Plenty to play for in ninth round for chasing pack

In racing parlance the field is at the top of the home straight turning for home with just five rounds left in the Swindale Shield. There’s a clutch of sides grouped at the top, while others are poised to make a late run for those top-eight places that matter for the Jubilee Cup stage of the season. Adding to the intrigue is that a number of Hurricanes squad members will be in club colours.

Elsewhere there’s a full slate of games on at club level - starting with three tonight – while college rugby his full stride tomorrow as well. There will also be some unusual faces about as well, with it being the first of the WRRA’s interchange weekends for the year.

Premier Swindale Shield

Last week’s results certainly shook the table up, but as much can be told by what teams face over the next five Saturdays that conclude the Swindale part of the season. Using the current standings as a guide the hardest roads to finish belong to Hutt Old Boys Marist (though they have the benefit of most of those games at home) and the Upper Hutt Rams, both of who face the current top-three of Norths, Oriental-Rongotai, and Old Boys-University in some form in successive weeks. For the Rams that begins with this weekend’s trip to the Polo Ground, while those three sides represent the Eagles’ last three matches.

Even leaders Norths aren’t immune as they have the other three sides in the current top four yet to play, starting with OBU at Nairnville. Compounding matters for these three (HOBM, Upper Hutt Rams and Norths) is that they’ve played all of the bottom four teams on the ladder already.

At the other end of this spectrum are Poneke who will not only be buoyed by getting Battle of Kilbirnie bragging rights but still have all of the bottom three to go on their schedule; however since Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton are their last two games they’ll need to make sure their fate isn’t decided before then.

Wainuiomata still have three of the bottom four yet to play but also OBU, while Marist St Pat's somewhat schizophrenic schedule has the same, but both Norths and OBU.

There’s still plenty to play out, and with that in mind let’s look at this weekend’s round.

The headline game is at Nairnville Park where previous competition leaders Old Boys-University host the new ones in Norths. The Porirua side hasn’t reached these heady heights since their unbeaten 2011 Swindale campaign, and while history would suggest that at worst they’re only a couple of points of securing that return to the Jubilee Cup, performances so far – and in particular last weekend against Wainuiomata – would suggest that they’re capable of much more. They’re largely unchanged from that team, with TK Bishop coming in at centre for Johnny Teleaga who drops back to the bench, while injury prevents Antony Fox from facing his old club with Quaid Martin-Laumatia replacing him and Fala Tuala sliding from lock to openside.

The Goats on the other hand will be somewhat disappointed with the manner that they lost their unbeaten record, and would be keen to rectify that tomorrow and – potentially – return to the top of the table. The Goosen brothers again will pair up in midfield, while Te Wehi Wright and club cult-hero Finnbarr Kerr-Newell return from NZ Universities duty.

The two will contest two trophies; one is the Bill Brien Challenge Trophy held by OBU, while they will also inaugurate the Ken Douglas Trophy the two clubs will play for going forward. Ken is a familiar name to many as a Porirua City Councillor and through his work as a trade unionist for which he received our highest honour – the Order of New Zealand – in 1998. Less well known is that Ken played for Wellington College Old Boys before joining the Titahi Bay club and was instrumental in the merger that formed Norths. Just to close the loop he also holds a honourary Doctorate in Laws from Victoria University.

Having won the battle of the unbeaten’s Oriental-Rongotai are the only side left that can claim that mantle. They’ll be keen to keep that intact when they host the Upper Hutt Rams, and the Magpies could potentially find themselves at the top of the tree Saturday night depending on the result at Nairnville. The Rams will themselves be looking to keep the form they’ve shown in taking care of the three tailenders at home, but haven’t particularly enjoyed their other trips into the city this year, ending in heavy defeats to both MSP and Poneke.

Ories make a handful of changes from the side that took down OBU, notably NZ Schools prop Xavier Numia gets his first Premier start and Alex Ropeti reverts to first-five. Tuga Mativa – fresh off coaching St Mary’s to a world title at the Sanix tournament – and Ambrose Curtis are both on their bench. Amongst Upper Hutt’s changes is the return of Nua Fono-Hunt at first-five, with Hayden Schrijvers bracketed with Kaide McCashin at halfback.

There’s also an interclub trophy in play here as well; the Bob Lendrum Cup. Lendrum captained Oriental in the 60’s and was then player/coach in the years following the merger. He later was involved with Upper Hutt where he mentored several coaches, and in between times had stint coaching Fiji that included wins over both New South Wales and Queensland. Ories won this 50-25 at Maidstone, though Upper Hutt won the return match at Polo in the Jubilee Cup.

