By Carey Clements

Since the Premier Grand Final concepts were introduced into Wellington Rugby League more than 50 years ago, many have produced extremely tight, exciting matches with two in 1986 and 2014 going into extra time.

The men’s final on Saturday at the Hutt Recreation Ground between defending champions Wainuiomata and minor premiership winners St George, was another for the ages and in doing so became the third to go into extra time.

Before analysis can be given about this final, there were some things worth noting with the first being that the Dragons had the better record on offence, while Wainuiomata had the tighter defence.

Both teams had picked up one win against each other in the regular season before the playoffs and semis began and both were seeking wins to rewrite their own history books. In Wainuiomata’s case, they were looking for their first back-to-back wins since 1991-92, while for St George, their first long awaited Grand Final victory since 1977.

To ensure the Dragons had a touch of good luck going into the final, four surviving members (including two that flew over from Australia) from the side of 77 gave some motivation to the team, in the changing rooms, before the big dance started up.

Although slightly behind the Dragons statistically going into the final, Wainuiomata was by far the more experienced of the two sides, with its seasoned player Marvin Karawana, having first played for the Lions in the 2003 final, 21 years ago.

St George on the other hand only had four players in its playing squad that had been in the team that last entered the grand final in 2021.

As a result, everything was set up beautifully in terms of whether it would be youth over seasoned heads and pure power up the middle winning out over electric pace out wide.

All of these formulas made the ideal Jimmy versus Kene showdown, between two of the most astute coaches in the premier competition, that gave few secrets away in the leadup, but much heart and soul throughout regular and then semi-final fixtures.

And so onto the match and as anyone knows, simple, basic league is a good way to get players into a rhythm at the start of any game.

Someone however forgot to tell that to St George as from literally the very first kick off of the game, they were forced to do a goal line drop out, following Wainuiomata’s successful downtowner, which bounced between two players and then going over the dead ball line.

After surviving that, both teams received some early penalties from Wellington premier debutant Grand Final referee, Paki Ngaira, which ensured game focus went back on instead of play coming from adrenaline rushes.

The honour of the first team to score in the final went to St George after 9 minutes when a nice offload in a tackle from second row Daniel Simi resulted in his centre Luke Patelesio reaching out for the line through two tacklers for a well-executed converted try.

This gave the momentum it needed to build its offence and although it missed one opportunity near the line a few minutes after the try, it soon bagged its second four pointer when a successful skip pass from hooker Setu Fa’avae to his standoff Ontreal Panapa, was then replaced with a well weighted chip kick, resulting in his captain Rob Ulaula going over for his 8^th premier try of the season.

St George Captain, Robert Ulaula crashes over for a try in the WRL Premier Grand Final

The subsequent goal by Tafiti now put the Dragons up 12-0 after 13 minutes, but after a sustained period of non-scoring by both teams, St George’s dream first half continued when Adam Tone took a ball ten metres out from the line and ran through a Wainuiomata defender for his side’s third converted try.

This now gave the Dragons a very good 18-0 lead with nine minutes left to play until the break, as the stealth Wainuiomata supporters became uncharacteristically quiet.

That peace however did not last long as the Dragons suddenly had a brain explosion by giving away a needless high penalty ten metres out from their line. Wainuiomata did not need to accept a second invitation for this and several tackles later went over for their first try of the game after 36 minutes, following a fine offload, that then resulted in the fullback Joshua Onekawa going over the line.

Wainuiomata standoff Rhemus Rutene made the successful goal to make the score 18-6 with just four minutes remaining until the break. However, with St George failing to get back quickly on defence, the Lions soon pounced again seconds before the break when a fumble on the line, resulted in Isiah Tuari going over for a converted try.

St George went into halftime leading 18-12 and although happy to lead, some thoughts at the break must have turned as to how they would slow down the quicker Wainuiomata offence in the second spell, while coaching instructions went out to hold onto the ball longer and complete better sets.

