Upper Hutt have emerged to contest the final, after both won home semis over Silverstream 2 and Wainuiomata respectively; while the Division 3 final will be between Aotea and the Silverstream 3rd side.
The Under 55kg Division 1 final has the David Scott Cup at stake and will be contested between Wellington College and Silverstream, with Wellington College unbeaten all season and having won the two sides earlier match 13-0; while the Division 2 final will be between Kapiti College and Silverstream’s second side who upset St Bernard’s for the second time this year in last week’s semi-final.
Schedule for the day:
10.00 am
#1 – Under 65kg Division 1 – St Pats Town v Silverstream
#2 – Under 15 Division 2 – Scots v Silverstream 2
#3 – Under 55kg Division 1 – Wellington College v Silverstream
#4 – Under 65kg Division 2 – Onslow v Upper Hutt
#5 – Under 15 Division 3 – Newlands v Wellington College 2
11.30 am
#1 – Under 15 Division 1 – Silverstream v Wellington College
#2 – Under 80kg – Silverstream v Hutt Valley HS
#3 – Under 65kg Division 3 – Aotea v Silverstream 3
#4 – Under 55kg Division 2 – Kapiti v Silverstream 2
#5 – Premier 4 – Scots 2nd XV v Onslow 1st XV
1.00 pm
#2 – Premier 3 – Newlands 1st XV v St Pats Town 2nd XV
#3 – Premier 5 – St Pats Town 3rd XV v Newlands 2nd XV
1.30 pm
#1 – Premier 2 – Wairarapa 1st XV v Tawa 1st XV
Premier 1 First XV | 22 August 2014 | By Scott MacLean – ClubRugby.co.nz
