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Counties Power Club Rugby Round Up 10 July
11 July 2010
Waiuku shut Patumahoe down early in their 20-3 win on Saturday which has earned them a place challenging Pukekohe for the McNamara Cup in the Counties Power Club Rugby finals next weekend. Waiuku's concentration on their forward play appeared to prevent Patumahoe from getting the ball out wide. However Patumahoe's winger Richie Ah-Chong proved a difficult candidate to tackle and showed some great skill as did fellow winger Vernon Comley.
The Waiuku backs were solid but they will be keen to focus on finishing their points scoring opportunities for their match next weekend. At half time it was 9-0 to Waiuku and they were awarded a few more penalties before left winger Willie Heperi scored his try off a blindside move which gave Waiuku a points buffer. Bayden Morey who has been impressive with the boot all season successfully slotted five penalties for Waiuku which were crucial in the points tally.
Patumahoe are a good side with plenty of talent and had some good phases with scoring opportunities but didn't quite seem in the zone for the whole match which is vital for semi-finals football. They picked their points up from a penalty slotted by Doug Sanft. The Patumahoe Rugby Club will still have their U21's to cheer on in the final against Pukekohe next weekend. Waiuku are looking forward to next weekend as they have two teams in the final and are expecting unprecedented support from Waiuku at Bayer Growers Stadium with six buses already booked for Saturday.
Like Waiuku, the Pukekohe Rugby Club has two teams in the finals next weekend. Their premier side beat Karaka 44-20 to earn their place in the finals and as previously mentioned their U21 side will also play finals football next weekend against Patumahoe.
The crowd could have easily thought they were watching a club rugby finals match for the first half of the Pukekohe v Karaka game as they score remained even until after half time. Pukekohe Rugby Club put on an outstanding atmosphere for the semi-finals and they also put a lot of pressure on Karaka in the first half who defended well but it was Pukekohe hooker Mark Price who scored first after attacking from the kick off and was rewarded with the points after a series of phases. Winger Peni Buakula scored in the corner and first-five Armyn Sanders ran in over 30 meters to score an impressive try and also kicked a drop goal. No 8 Manoa Lesavua also added to the Pukekohe points tally by crossing the line. Rob Dennison showed how useful he is by scoring try out wide, converting two tries and kicking four penalties and Pukekohe also had a try disallowed. Karaka's Siale Piutau scored first for his side when they had numbers out wide. Karaka's Simione Saravanua scored his try down the side line from a kick through from Baden Kerr. Kerr also kicked both conversions and slotted two penalties. Karaka's young side possible felt the pressure of semi-finals football and make a few costly handling errors but this side can still be proud of their season winning round one and only loosing three games all year but it was Pukekohe senior's such as Price, Tuifua and Farrell who stood up and control the game which proved to be the difference in the end and their coach is hoping the whole town turns out to support them on Saturday.
Kick off for the McNamara Cup Premier Final is at 2.45pm at Bayer Growers Stadium.
In the premier Reserve grade Waiuku beat Manurewa 25-17 and Ardmore Marist beat Pukekohe 34-9 to dictate a Waiuku v Ardmore Marist final in the Bob Chandler Memorial match which will kick off at 1.00pm kick off at Bayer Growers Stadium.
In Division two, Onewhero ITM beat club mates Onewhero Profarm 30-0, Papakura Certified Scaffolding beat Te Kauwhata 39-15, Weymouth White beat Papakura B & G Boyce Ltd 48- 5 and Weymouth Blue beat Tuakau 53-17. The Division two final will be held on Sunday 22 August.
The Massey Cup U21 Final will be between Pukekohe and Patumahoe this Saturday at 1.00pm at Bayer Growers Stadium No 2 after Pukekohe beat Manurewa 21-17 and Patumahoe beat Karaka in the last seconds of the game 25-19.
In the U19 grade, Pukekohe beat Patumahoe 37-7, Onewhero Farmlands beat Onewhero Pak N Save 22-19, Waiuku beat Drury 17-5 and Karaka scored 41 unanswered points against Papakura. The U19 Bright Cup Final will be played on Saturday 31 July in the curtain raiser to the Steelers v Otago ITM Cup match at Bayer Growers Stadium.
Click here to view photos by Richard Spranger FPSNZ
