Pressure for playoff places to ramp in fifth round

Updated Friday afternoon: Although most of the rugby world’s attention will be focused on Eden Park and the third Test between the All Blacks and the British and Irish Lions, before then there’s plenty of drama to be played out across Wellington’s rugby fields as the Premier grades rapidly move towards the end of their competitions.

Once again though club rugby will take place under the cloud of the loss of one of our own, with the passing of Petone senior player Sione ‘Bah’ Tuiano in the early hours of last Sunday morning and the grievous injuries sustained by his two brothers. The thoughts of Club Rugby are with their families, friends, team and clubmates.

Premier Jubilee Cup

The pressure just ramps up another notch this weekend, and the fifth round of matches could prove pivotal in the run into the playoffs.

Despite last weekend’s loss to Tawa, Old Boys-University retained their place at the top of the standings, and tomorrow they welcome Oriental-Rongotai to Nairnville Park. The two sides will have contrasting memories of their earlier meeting this year – a battle of unbeaten teams at the Polo Ground where Ories ran out 32-11 winners – and will be correspondingly looking to repeat or reverse that.

The Goats get back a couple of important pieces who missed last weekend with Jonathan Fuimaono and Teariki Ben Nicholas returning to the pack and Tomasi Palu at halfback after coming off the bench. Naera Tipoki starts at openside in place of Daven Candy and hooker Stu Simonsen starts in his 100th game.

Ories have gone with a youth movement, with Alex Fidow – back from NZ U20s duty – Xavier Numia, Malachai Unasa, and William Heather all starting; the latter making his starting debut. Veteran Paulo Aukuso comes into midfield for the injured Aukuso Tuitama. Whetu Henry is on the bench where another name there is Wellington Lions signing Trent Renata for his first test of our local club footy.

Marist St Pat’s pushed themselves into second behind OBU with their win over HOBM, and again journey into the Hutt, this time over the Hill road as well to take on Wainuiomata at William Jones. MSP showed their attacking prowess late to win, but would probably prefer an easier time of things. At a time when results matter Wainuiomata will have come away from last weekend disappointed, but also created plenty of chances against Ories. Converting them tomorrow will be critical.

MSP have stuck with almost the same 22 as last weekend. Their only change in the starting side has Willie Schultz swapping with Ryan Saunders on the wing, with Steve Moli coming onto the bench in the only other change. Isaac O’Connor will again captain the side with regular skipper Valentine Meachen still absent. Wainuiomata make a few more changes than their opponents; twins Andrew and Anthony Mamea will bookend the scrum with Henry Smith between them, Daniel Cherry packs down behind them, and John Monu switches to fullback with Isaiah Mamea back from injury in midfield. And if maybe playing for their season isn’t enough, Frae Wilson plays his 100th game for the side.

The first meeting between the two sides this year was a cracker, with MSP prevailing 42-40 at Evans Bay Park. The Bill Brien Challenge Trophy will also be at stake.

Out in Porirua, Northern United set up camp for their string of home games to finish out, and tomorrow welcome Hutt Old Boys Marist to Jerry Collins Stadium. The home side will be buoyed by getting their first Jubilee Cup win since 2012 last weekend against Petone, but will need to get another tomorrow to remain in the hunt. They have the services tomorrow of Hurricanes hooker Leni Apisai, who starts in what is an unusually largely unchanged starting XV. Prop Gerard Faitotoa starts in his 50th game as does Mike Ioapo in his blazer (35th) match.

HOBM will be looking to keep their place in the top-four, but a loss could see them drop as low as sixth if other results go against them. It’s a vastly experienced side that runs out tomorrow - with 23 caps winger LA Moemai has the fewest - but have a rejigged backline; Tomasi Alosio is at fullback, and there’s no Ope Peleseuma and Sheridan Rangihuna. There’s also no Polonga Pedro on the bench, but there is another 200-gamer there in Nick Risdon. Their locks bring up milestones with David Filipo playing game #50 and Jason Woodward play his blazer (40th) game.

It was the clichéd game of two halves when they met a few weeks ago in the last round of the Swindale Shield. HOBM led 33-5 at home at one point, before hanging on against a spirited Norths comeback to win 36-31.

Just down the road at Lyndhurst Park is the fourth match of the day, with Tawa facing Petone. Saddled with that points deduction, the home side’s last-gasp win over OBU courtesy of James So’oialo’s dropped goal was a massive step in keeping their season alive and they’ll be looking to push inside the top-four having decided against appealing the loss of points. They get two players back from other duties tomorrow; Kemara Hauiti-Parapara returns at halfback from the winning NZ U20s campaign and his Hurricanes debut, and Ben Lam will come from the bench. Hemi Fermanis is also back after missing last weekend due to illness.

Petone are the only side without a win and history would say that they’re only spoilers now, but equally that their opponents rewrote things last year. They face the challenge of not only having to overturn the earlier 47-24 result to Tawa from their Swindale meeting (also at Lyndhurst), but that they won’t be returning to the Rec for the rest of the round-robin. They have a swag of changes; Taurima Morris returns on the wing for Michael Vaeno, while up front Kaliopasi Uluilakepa, Luke Flett, and Jim Morgan all return, and they’ll also have the services of James Blackwell tomorrow.

Premier 2 Hardham Cup

Over in the Hardham Cup, it’s the last set of matches in the first rotation of games.

The highlight clash here is the meeting of the two unbeaten frontrunners with Johnsonville welcoming the Upper Hutt Rams to Helston. The Hawks have seemingly found their wings and tomorrow will be a test of how far they’ve come. They’ve named almost the same side that beat Wellington last weekend, with tighthead Cameron Falcon and centre Kalolo Kalolo the only changes.

