Fourth round thrillers in Swindale Shield as Tawa and Poneke grab opening wins

The sun beat down on the Swindale Shield for the first time this year and the rugby ran hot in today’s fourth round set of matches played around Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua.

There were two thrillers, at the Petone Recreation Ground and at Evans Bay Park, while Poneke and Tawa both won their first games of the season in style in front of their home supporters.

Elsewhere, Old Boys University and Northern United both won their fourth straight matches, to remain the only teams to win all four of their contests after the opening month of 2017 Wellington Premier club rugby.

Another feature of the round was the inclusion of a number of Hurricanes Tyhoons and Zephyrs players, such as Isaia Walker-Leaware for Poneke, Alex Fidow for Oriental-Rongotai, Carlos Price for Petone, Ben Lam for Tawa, Billy Proctor for MSP and Hugh Renton for OBU, all of whom made their marks on the club rugby competition today.

In the match of the round, Marist St Pat’s beat Wainuiomata 42-40 at Evans Bay Park, while Petone and Oriental-Rongotai contested an equally thrilling 25-25 draw at the Petone Rec, both of these games doing down to the wire and full of excitement.

In a spirited finish, Wainuiomata scored in the corner at the death, but the sideline conversion with the last play missed and MSP held on to win.

Wainuiomata led MSP 10-0 early, and led 24-20 at halftime despite MSP’s Japanese wing Yuki Takahira scoring two tries. After the interval, MSP crossed through 100-game flanker Isaac O’Connor and Billy Proctor in a 60-metre burst and held a 32-24 lead. MSP advanced the score to 39-32 and then to 42-35, to set up the tense finish.

The match at the Village came down to the last play, with Petone finishing the match hot on attack and a dropped goal attempt sailing wide with the last act of the game. Moments earlier, Ories thought they had scored the winner at the other end after a runaway by flyhalf Adam Deck, only to be called back for conceding a scrum penalty on halfway.

Like Wainuiomata, Ories had exploded to a 15-3 lead, with two tries to the wingers, but Petone had closed to 15-11 on halftime. Petone made key changes, including a change at halfback and a debut for Carlos Price and it was game on. Both sides scored thrilling tries midway through the second half, with Jared Kahu (Petone) and Ambrose Curtis (Ories) both putting the health and safety officials in a tail-spin when the stand erupted.

Previously winless Poneke needed a spark to start their campaign off, and they got it by crunching the Upper Hutt Rams 52-14 at home at Kilbirnie Park to lock away the Alby Makeham Shield, while defending Jubilee Cup champions Tawa finally got their season underway with a bustling 45-8 Mexted Trophy win over the Wellington Axemen.

Poneke took an early 12-0 lead playing into the wind against the Rams, and when Walker-Leaware crossed the whitewash for his second try to make it 26-0 and have their bonus point in the bag, Poneke were on a roll. Poneke kept the heat on in the second half, scoring eight tries in all. The Rams, who were missing the influential Schrijvers brothers away at the Hong Kong 10s, scored second half tries to Paddy Gluck and Josh Brown.

Like the Hurricanes last night, Tawa burst out of the blocks and led 19-0 in a matter of minutes. Kemera Haiti-Parapara was yellow carded for Tawa, which allowed Wellington to fight back with a try of their own before halftime and they trailed 19-8 at the oranges. In the second half, Olly Sapsford was yellow carded and then Tawa left wing Sharn Robinson scored a brilliant individual try from a chip-chase. Wellington wilted under the strain of Tawa’s set-piece dominance and scored another 21 unanswered points. Tawa lock Telea Seumanutafa was the Player of the Match, while Lam and Farimo Nofoiaga both played well.

Hutt Old Boys Marist comfortably took care of the Avalon Wolves at Fraser Park, winning 53-0. The hosts barely had a chance to score as Hutt controlled the game well through tidy, structured play.

Fereti Soloa was once again the star performer for the visitors, nabbing a hat-trick of tries in his 60 minutes on the field, while featuring prominently in another.

By half-time the result was almost in the bag for Hutt, who were leading 27-0, though they continued the onslaught through to the second half, during which first five Brandyn Laursen scored two tries on his way to a 17-point haul.

Northern United made it four straight wins to start their season with a 35-17 victory over Johnsonville, the Bulldogs taking their chances in a clinical and focused performance against a plucky Hawks side, signalling a new resolve at Porirua after some recent seasons of disappointment. No 8 Parekura Lalaga and wing Liki Siliga each scored two tries for Norths.