The Dragons went straight into attack mode after the resumption but after losing the ball over the sideline with little yardage left for the tryline, frustrations then went further for both sides as penalties again began to creep in.

The sideline began to take further affect on the Dragons when another opportunity try went begging through a player over running the ball after a good break had been made and by then conceding five penalties inside the first 7 minutes, the Dragons were now starting to lose control.

Wainuiomata also had their moments and one early crucial stage in the second half came when its outside centre Dante Kakahi was stretched off after his patellar tendon in his right leg, gave out while trying to play the ball.

A fine converted Rutene try from going over the top of two tacklers, levelled the scores at 18-all with 30 minutes remaining as the Wainuiomata faithful began to believe the possible.

Further St George mistakes by kicking the ball out on the full and then holding down a player too long just out from their line, allowed the Lions to go ahead for the first time in the game after 56 minutes of game time with the subsequent penalty kick.

After conceding another schoolboy penalty (this time for not healing the ball back at a play the ball), the subsequent turnover allowed Wainuiomata to further go ahead when an initial break by second row John-Tahana Wharepapa-Rawiri allowed his prop Lofa Lauvi to then execute beautiful sidesteps off both feet, before going through a gap between three defenders.

Rutene’s fourth successive conversion now put the Lions ahead 26-18, but just as this was giving Wainuiomata the boost it needed to professionally finish off the game in style, it too gave away two crucial penalties by their line for being caught offside and then having a two-player strip, as Ulaula was about to go over.

Wainuiomata then crucially lost one of its hard-working forwards Karawana to the sinbin to leave the Lions with only 12 on the field up until the last three minutes of the regulated second half time.

The subsequent penalty allowed Ulaula to have his revenge by going over and with the subsequent Tafiti goal, the Dragons were now trailing by just 24-26.

A few minutes later, the Dragons could have gained the match winner, but again lost the ball close to the line. This mistake however did not prove too costly as the ensuing winning scrum by Wainuiomata then saw a stray pass go out wide, which resulted in the substitute outside back Cyrus Time pick the ball up and go over for an opportunists converted try with six minutes remaining.

This now meant that the lead changed for the third time in the game with a 30-26 score being in favour of the Dragons and hope, that the Appleton Shield would be returning to them after 47 long years.

All they needed to do at this point was just to settle on the basics with assured compressed defence and making sure their sets on attack went the full distance.

These two simple areas however went out the window by the Dragons only having a three offensive set before going over the sideline and then kicking the ball into touch in the last minute, instead of sending a long downtown kick, that would have meant the Lions would have had to run possibly at least half the length of the field.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Wainuiomata equalised the score with seconds left on the clock when the Lions gained what was likely to be their last set from the ensuing play the ball that began 20 metres out from the St George line and 20 metres inside the field.

After the ball was thrown around in hot potato style, Rutene doubled around to Onekawa, before giving him a superb quick offload in a tackle. All that was left was for Onekawa to successfully run the remaining last couple of metres and tie the scores up, while in the process referee Ngaira accidentally fell to the ground.

Wainuiomata had done it and now with time up on the clock all that was left was for Rutene to complete the win with the conversion, 15 metres out from the left-hand corner. 

Ironically after having such a superb game with five successive kicks at goal, Rutene missed and in doing so held the head in his hands in both disbelief and despair.

This meant a second toss was made with two five-minute halves, trying to settle a final winner.

The first period saw St George kick the ball out on the full in the second minute and this again gave the Lions, the offensive lift they needed.  Following three hard worked hit ups, a chip kick was successfully sent through to Onekawa for his second try.

Rutene made up for his vital miss with the goal and to give the Lions a 36-30 breathing space.

The second extra period soon saw Ulaula lose the ball 35 metres out from his line and in the ensuing set, Wainuiomata got an unexpected bonus recount, following another St George unforced error. It was left for scrumhalf Xavier Seal to send a long pass out to Wharepapa-Rawiri to go over for his 15^th try of the season.

