Northern United defeats Avalon

By Frank Neill

Northern United opened their Wellington Premier Rugby account with a 28-24 victory over Avalon on 6 April.

They had to withstand a fast finish from their opponents, however, who came back from being down 12-28 and also came close to scoring twice late in the match, only to knock on twice – once over the line and the other time close to the line.

Two tries to Norths number

8 Luca Rees proved telling, and Norths were also too strong for their opponents in the scrums and lineouts.

The holders of the Jubilee Shield, Northern United lost their first match of the season on 1 April, losing to Petone – the team they beat in last year’s final.

Norths scored first to take a 3-0 lead, but that was to be their only score with Petone taking out a very comfortable 41-3 victory.

The Northern United women’s team had a convincing

47-27 win over Oriental-Rongotai in the first round of the Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy on 8 April.

After beating Northern United in their first Swindale Shield men’s competition, Petone found much sterner opposition against Johnsonville on 6 April.

Johnsonville scored a try to level the game at 7-7 and then kicked a penalty to go up 10-7.

Petone, however, then monopolised the scoring to win 21-10.