Big afternoon of ANZAC Day rugby coming up

Tomorrow is one of the special days on the WRFU’s calendar, alongside the Jubilee Cup final and Opening Day. Introduced a few years ago Derby Day pits near neighbours, and the two Marist clubs, against each other, with all seven matches also having an interclub trophy at stake.

With the round falling on ANZAC Day there will commemorations ahead of each Premier game, and not only is the round the only midweek one of the season, it also represents the halfway mark of the Swindale Shield.

Note: As at time of writing team lists had not been submitted.

Premier Swindale Shield

Starting in the Eastern Suburbs, Oriental-Rongotai and Poneke clash for local bragging rights, and the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield at stake. Perhaps one of the more famous interclub trophies in Wellington, it memoralises the young and dynamic Poneke, Wellington, and NZ Maori midfielder-turned-loose forward who was tragically killed in a late-night motor vehicle crash in 1962, aged just 31. The trophy was first presented in 1964 and has been contested between the two clubs (Oriental between 1964-67, Oriental-Rongotai since) in their first round clash ever since. Ories have won this with one-point wins in each of the last two years (20-19 in 2016, 28-27 in 2015), so you might get good odds on another close one tomorrow.

On the field the Magpies are flying high; undefeated through six rounds with their only blemish the drawn result against Petone three weeks ago, and lie second on the table after overcoming Wainuiomata on Saturday. Poneke have had a somewhat slow start to the season, but put themselves back into the reckoning with Saturday’s win over Wellington and have shown they can score points in bunches, cracking 50 in both their wins this year.

Not too far away, Old Boys-University make the short trip through the Mt Victoria tunnel to Hataitai Park to take on Wellington for their Dean Gifford Memorial Cup; Gifford played for a number of clubs including both Wellington and OBU and the trophy was donated after his death in 2012. It is held by OBU after their 32-6 win in the corresponding game last year, which was played at Westpac Stadium as a curtain-raiser to a Hurricanes match.

The star that night was Teariki Ben Nicholas who scored four tries off the back of a dominant Goats pack. That dominance will be something the students will be looking to repeat and unleash the pace they have on the flanks. The Axemen’s hopes of a return to the Jubilee Cup are reliant on reeling off a string of wins and what would be an upset here would be a great way to start that.

The third match between city clubs is at Helston Park, where Johnsonville welcome Tawa. The visitors bring a three match winning-streak into the match, having shaken off most of the effects of their slow start to the season. The home Hawks have just one success to their name in 2017, but if they can deliver what they’ve shown in patches for a full 80 minutes they will take others.

The interclub trophy at stake is the Carman Cup, which harks back to Tawa’s formation in 1947 which was achieved with considerable help from Johnsonville who sponsored their neighbours entry into the WRFU and assisted the fledgling club by allowing them to make use of their gym and facilities (then at Alex Moore Park) in those early days. The trophy’s namesake Arthur Carman was a Johnsonville club member who became Tawa’s first patron, and with the exception of 1994 it has been played for every year since 1954. Tawa hold this after their 80-10 win last year, but it should be a far more competitive clash this time out.

Further north, Paremata-Plimmerton make the short trip south down State Highway 1 to Jerry Collins Stadium and Northern United for the latest instalment of the Porirua city derby. The home side got back into the winner’s circle by blanking Avalon at Fraser Park, and taking another victory here would be another large step in achieving that return to the Jubilee Cup. That winning feeling is something that’s eluded Pare-Plim so far this season and while they’ve hung tough the manner in which they faded late against the Upper Hutt Rams will be a concern, but nothing would taste sweeter than knocking over their neighbours.

These two clubs play for the Ivan Hargreaves Trophy, named for the former Titahi Bay club administrator and Porirua City councilor. It was originally donated for competition between the four western bays clubs – Porirua, Titahi Bay, Tawa, and Paremata-Plimmerton – but is now contested between the northern city’s two clubs only. Norths have held this every year since Pare-Plim returned to the Premier grade, including last year’s 53-16 win at Ngatitoa.

Across the Haywards, the Upper Hutt Rams welcome Avalon to Maidstone Park with the two contesting their interclub Harper Vine Trophy. That is named for Taita’s Tammy Harper and Upper Hutt’s Bob Vine who had a longstanding and hard fought – some would even say brutal – rivalry on the field; Harper would also be the first elected Life Member of the Avalon club. It’s held by Upper Hutt after the 34-23 result last year.

The fortunes of the two sides on Saturday couldn’t be more contrasting. The Rams ran away from Pare-Plim late on to pass 50 points, while the Wolves failed to trouble the new scoreboard at Fraser Park while being shut out by Norths. That alone would make the home side the warmest of favourites.

To the south its Petone’s turn to make the journey over the Hill Road to take on Wainuiomata. William Jones Park can be a fairly boisterous place at any time, but it generally goes up a notch when the Villagers are the visitors. There are also plenty of links between the two, perhaps best epitomised this year by long-time Petone player Dan Farani, on the sidelines for Wainuiomata.

Both sides lost last weekend, so getting a result here will be imperative. Assuming both play, the contest between veterans Ben Tupuola and Mateaki Kafetolu will be well worth watching.
These two play for the Darren Larsen Cup, donated by the former Petone CCO and current Hurricanes Development coach. That is held by Wainuiomata after their 33-27 win at the Rec last year.

The final match of this preview is one aligned on theological rather than geographical grounds with the city parish heading out to visit their valley counterparts. For Hutt Old Boys Marist tomorrow’s game on the home turf of the Hutt Rec represents the end to their annual odyssey imposed by maintenance on the ground, while for Marist St Pat’s it’s a return to the scene of their last Jubilee Cup triumph in 2012. After their opposing results on Saturday the pair are tied on 21 points, so aside from annual pride, the difference between taking the win and not could be falling back into the clutches of those sides fighting to finish eighth or better.

Their interclub trophy is the Father Cleary Shield, named for the late sportsmaster and 1st XV coach at St Patrick’s College and a founder of the St Pats Old Boys club. It was donated by the Roache family for play between St Pats OB and Marist when relations between the two clubs was poor, and following the merger of those two it was played for by MSP against Hutt Valley Marist, and since 1993 against HOBM. It’s held by MSP after last year’s 27-14 win.

Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield

The second-tier is the only other club grade in action on ANZAC Day, and the feature clash is the first game up on the Hutt Rec where unbeaten leaders HOBM take on MSP after contrasting results on Saturday; HOBM comfortably handled Johnsonville, while MSP went down to OBU. The other matches between sides closely grouped on the table are at William Jones between Wainuiomata and Petone, and at the Polo Ground between Ories and Poneke.

Elsewhere second-placed OBU visit bottom-side Wellington at Hataitai, third-placed Norths host Paremata-Plimmerton at the JCS, the Upper Hutt Rams welcome the Avalon Wolves to Maidstone, and Tawa are down the road against Johnsonville.

All seven matches kickoff at 1pm.

There is one other match on tomorrow when the Hutt Valley HS and St Bernard’s 1st XV’s play their annual match. The game is being hosted by Hutt Old Boys Marist at the Hutt Rec (kickoff at 1pm) who have connections to both schools; Hutt Valley HS through the Woburn/High School OB/Hutt OB arm of their history, and St Bernard’s through the Marist component.