There’s an intriguing battle at Lyndhurst Park between top side currently inside the top eight and winners of last year’s second round silverware - Tawa and Hutt Old Boys Marist. The Eagles are making their last trip away from the Hutt Rec in the Swindale round – their last four games are all back at the Nest – and five points here would go a long way towards securing that return to the Jubilee Cup for the current Hardham Cup holders. Those points are also vital towards the defending Jubilee Cup winners hopes; a win keeps them in the eight, a loss could see them drop out and facing some tricky games over the rest of the run-in.

Lotu Nuku takes over the captaincy this week for Tawa with usual skippers Matt Treeby and TJ Fermanis both on the bench and last weekend’s hat trick man Folau Vea continues at No.8. For the Eagles James O’Reilly is around for another week and starts at hooker with Ben Power shifting to the back of the scrum while the backline is reshuffled again with veteran winger Tupeni Kamakorewa making his first start for the year. Both teams have notable absentees; James So’oialo for Tawa and Sheridan Rangihuna for HOBM.

Further up the road, Wainuiomata make the journey to Porirua for the second successive week, this time to Ngatitoa Domain to face Paremata-Plimmerton. They’ll be hoping for a better performance than their visit to Norths, where they were comprehensively outplayed by the new competition leaders. For the second game in a row Pare-Plim were guilty of conceding points in a bunch before halftime, but the general consensus is that they held their own against Petone for long stretches and the next step is to take that into a full game performance. They’ll entrust last week’s starters to do that, with the only change being Kalib Martin starting at halfback. Wainuiomata make a bunch of changes, amongst them assistant coach Dan Farani who’ll make his first start in green and black on the blindside flank.

For Poneke and Petone the next few weeks are pivotal as both sit outside the eight. Poneke’s schedule is laid out above while Petone have two of the bottom four left on their slate, and the two have yet to face each other. Both venture away from their home parks this weekend, with Petone heading south to face Wellington at Hataitai while Poneke head north to take on Johnsonville at Helston.

The Villagers know that they’ll have to take care of business to stay in the hunt, and although the Axemen are probably destined for the Hardham Cup they’ll be out to claim at least one big scalp in this part of the season and perhaps hoping that Petone have their minds on next week’s McBain Shield showdown with HOBM.

Wellington have an unchanged forward pack, but their back division is without both Peni Nabainivalu and Paddy Hughes, though Henry Hocking returns at fullback. Petone hand starting debuts to prop Dylan Manuel and lock Michael Tu’ipulotu while they also field three club centurions in Eugene Smith, skipper Mateaki Kafatolu, and Jared Kahu.

Like OBU and Norths the two clubs will also inaugurate a new interclub trophy. The two already have the Air New Zealand Trophy, which is played for between the two clubs across all senior matches between the two in a season, and tomorrow will contest the Bill Francis/Jack Taylor Trophy. Both were former Axemen and All Blacks (Francis in 1913-14 and Taylor in 1937-38), and their extended families have donated it for play.

Poneke simply also need to take care of business tomorrow and bank maximum points, though the Hawks have shown some stubborn resolve this year and that might be easier said than done and like the Axemen Johnsonville will covet taking down one big name this year. The home side get some of their contingent back, like Eamonn Tawhiwhirangi from suspension and after coming off injured last weekend Kane Thompson is named on the bench. Poneke will have the services of Hurricanes player Toa Halafihi amongst a raft changes they’ve made. Halafihi is one of three starting debutants tomorrow, the others being former Axeman Jamie Hargreaves and prop Lalovi Tafua, brother of paralysed former Poneke player Seti Tafua.

Lastly, Avalon and Marist St Pat’s meet on the Fraser Park artificial, with their interclub Joe Aspell Cup at stake. Aspell was a former Marist player and late President and Life Member of the club, and donated the trophy for play between Marist and Taita when he ran the Taita Hotel; it’s now played for by the two successor clubs.

Having lost three on the spin MSP find themselves down in eighth on the ladder and as alluded to above have an interesting slate of games to finish, and five points would be the minimum requirement. Their teamlist for tomorrow would indicate they aren’t taking any chances on that, naming a strong-looking 22 that includes Hurricanes player Sam Lousi in line to make his club debut from the bench.

Avalon are still looking to get their first win of the campaign, but at least were able to score some points at home last weekend in front of their supporters. At the very least they’ll be after more of that tomorrow. They’re largely unchanged from last weekend, but are still without Ben Peni.