The OBU Goats were in imperious touch over minnows Paremata-Plimmerton at the Lucknow Sports Stadium, pleasing their supporters on the Terraces with a 86-8 win. The Goats scored 14 tries and they have now crossed for 33 ties and have scored 222 points in their opening four games of the year. Te Wehi Wright and Teegan Minkley each grabbed hat-tricks for OBU.

Premier Reserve

The close results continued into week four of the Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield competition, with three of seven matches going down to the wire and another a tight affair.

The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles’ second XV defeated the Avalon Wolves 44-36 to top the table with four straight wins, while Northern United are also unbeaten like their top side after accounting for Johnsonville 58-24.

Old Boys University over-ran Paremata-Plimmerton 67-17 and Tawa beat Wellington 43-31 in the leafy Lyndhurst curtain-raiser.

In three narrow results, MSP beat Wainuiomata 19-18, the Upper Hutt Rams beat Poneke 21-20 and Petone beat Ories 24-22.

The Petone-Ories match saw Ories scoring with the last open play of the game out wide, but the sideline conversion by Ories’ goal-kicking prop missing. Previously, Petone had scored what proved to be the winning try with a penalty try being awarded after an intercept and 80 metre dash by Petone wing Aleks Noble-Campbell saw him felled in the corner going for the try. Ironically, if he had and the sideline conversion was missed it would’ve been a draw as well.

Les Mills Colts

Old Boys University Green and the Upper Hutt Rams will contest the final of the Colts knockout competition next weekend, after the Junior Goats defeated Tawa 33-12 today and the Rams edged MSP 28-26.

In the Division One bottom four, Ories defeated the Junior Axemen 63-12 and Northern United beat Poneke 26-7, so Ories and Norths will meet in their final next weekend.

In Colts Division Two matches, Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist will contest the final next weekend, after Petone accounted for the Pare-Plim Colts 80-12 and HOBM withstood Kapiti’s challenge 25-21.

The Division One bottom four fixtures today saw Johnsonville beat Wainuiomata 29-10 and OBU Black (featuring Club Rugby correspondent Matt Twort at flanker) edge the Avalon Wolf Cubs.

Women’s

The first round of the 2017 Women’s season saw four games played, two each in the Division One Fleurs Trophy and the Division Two competition.

Defending champions Wainuiomata had the first round bye, but beaten finalists Oriental-Rongotai sounded a warning shot to them and all comers by defeating Hutt Old Boys Marist 102-10.

Elsewhere, Northern United grabbed a 29-10 bonus point win over the Old Boys University Impalas.

In Division 2 fixtures, newcomers Paremata-Plimmerton started their new season off with a 41-3 win over Tawa, while Poneke had a 34-17 victory over another new side this year, Petone.

Other grades

It was the opening day of the season for the First Grade competitions. Results were:

First Grade Knockout (Division One) – Week 1: Poneke met Marist St Pat’s, Northern United A WBD Northern United B, Old Boys University 27 - Stokes Valley A 10, Petone 26 - Hutt Old Boys Marist 19.

First Grade Knockout (Division Two) – Week 1: Tawa WBD - Marist St Pat’s Internationals, Johnsonville Cripples 13 - Wainuiomata 5, Stokes Valley B 35 - Upper Hutt Rams Pirates 34 Avalon Wolves 43 - Poneke Ruffnuts 22.

The U85kg knockout competition saw the opening week of matches:

Under 85kg Knockout (Division One) – Week 1: Eastbourne 48 - Western Suburbs 0, Tawa 22 - Johnsonville 15, Wellington 32 - Marist St Pat’s Red 0, Avalon Wolves 44 - Old Boys University Bunnies 12. Top Four Section Next Weekend: Eastbourne, Tawa, Wellington, Avalon Wolves Bottom Four Section Next Weekend: Western Suburbs, Johnsonville, Marist St Pats Red, Old Boys University Bunnies

Under 85kg Knockout (Division Two) – Week 1: Stokes Valley 24 - Upper Hutt Rams 18, Wainuiomata 43 - Petone 3, Kapiti 39 - Poneke 38, Hutt Old Boys Marist 72 - Marist St Pat’s Green 7, Top Four Section Next Weekend: Stokes Valley, Wainuiomata, Kapiti, Hutt Old Boys Marist Bottom Four Section Next Weekend: Upper Hutt Rams, Petone, Poneke, Marist St Pats Green