The Rams remain the favourites, but can take a large step towards claiming the Cup with a win tomorrow. They make a number of changes with Sam Gouk, Daniel Schrijvers, Josh Dewar, Tynan Barrett, and Tafa Tafa all restored to the run-in team, with Mitchell Markov again named in the reserves.

In the city, Poneke enjoy the comforts of home for the third successive weekend, with Avalon the visitors to Kilbirnie Park. Tomorrow they get two large pieces back; Isaia Walker-Leawere is back after a starring role in the NZ U20s success with Greg Foe also in the side after completing his suspension, but need wins and results to go their way if they are to be a factor. The Wolves have a notable addition tomorrow in their U20 star Asafo Aumua, making his first club appearance for the year.

Back in the north Paremata-Plimmerton host Wellington at Ngati Toa for the second time this season. Their earlier meeting saw the Axemen get up by 21-20, and potentially the two could fight out another close one tomorrow. The home side are completely changed in jerseys 6-10 and are also without Blake Neve so its chance for a number of players to step up, while the Axemen move Henry Hocking up to first-five and might appreciate the better underfoot conditions.

All seven matches kick off back at the usual time of 2.45pm.

Premier Reserve Ed Chaney and HD Morgan Memorial

OBU continue to lead the Ed Chaney division, though like their Premiers they didn’t win last weekend with their match against Tawa called off early owing to a serious injury to one of the Tawa players and the 12-all score line at the time declared final. Tomorrow they host Ories at Kelburn Park at 12.45pm (note late ground change), with the Magpies having taken their first win over Wainuiomata last Saturday. Elsewhere MSP head to William Jones to face the only winless side in Wainuiomata, bottom-side Norths face HOBM at home at the JCS, and there’s a top-four match at Lyndhurst with Tawa hosting a Petone side that will be looking to honour their fallen teammate with a win.

Over in the HD Morgan Memorial division the Upper Hutt Rams will be looking to keep their perfect record intact when they visit Johnsonville in the early game at Helston while Poneke will be looking to keep pace when they host Avalon at Kilbirnie. The third match is out at Ngati Toa Domain where the pair at the foot of the table – Paremata-Plimmerton and Wellington – clash.

The other six matches are at 1pm.

Women’s

The feature clash in the grade is at the Polo Ground where Oriental-Rongotai and Norths meet for the third time this year. The Lady Magpies have won their first two meetings handily, but after being idle the past two weekends they’ll be wanting to shake the rust off quickly. Norths will look at that as an opportunity to at least unsettle their great rivals. The second Victoria Tavern Trophy game is at the Ian Galloway Park cage where Old Boys-University host Marist St Pat’s, with their place in the pecking order for the playoffs at stake.

In Division 2 leaders Petone will look to stay well ahead of the pack when they host Paremata-Plimmerton at the Rec, while Poneke have already beaten Tawa with the Lyndhurst ladies already defaulting their match.

Wainuiomata and HOBM have the respective byes, with all four matches kicking-off at 11.35am

Colts Division 1 John E Kelly Memorial

After last weekend’s round, which saw nine points are the biggest winning margin, three teams remain unbeaten at the head of the table. Two of those sides – leaders Tawa and second-placed Petone – meet at Redwood Park at 12.45pm in what is the game of the round, and potentially a finals-preview. The third unbeaten – Oriental-Rongotai – are at Te Whaea to take on defending grade champions OBU Green; Ories will want to keep pace for a potential home semi-final but have three tough games to end the round-robin on while the young Goats will be after a win to keep ahead of those below them.

The other two matches feature the sides in the bottom-four all looking to make up ground. Paremata-Plimmerton will be after another ‘big-club’ scalp when they host Marist St Pats at Ngati Toa, while Norths will be after their first competition points when they host HOBM at Porirua Park. These last three games are all 1pm kickoffs.

Under 85kg Division 1 Paul Potiki Shield

Like the Colts there’s a top-of-the-table clash in the lightweights grade as well, when Wellington head up the coast to take on Kapiti at the Paraparaumu Domain. Defending champions Tawa will loom to put their first-up loss well behind them when they face Johnsonville at neutral Te Whaea in town (note late ground change), while Poneke and Eastbourne will look to move up the table when they clash at Kilbirnie. The fourth match is the Hutt Valley derby between Avalon and HOBM at Fraser Park with local bragging rights at stake.

All four matches get underway at 2.45pm

First Grade Division 1 Johnsonville Centennium Cup

The feature game of the round is the clash on the opt fields at Porirua Park between first-round winners the HOBM Barbarians and the runners-up Norths Uso’s, with the home team looking to get one back after HOBM comfortably won their earlier meeting. The Stokes Valley Chiefs welcome the OBU Wolfpack to Delaney Park for the main game on their Old Timers Day and the Petone Brotherhood and Poneke take to the Rec with all three matches kicking-off at 2.45pm. The fourth match is at the later time of 3.15pm when MSP and the Norths Reds meet on the St Pat’s College artificial.

College WelTec Premiership

Just three matches to be played tomorrow. The first game of the round was played on Wednesday when Silverstream kept their record intact in seeing off Rongotai 60-0 in their annual match. Scots will look to match that when they host Kapiti in Strathmore, while not far away St Pat’s Town will be looking to keep their grip on third intact when they face Tawa at Evans Bay Park. The third game tomorrow has minnows Hutt Valley HS at home and looking for a bit of glory in their season against Porirua, with the visitors looking to back up their win over Tawa on Wednesday.

All three matches tomorrow are 2.30pm kickoffs. The final match of round 7 will be played in two weeks’ time with Wellington College – who have been away at their annual Quad this week – travelling to Masterton to take on Wairarapa College, but otherwise the competition takes a break over the school holidays.