All Premier matches kick off as usual at 2.45pm

Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield

Like their Premier sides, the early game at Nairnville is a top three matchup between OBU and Norths. At worse they’ll each be looking to keep pace with leaders HOBM, but the Eagles face a tough assignment away against Tawa, while the Upper Hutt Rams and Petone will each look to get themselves back into the picture when they visit strugglers Ories and winless Wellington respectively.

The remaining fixtures have Paremata-Plimmerton hosting Wainuiomata at Ngatitoa, MSP visit Avalon at Fraser, and Poneke make the trip up the gorge to Helston Park and Johnsonville.
All seven matches kickoff at 1pm.

Women’s

The first bit of first-round silverware will be handed out on Saturday at the Polo Ground, but will the Fleurs Trophy wind up in the hands of Oriental-Rongotai or Norths, or could they even share it again? With both teams a perfect three-from-three and on 15 points it will be a straight shootout, and both sides warmed up for the clash with large wins last weekend. It should be a cracker.

Elsewhere Old Boys-University and Wainuiomata will scrap over third place when they meet at Prince of Wales, with the Lady Impalas looking to hold on to the Challenge Trophy for another week at least. In the Division 2 clashes, Marist St Pat’s will be looking for a clean sweep when they host Paremata-Plimmerton on Kilbirnie #2, while next door on #1 Poneke face Tawa. MSP will at the very least be looking to make WRFU consider whether they should be swapped with HOBM for the balance of the season.

All four matches kickoff at 11.30, with HOBM and Petone having this week off.

Colts Div 1 Paris Memorial Trophy

The Colts round gets underway early when unbeaten OBU Green look to keep that record when they face winless Norths at Te Whaea tonight. OBU had to work hard to see off Ories last weekend, while Norths conceded 50 without reply against Petone and will be after a much better performance.

Saturday’s games have the other unbeaten side – Petone - hosting the Upper Hutt Rams at the Rec, neighbours Poneke and Oriental clash on Kilbirnie’s main ground (both at 1pm), while Tawa will look to get off the mark when they host Marist St Pats at Redwood Park at the slightly earlier time of 12.45pm

First Grade Div 1 Thompson Memorial Trophy

The second round of the First Grade competition features the rematch of last year’s grade final between OBU and HOBM on the Eagles turf at the Hutt Rec, with both sides having enjoyed healthy first-up wins. The other two winners from the first weekend are both in the Porirua area: the Norths Uso’s are at home at Porirua Park against Stokes Valley A, while Petone are around the harbour to face the Norths Reds at Onepoto. The remaining game is on the St Pats artificial between MSP and Poneke, both looking for their first wins.

All four matches are 2.45pm kickoffs.

Under 85kg Div 1 JC Bowl

Like the Colts the round gets underway on Friday night for the lightweights when last year’s two finalists – Tawa and Johnsonville – meet for the second time already this season at Alex Moore Park.

The remaining games are all at 2.45pm on Saturday. Eastbourne welcome Wests to HW Shortt, HOBM and Avalon, both winners first-up and the Wolves fresh off claiming the Centurions Cup challenge trophy from Johnsonville – play out a local derby at the Hutt Rec, and Wellington and the OBU Bunnies take to Te Whaea.

College

The college season gets underway tomorrow, something we took a look at yesterday.

To sum up, the opening round of the Tranzit Coachlines Festival in Masterton sees St Pat’s Town play Palmerston North BHS, Rongotai College face Napier BHS,Wairarapa College meet Hastings BHS and Wellington College meet Gisborne BHS. 

The Wellington college rugby scene gets underway with qualification and grading matches across the grades.

With the WelTec Premiership expanding to 10 teams this year, College Sport Wellington have also taken the opportunity to introduce a new system to identify the six teams to join the four playing in the Tranzit Festival.

The format splits the next 16 First XVs from last year into two groups. The basic premise is that every team has a ‘second-life’ in the first week, while the sides in the Top 8 bracket can qualify directly with wins in the first two weeks.

Grading games tomorrow:

Top 8 bracket: Silverstream vs Kapiti, Bishop Viard v Paraparaumu, St Bernard’s v Tawa
Bottom 8 bracket: Porirua v Mana, Aotea v HVHS, Taita v Naenae (Fraser Park, 1pm), Hutt International v Onslow.

All other Boys College grades – Under 15, Under 80kg, Under 65kg, and Under 55kg – also start with grading matches this weekend, while the Girls got underway on Wednesday night.