Whiti Te Ra takes out University
The ability to spot weaknesses in the opposition almost from the kick-off allowed O¯ taki’s Whiti Te Ra to clinically take out the Wellington Rugby League Premier Grand Final title with a 26-20 win over the Victoria University Hunters at Porirua Park on Saturday afternoon.
Although the final score reflected closeness, it was entirely appropriate that the win would fall towards the O¯ takibased team, which under its nickname of Brothers, appropriately summed them up as a close-knit side always there for one another, both on and off the field.
The win also allowed Whiti to claim a three-peat of successive Wellington grand final titles, following its hat-trick of successive titles in the Manawatu¯ competition between 2013 and 2015. It was the first time that a Wellington league club claimed its third successive title since the Porirua Vikings win in 2010.
Going into the final, both teams knew it was going to be a tight struggle as Whiti had claimed the first encounter in round four with a 22-14 win in O¯ taki, before tight defence allowed the Hunters to shut out the Brothers with a 16-10 win at Kelburn Park in round 11.
Although facing students and graduates, Whiti Te Ra too are a clever team and with its highly experienced Manaia Osborne leading the direction as a pivotal standoff, Whiti Te Ra got off to a great start in just the second minute of the game when his two-man overlap pass resulted in wing Henare Manning going over for an unconverted try in the left hand corner.
The Hunters gained the lead for the only time in the game when an intercept and subsequent offensive burst by centre Lui Afamasaga inside his own 30m, resulted in his speedy wing Vili Rawalai going over for a converted try in the ninth minute.
Just before the first quarter had ticked by, the lead changed hands for the third time when a perfectly weighted chip kick by Osborne allowed his right wing Aaron Whitikia to go over unmarked.
Some more deft play by Osborne around passing, kicking or even going on a successful solo run near the posts resulted in Whiti putting on a further three unconverted tries in the first half to lead 20-6 at halftime.
Early in the second half Mike Hollis started to turn the Hunters around when a brilliant kick and chase led to a converted try to narrow the margin to 20-12.
A short time later the Whiti loose forward Toddy Eriha was given a10-minute sinbin, with the Hunters just metres from the offensive try line. But after a quick discussion rather than go for the try, Hollis then successfully kicked over a penalty, before kicking a second one at the start of the final quarter.
Although it was understandable the Hunters wanted and did narrow the margin with the two penalties while regaining the possession from the subsequent restart, it was a tactical blunder as they had a player superior advantage and were only metres from the line when two unconverted tries would have levelled the game and two converted