OBU secure Swindale Shield as Women’s and lower grade titles decided

Above: Ories No. 8 Joanah Ngan Woo spying a gap in her team's 26-12 win over Norths on Saturday. The first round Fleurs Trophy was shared this year. The second round Vctoria Tavern Trophy starts this coming weekend. 

They won’t be presented with it until after next week’s 13th and final first round match, but the Old Boys University Goats are this year’s Swindale Shield champions.

Old Boys University defeated Avalon 39-0 on their Old Timers’ Day today in their first match of the season on the Basin Reserve, to annex the Swindale Shield with next week’s round to spare.

OBU’s rival for the first round title, Oriental-Rongotai, stumbled to lose 6-3 to Petone in their Jim Brown Memorial Trophy and Old Timers’ Day match, to give the Goats a seven-point buffer at the top of the table.

On a grey old afternoon and following heavy overnight and morning rain, there were also several first round winners found and crowned today.

The first round Women’s Fleurs Trophy was shared for the first time ever, after Oriental-Rongotai beat Northern United 26-12 in their first round decider on their Old Timers’ Day at the Polo Ground. The win without a four-try bonus point drew them with Norths on 39 points on the standings at the end of the first round.

Old Boys University Green have won the first round Colts Division 1 Paris Memorial Trophy for the fourth consecutive year, after beating Marist St Pat’s 16-3 in a tight tussle in the decider at Nairnville Park. OBU scored the only try of the match after five minutes and then withstood a withering assault on their line by MSP throughout much of the first half. Playing with the wind advantage in the second half, OBU inched ahead through penalties and established a winning buffer with 10 minutes to play.

OBU’s First Grade team also won their first round title this afternoon, beating Tawa 46-5 to capture the first round Thompson Memorial Cup. OBU won all eight games to finish clear of second placed Norths.

The Wellington Light Axemen have won the U85Kg Division 1 JC Bowl first round title. They needed to beat the HOBM Howlers today to leapfrog the Tawa Titans into first place and they won in style with a seven tries to nil 47-0 win.

The Marist St Pat’s second XV also won the first round Premier Reserve competition today with a week to spare, beating bottom placed Johnsonville 88-0. MSP will be presented with the Harper Lock Shield at the conclusion of their last round match next week against Poneke, who will also be playing to win to seal the second spot available for the upcoming Premier 2 Hardham Cup competition.

Swindale Shield

In the first round Swindale Shield, the Upper Hutt Rams’ 21-15 victory over Poneke at Westpac Stadium on Friday night not only kept their chances alive but knocked out Petone’s and defending first round champions Hutt Old Boys Marist’s.

It also put the spotlight on the Northern United-Wainuiomata clash today at Jerry Collins Stadium for the Alf Keating Memorial Trophy, with the winner securing their ‘top 8’ spot with next week’s last round to play.

Playing with the wind, Norths skipped out to a 16-0 lead courtesy of three Jackson Garden-Bachop penalties and a try to wing Te Kahui Bishop. Wainuiomata eventually closed to 12-19 at halftime after tries to No. 8 Ben Tupuola and fullback Peter Umaga-Jensen.

Wainuiomata then won the game with a two-try burst early in the second spell, outside backs Tau Mamea and Umaga-Jensen (his second try) scoring tries. Norths came back with a late flurry but the green and blacks held them at bay.

Marist St Pat’s and the Wellington Axemen also registered bonus point wins today. MSP made little race of their match against lowly Johnsonville winning 65-5 - following a long injury break while Johnsonville lock Anthony Petett was taken from the field by ambulance - while the Axemen pitched a shutout over HOBM at the Hutt Rec winning 37-0. Tawa were also big winners, handing Paremata-Plimmerton a lesson with a 68-0 whitewash.

The upshot of this weekend’s results means that MSP, Wellington, and Wainuiomata join Old Boys-University and Oriental-Rongotai in the Jubilee Cup field. Norths, Poneke, Tawa and the Upper Hutt Rams will be seeking one of the remaining three places in their matches next weekend, including the head-to-head contest at Porirua Park between Norths and Tawa.

