Crushing victory for the Hawks

By Frank Neill

The Johnsonville Hawks have catapulted themselves into being strong contenders for the Jubilee Cup with a crushing 46-12 victory over Old Boys University on 1 July.

The size of the win surprised many rugby followers, coming against a team that was tied with the Hawks in second place following the premier

Swindale Shield competition. With the win, Johnsonville has earned themselves a week’s holiday, before they line up in the semi-final of the Jubilee Cup.

This year sees the Hawks playing in the Jubilee Cup competition for the first time in 25 years.

Playing on their home ground of Helston Park, the Hawks wasted no time getting on the scoreboard.

Developing and implementing a Glenside Reserve Management Plan should be included in Wellington City council’s 2024-34 long term plan, the Glenside Progressive Association said in its submission to the council.

The plan should be developed and implemented in partnership with both the progressive association and the community, the submission said, and should be included in formal budget planning and funding allocation.

The concept the progressive association is promoting is to reduce the carbon footprint by managing Glenside Reserve as a natural reserve, where the natural habitat of bird and fish wildlife flourish

A penalty by Mark Sutton was followed by a try to wing Aukuso Tuitama, who intercepted a pass and ran 50 metres to score. The successful conversion saw the Hawks take a 10-0 lead after just six minutes.

Johnsonville went on to add two more converted tries before half time, with prop Ha’amea Ahio and loose forward Tyler Hall dotting down. The Hawks continued to dominate after the break, with Mark kicking an outstanding 40 metre penalty into the wind to open the second stanza.

Aukuso scored his second try – the first of three second half Hawks tries. Outstanding wing Finlay Sharp and loose forward Josh Betham also snared a five pointer each.

In other games in the round, Petone defeated Palmerston North Marist 3 nil and Taradale had a strong 6-1 result over Victoria University.

The match was a milestone for number eight Sergio Hollis, who ran onto Helston Park for his 50th premier match.

Johnsonville’s second team had a much tougher encounter with Old Boys University in the premier 2 H D Morgan Memorial Trophy match. Johnsonville emerged the victors by a narrow 31-28.