Upper Hutt through again

The Stephen Kearney Cup reaches the semifinal stage this week, with defending champions Upper Hutt College on track for a second consecutive finals appearance.

Upper Hutt trounced a young Wainuiomata team last week and will on Thursday host surprise semifinalists St Pat's Town.

St Pat's caused the boilover last week by destroying powerful Aotea College's playoff hopes.

Mana College's TJ Perenara was in imposing form with a brilliant match-winning try against Rongotai. Perenara will be a clear target for Taita College tomorrow.

Mana College 36 Rongotai College 32

Mana were boosted by the return of New Zealand secondary schools rugby player Perenara, who turned down a deal with the Melbourne Storm in early 2009 to focus his efforts on rugby union.

Rongotai were led up front by Hennie Tui and Callan Tapine and their pack looked to control the game, leading 22-16 at halftime.

Mana's fitness and the sheer brilliance of Perenara brought them home in the last five minutes. In Mana's last throw of the dice, Perenara received the ball on his own tryline. His speed, agility and strength saw him beat the entire Rongotai team over the length of the field to score under the posts.

Taita College 26 St Bernard's College 10

St Bernard's applied early pressure and were camped inside Taita's half. Taita defended well but caved in under the weight of possession to allow a try out wide.

Taita were quick to reply with a barge over try from big Junior Pesaleli. St Bernard's rallied for a nicely worked try under the crossbar and converted for a 10-6 halftime lead.

Taita fired up after the break with controlled possession. They continued to build pressure as their young backs added four tries.

St Bernard's suffered a blow when playmaker Phillip Vatikanu went off injured, but fought until the end with strong performances from Rei Manaia, Faamanu Anae and Lionel Taito-Matamua.

Junior Pesaleli, Fred Pule and Enos Palemene will play a part in tomorrow's semifinal for Taita.

St Pat's Town 38 Aotea College 16

With a big pack, Aotea started as heavy favourite at Ascot Park with Wellington under-18 rep Uiti Baker and Tusis Tuimanaluga in the centre positions.

The decision to play Melbourne Storm-bound Baker looked to have paid off when he crashed over for an early try. St Pat's followed with a try to centre Leo Furmaono.

St Pat's started to gain momentum by working as a pack, and they began to stop the big Aotea pack in their tracks. With impressive defence of one-on-one tackling and some very good team tackles they slowed Aotea.

Paul Tuia was outstanding at dummy half for St Pat's and exposed Aotea's marker defence as St Pat's led 24-10 at halftime.

Strong performances in the second half from Aotea's ever-present Michael Ioapo and Wellington under-18 rep player Johnny Teleaga couldn't prevent an upset.

For St Pat's, Petaia Tiai, Furmaono and Tuia all scored two tries each, with Manu Maihi and Tasesa Fuean scoring one each.

Upper Hutt College 26 Wainuiomata College 0

A very young Wainuiomata side came out to play but the Upper Hutt forwards were too enthusiastic and dominated their opposition.

Upper Hutt's 14-year-old Pride Peterson-Robati scored four tries on debut, while Danny Connell, Murphy Taramai and Steven Harrison were also stand- out performers.

SEMIFINAL DRAW 

Stephen Kearney Cup: Tomorrow 4.30pm: Taita College v Mana College Thursday 4.30pm: Upper Hutt College v St Pat's Town.  Bold denotes host.

- © Fairfax NZ News