Anticipated clashes in Easter weekend club rugby

Above: Poneke will be hoping to build on their win last week against the Upper Hutt Rams, while the Rams are back at home and searching for their first victory of the season against Petone. Photo: Peter Mcdonald. 

There’s little rest over the Easter long weekend, with club rugby continuing on through. Round 3 of the Swindale Shield is already underway with one game in the books and six more to follow tomorrow with the real contenders looking to separate themselves from the rest at the head of the table.

Premier Swindale Shield

The first game of the round is done and dusted, with Norths rediscovering their mojo in the second half to put away Wellington 33-8 after the two sides were looked up 8-all at the break.

Tomorrow’s action is headlined by the three remaining unbeaten sides looking to keep their records intact. Hutt Old Boys Marist top the table on points difference but face a tough trip into the eastern suburbs to take on Oriental-Rongotai at the Polo Ground. The Magpies will be looking to rebound from last week’s loss to Tawa in their first outing of the year, and take down one of their main rivals for a piece of silverware that they’ve never won; Ories will be without Trent Renata and Malo Tuitama this weekend, with Alex Ropeti playing first five-eighth and the electric Ambrose Curtis coming into to fullback and Malachi Unasa wearing the 13 jersey.

The Eagles looked in fine form in disposing of Norths on their home ground with the influence of both James O’Reilly and Chase Tiatia obvious, and will be looking to do the same again with both of them back on board for this clash in a mostly settled side.

The “Battle of the Birds” also doubles as their annual contest for the Bondy Memorial Cup, named for long-time Ories club man Don Bond who passed away just weeks before the club ended their Jubilee Cup drought in 2011. It’s held by HOBM after their 42-13 win at the Hutt Rec last year, and they also won the last meeting between the two by 24-15 in the Jubilee Cup round.

Avalon is in the heady heights of second, having won their opening two games of the season for the first time since 2004. It’s been a while longer since they won their first three, but to do that they’ll have to overcome Old Boys-University. The champions will still be stinging after a frustrating day out in their loss to Wainuiomata last weekend, and the Goats will want to get back to the form that saw them sweep aside Poneke in the opening round. They’ve made some changes with Dale Sabbagh switching to fullback and Greg Mullany moving into first-five, while Regan Verney’s brother, Jared is at second five-eighth. The Wolves look revived in 2018 and have already matched last year’s wins total, and a win here at home would stamp them as top-seven contenders after their earlier successes over Wainuiomata and Johnsonville. OBU won the encounter between the two last year by 43-10, a result that saw them claim the Swindale Shield.

This match is also the Te Upoko commentary fixture, with Gordon Noble-Campbell and Adam Julian calling the game on 1161AM.

Tawa are also two-from-two, and like Avalon will be at home for a second successive week when they host Poneke at Lyndhurst. Tawa have already beaten two sides that most expect will be in the Jubilee Cup in MSP and Ories and should be warm favourites, more so when considering the form that James So’oialo is in and that the side isn’t having difficulty in scoring points. Poneke promise not to be a pushover however, having rebounded from their first-up mauling by OBU to record a solid away win over the Rams, and if they can get enough ball will be a threat. The pair met just once last year, with Tawa edging that encounter 18-15 at Kilbirnie Park.

Tawa will look to their front row that includes Wellington Lions players Tolu Fahamokioa and Sitiveni Paongo, and for their halfback-first five-eighth combination of Kemara Hauiti-Parapara and James So’oialo as key players to keep their winning record intact.

Two sides that also bounced back after opening day losses were Wainuiomata and Marist St Pat’s, and the pair clash at William Jones Park. After running out of steam and being pipped by Avalon on opening day the hosts were once again able to get one over OBU, and although perhaps down on manpower will again be a tricky proposition; additionally in youngster Justin Wilson they have a goal-kicker in form having nailed six-from-six against the Goats. He moves into first-five tomorrow with Peter Umaga-Jensen named at the back while there will be interest in their new Japanese recruits sent over by Earl Va’a.

MSP saw off a fighting Axemen side at Evans Bay last Saturday after their first-up loss to Tawa and the signs are that their new combinations are starting to click which might be an ominous sign for the rest of the field going forward.

As well as valuable competition points, the match also has their interclub Rona-Morrisey Cup at stake, which acknowledges two men with ties to both clubs. Cliff Rona played for MSP for a decade from 1972 and was part of their first Jubilee Cup wins in 1978 (shared with Wellington) and 1979 before returning to Wainuiomata and playing for them from 1984. John Morrisey is a long-serving member of Wainuiomata for more than four decades, but before that played for MSP’s predecessor Marist Brothers for several years. First played for in 2012, it’s held by MSP after their 42-40 win in a highly entertaining encounter last season, while their last meeting in the Jubilee Cup saw MSP come back from 7-21 down on the scoreboard and a man down on the field to grab a 24-all draw.

MSP have the services of newly minted NZ U20 player Billy Proctor at centre. Hooker Joe Walding-Karaitiana wears the captain’s band in place of Nick Harrison, while prop Vince Sakaraia is also sidelined with injury.

Out in Upper Hutt its perhaps desperate times already after suffering a pair of hefty losses, but the task doesn’t get any easier with Petone coming up the valley to Maidstone. The Villagers ran in nine tries in routing Pare-Plim and came within moments in their opening loss to Norths from being two-from-two on the year, while the Rams have so far struggled to get into stride.

The two contest the third interclub trophy on the line tomorrow, their Ted Connolly Cup - along with his two brothers Eric and Adrian, Ted was a prominent member of the Upper Hutt club each side of WWII, and within the WRFU especially post-war. Petone hold this after their 43-32 win what was a “winner takes all” match in the final round of last year’s Swindale with Jubilee qualification at stake, though the Rams took it the year before.

Petone sees the return of Hurricane, Murray Douglas, playing at lock after a six-year hiatus; along with their new NZ U20s players, Kaliopasi Uluilakepa and Carlos Price. Price fills the 10 jersey, as a number of the club’s other pivots are either away or injured. Losi Filipo comes into the side at second five-eighth. The Rams are captained at centre by Tyler Tane, while last year’s regular fullback Tafa Tafa makes his first appearance of 2018 off the bench.

The final match of this preview is out at Ngati Toa Domain where Paremata-Plimmerton and Johnsonville go looking for their first win of the season. The hosts have barely troubled the scoreboard operators this year and that will surely be their first course of business tomorrow, while the Hawks have perhaps been the architects of their own slow start to the season with indiscipline an issue. They have however won all three of the recent matches between these sides, 25-19 in last year’s Swindale and then 48-15 and 41-9 in the Hardham Cup.

For Johnsonville, Kane Thompson starts at No. 8, whole Jeff Makapelu returns to the midfield after missing last week and former Tawa Jubilee Cup winner Alfred Pelenise comes off the bench in his first Wellington club rugby game in three years. For Paremata-Plimmerton, Hurricane Richard Judd has been named to start at halfback. 

All six Premier matches tomorrow kick-off at 2.45pm.

Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield

Whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s matches, Norths will finish the weekend alone at the top of the table after their 62-12 win over Wellington last night.

MSP and Poneke will both look to keep pace when they venture away from their bases to visit winless Wainuiomata and one-win Tawa respectively. There are two games between sides that have one-win, one-loss records when the Upper Hutt Rams and Petone meet at Maidstone and Avalon face OBU at Fraser Park respectively, while Ories host winless HOBM at Polo. The final game is at Ngati Toa where home team Pare-Plim will look for their first win when taking on Johnsonville.

All six games tomorrow kick-off at 1pm.