J’ville Hawks leapfrog Tawa

By Frank Neill

Outstanding dispays by the Tuitama brothers and a dominant performance from the forward pack helped the Johnsonville Hawks to a 27-19 victory over Tawa at Helston Park on 27 May.

With the win Johnsonville lifted the Carmen Cup, played each season between the two teams.

It also saw the Hawks leapfrog Tawa on the points table, and they are now fifth following round nine of Wellington Rugby’s Swindale Shield competition.

Jason Tuitama scored the first of Johnsonville’s three tries, finishing a backline move following a scrum on Tawa’s 22 line. Jason and his brothers would then feature in the next two Hawks tries also.

Playing on the left wing, Jason made a clean break and offloaded to his brother Aukuso, who scored close to the posts in the final play of the first 40 minutes.

Halfback Mark Sutton converted both tries and also kicked two first half penalties, one from long range, to give the Hawks a 20-7 half time lead.

The Hawks added to their half time total half way through the second spell.

Aukuso began the move when he attacked from deep inside the Hawks half and offloaded to left wing Jason Tuitama who but still fell well short of the total. The outstanding, with

Karori had their first draw, 2-2 against Petone while United squeezed past Taradale 2-1. There was more squeezing at Seatoun Park with the home team getting the edge over Mana Coach Services North Wellington 1-0. Palmerston North Marist had the outing of the weekend in a home victory, 6-0 over Victoria University.