Although Rutene missed the kick, it did not matter as Wainuiomata were now leading 40-30, and with just two minutes remaining, they knew that the blunder of conceding two converted tries, was now an impossibility, given they again had the possession from the ensuing restart.

A short time later, Ngaira’s whistle blew and so too came the huge wave of Wainuiomata supporters, including a dog, that featured in last year’s grand final at Rugby League Park.

Wainuiomata co-captain John Tahana Wharepapa-Rawiri is all smiles while speaking on the game with Atiawa Toa FM anchor, Semi Kuresa.

The result meant the Lions could now claim to its first successive two peat in 32 years and for St George, many thoughts as to how they let an 18-nil lead slip away from their grasp.

Although disappointed with the overall final result, the St George coach Keneti Ropeti, was proud of the way his side competed throughout the game.

“It has been my three-year mission to see us go all the way and with it only being two years now, we now have a taste, to allow everyone to come back next year and hopefully all the way.”

“We knew that winning the minor premiership meant nothing going into the game as it came down to whoever showed up on the day. We showed up, but Wainuiomata was just that bit better,” he said.

Ropeti also felt a difference was that St George’s overall fitness was less than their opponents and this meant they struggled at times, to get back together and then slide their defence out wide when required.

“Sometimes we were going back when the tackle had not been properly made and at other times they also went back to their old habits, and this meant it was going to be hard to come back.”

St George prop Jesse Brown gave a missive contribution for his side with countless defence and offence and was back up well by Ulaula and Tafiti.

Dragons’ captain Ulaula felt his side controlled Wainuiomata well up the middle but was caught off guard when they started to move the ball wide.

Wainuiomata coach Jimmy Samu noted he was on the edge of his seat in the last few minutes of regulation play.

“We should not have been in the position, but it was good to see the boys show resilience and bounce back, which in the end was decided on a final kick.

“Our last two tries came out of pure hunger and the boys just stuck to their set and whatever opportunities that came their way meant they needed to take it.

“All they needed to do then was to run the ball fast and score,” he said.

Samu also credited the St George coach for the way they shut his side out at vital times and exposing them in their weaker areas.

Wainuiomata forwards Wharepapa-Rawiri, Karawana, loose forward Ulai Oti-Lahood, prop Johnny Skinnon and hooker Faasipa Itula were all important cogs in the green and black machine, while in the backline Rutene and Onekawa also provided some staunch never say die service.

Wainuiomata co-captain Oti-Lahood, felt the game was mentally the toughest he has ever played in.

“We kept going down-up, down-up and the later up-down before again that changed,” he said. "

“This meant that it was hard to keep the boys motivated to keep going in those hard situations, but I knew that if one or some of us stepped up to set an example, others would then gain that same belief and also pick up their play.”

“We knew that if we played a fitter game, some of the big St George forwards would struggle, and towards the end that proved to be the case,” he said.

In officiating the final, Ngaira became the first referee from outside the Wellington region to control the final, and this meant no members of the coaching staff could do their homework and find out about his style before the game began.

As a result, his calm measured and unrushed judgement and deliberate slow signals, allowed him to show astute awareness and control in one of the best Grand Final refereeing displays in many years.   

Scores: Wainuiomata Lions 40 (Joshua Onekawa 2, Isiah Tuari, John Tahana Wharepapa-Rawiri, Rhemus Rutene, Lofa Lauvi tries; Rutene penalty goal, 5 goals), St George Dragons 30 (Luke Patelesio, Ebenezer Rota-Aleni, Rob Ulaula, Adam Tone, Cyrus Time-Taotua tries; James Tafiti 5 goals); Halftime: St George 18-12; Fulltime: 30-all; Referee: Paki Ngaira.

Penalties with normal regular halftime in brackets: Wainuiomata 9 (5), St George 9 (3).

Article added: Monday 12 August 2024