Victorious Villagers Lift Swindale Shield

Petone are the 2004 Swindale Shield champions. They won their 14th title and their first since 1993 by beating Avalon and scoring a four-try bonus point, and by virtue of Poneke only scoring three tries in their win over Tawa and missing out on a bonus point that would have seen the Shield shared.

And Petone did it in style, sweeping past Avalon with some, at times, breathtaking rugby to win easily in the end. When the news that Poneke had stumbled filtered through to Villagers fans and players alike, cries of jubilation echoed around the darkening Fraser Park.

Despite a willing challenge from Avalon, who were clearly hard done by to be on the wrong side of a lopsided penalty count, it was always Petone?s day. Petone created four brilliant pieces of rugby in scoring the first four tries that they needed. No. 8 Daniel Farani set their wheels in motion in the 20th minute with a barnstorming short-side run to crash over in the corner.

First five Riki Flutey then orchestrated the next two tries. Both times Flutey showed his class by creating space, and first set up a try to centre August Collins and then toed ahead a perfectly weighted kick for halfback Cam Incledon to fall on. Their fourth try oozed confidence. Petone ran the ball from a defensive scrum and 90 metres later prolific try scorer Willie Moala dotted down for his ninth try of the season.

This made it 33-3 with 30 minutes remaining and the competition outcome was now left to unfold at Kilbirnie Park, where, despite dominating possession and territory for much of the game, Poneke couldn?t score the four tries it needed.

Poneke defeated Tawa 22-17, but only scored three tries in the process. However, with the amount of opportunities the red-and-blacks had they had to be a little disappointed with the final outcome. Throughout the first half the home side had kept Tawa imprisoned inside their own 22 but all Poneke could muster was an Evan Belford try and a Steve McColl penalty.

When halfback David Palu made an electric burst to set up Belford, who went over for a converted try in the corner with 15 minutes left it looked like Poneke would indeed get their bonus point. But it was not to be. In the end, Poneke had to muscle up in defence just to preserve the win as Tawa hammered away inside their opponents 22 in the dying stages.

Meanwhile, the final Swindale round dished up some equally ardent contests, if not as pertinent, as the top eight spots for the Jubilee Cup had already been decided upon. Of these the Old Boys-University ? Northern United game was the most interesting. Norths came storming back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to win comfortably, giving them some much needed confidence for the weeks ahead. Western Suburbs played to their potential in eclipsing Hutt Old Boys Marist, while Marist St. Pats and Upper Hutt had obligatory wins over Hardham Cup hopefuls Oriental-Rongotai and Johnsonville.