Simply put, a win for any of those four will see them through, while a loss has them at the mercy of results elsewhere. Only Norths could conceivably lose and go through, but that would still need them to get both a try-scoring and close loss bonus points. We’ll cover these in more detail in our final round preview on Friday.

Women’s

In today’s feature match at the Polo Ground, Ories scored their three tries through second five-eighth Fa’asua Makisi, wing Tina Paulo and hooker Alicia Print. Ories were also celebrating Makisi’s 50th match today and the club made blazer presentations to her and flanker Kirsty Stewart who also recently brought up her half century of appearances.

In other Women’s matches this weekend, Avalon secured the fifth spot up for grabs in the second round Victoria Tavern Trophy starting next weekend, after beating Marist St Pat’s 25-17.

Wainuiomata eased past Johnsonville-Tawa 117-0, while Old Boys University beat the Upper Hutt Rams by default, meaning that Ories, Norths, OBU, Ories, Wainuiomata and Avalon will be contesting the championship round.

MSP, Poneke, HOBM, the Upper Hutt Rams and Johnsonville-Tawa will be contesting the Senior Women’s division throughout the remainder of the season.

Harper Lock Shield

Marist St Pat’s accounted for competition minnows Johnsonville 88-0 today to clinch the Harper Lock Shield with next week’s last round to spare.

Much interest next week will centre on the fortunes of three contenders still alive to make the Hardham Cup, Poneke, OBU and Tawa.

Poneke (on 40 points) will be chasing a win over MSP to qualify, but will still be sweating on the fortunes of their Premiers to make the Jubilee Cup. The Goats (on 40) could pip them when they take on bottom-side Johnsonville, While Tawa (38) are still a chance to make the Hardham Cup for a second straight year.

Of note, Petone (on 44) are also right up there chasing the runner-up position but they can’t be promoted as their top team is already Hardham Cup bound.

In other Premier Reserve results this afternoon, Petone edged Ories 12-10, OBU ousted Avalon 47-0, the Upper Hutt Rams beat Poneke 31-26, last year’s first round winners Tawa defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 32-17 and HOBM overcame Wellington 42-13.

Colts

OBU Green retained the first round Paris Memorial Trophy with their hard-fought win over MSP. Tawa finished second with an emphatic 48-17 win over Poneke, Ories fourth with a 19-0 win over lowly Norths, the Upper Hutt Rams fifth after beating seventh placed Petone 28-0.

Wellington defeated HOBM 18-17 - which was enough to see them stave off relegation to Division 2 for the second half of the season, ahead of Petone who were docked 5 points last week for player eligibility reasons. Johnsonville have earned promotion to the top flight for the second round, beating Wainuiomata 26-3 in the final of the first round Division 2 JRD Cup.

U85kg

Wellington won the JC Bowl by beating HOBM 47-0, finishing ahead of second placed Tawa who had the last round bye and third placed Johnsonville who fourth placed defeated Avalon 19-15 this afternoon.

Eastbourne beat the OBU Bunnies 29-7 on an Old Timers’ Day mid-table clash, while Poneke consigned Stokes Valley to the wooden spoon with a 26-15 win.

The Kapiti Colts beat Wainuiomata 50-3 to win the second division first round U85kg competition.

Weltec Premiership

St Pat’s Town beat Scots College 24-21 in their WelTec Premiership opener and replay of last year’s final.

Wellington College toiled to a 22-0 win over Wairarapa College, St Pat’s Silverstream beat Bishop Viard College 38-3 and Rongotai College defeated St Bernard’s 69-5 for the Jim Ting Cup.

Bishop Viard held Silverstream to just a 5-3 advantage at halftime, but the floodgates opened in the second half when Viard had a player sent to the sin-bin and 14 points were scored in this period.

In one noted Premier 2 match between Aotea and Tawa Colleges, both sides went hard at each other looking to play expansive, positive rugby in the poor conditions. It came down to the final few minutes when Aotea scored a try and then kicked the conversion from 10 metres in from touch to secure a 12-12 draw.

The WelTec Premiership continues this coming Wednesday when Wellington College and St Pat’s Town battle in their annual Traditional at Wellington College.