Short turnaround for crunch matches in Anzac Day round

Less than 96 hours after the end of Round 6, the fourteen teams in each of the Swindale and Harper Lock Shields will be back in action with tomorrow’s Anzac Day round – which also marks the halfway point of the first round – before an even shorter turnaround for Round 8 on Saturday.

Two clubs - Hutt Old Boys Marist and the Upper Hutt Rams - are making use of tomorrow for their Old Timers’ Day festivities as well.

Premier Swindale Shield

A pair of top-five clashes highlight tomorrow’s matches.

Hutt Old Boys Marist maintained their unbeaten position at the head of the ladder, but only just as it took a last-minute penalty on Saturday to beat a gallant Pare-Plim and avoid the upset result of the season so far. Third-placed Poneke are tomorrow’s opponents, with the Kilbirnie side venturing to the Hutt Rec having won five straight after their first-round mauling at the hands of OBU and the subsequent off-field drama. The big news heading into this game is the facial injury suffered on Saturday by the Eagles’ Sheridan Rangihuna which looks likely to keep him out for a few weeks and with depth already a question mark at the Nest this only adds to it. A home win will keep them on top, but one for the visitors could see them climb further.

Across the Ewen Bridge its fourth vs fifth when two of Wellington’s most successful sides - Petone and Marist St Pat’s – clash at the Petone Rec. Both sides have matching win-loss records (4W 2L) on the season so far, but come off contrasting results on Saturday; Petone easily handled Avalon running out 28-5 winners, while MSP came off second-best from their encounter with OBU. The reality is that for whoever loses this match they’ll have suffered a significant dent in their hopes of lifting the Swindale Shield, while for the victor they’ll still be well alive.

Back in the city there’s one of the feature clashes of season as Old Boys-University and Tawa meet at the Goats home paddock of Nairnville Park where the Bill Brien Challenge Cup will be on the line. OBU lie second on the ladder, and while they’ll obviously be after a Poneke win at the Hutt Rec will also be looking to take care of their own business. That, however, may have been made more difficult owing to a number of injuries from Saturday’s win that saw that game go to uncontested scrums. Tawa looked somewhat out of sorts in their loss to Norths on Saturday, and having slid back into the seventh position on the table (ahead of Ories by virtue of winning their head-to-head clash a month ago) they need to find their feet to avoid having plenty of work to do on the run in.

Not too far away sixth-placed Norths will be looking to avoid a banana skin and advance their own cause when they head down SH1 to Helston Park to face Johnsonville. Form would indicate that this should be a win for the visitors, but despite being rooted to the foot of the table the Hawks have made things difficult for both MSP and Poneke in recent weeks and that might be how they go about it tomorrow. Despite beating Tawa Norths will perhaps consider they pushed to many 50/50 balls and concerned at the number of turnovers they conceded and tightening that up could be a focus.

The remaining three matches all feature sides that currently sit outside the Jubilee Cup places.

After a tough opening month the Upper Hutt Rams have dragged themselves back onto the fringes of contention with wins over Pare-Plim and Wainuiomata. They host Oriental-Rongotai at Maidstone with the Magpies currently occupying the dreaded eighth position but come off a comfortable win over the Axemen. As with Petone and MSP above a loss here makes things more difficult, but in the chase to make the Jubilee Cup rather than the Swindale itself and that could lead to some desperation and things that work, or not.

The fourth game in the Hutt Valley is over the Hill Road at William Jones Park, where Wainuiomata face the visit of Paremata-Plimmerton. The home side will be looking for a win to potentially get back into the top-seven depending on results elsewhere after Saturday’s setback at Maidstone, but will also have to be wary after their opponents showing against HOBM. Saturday was something of a bittersweet pill for Pare-Plim; inexperience of being in that sort of situation probably cost them a famous win, but they’ll also know that they’re more than capable of pushing the competition’s big names. This one might be harder to pick than many realise.

Finally, the only game in the eastern suburbs is at Hataitai Park between home team Wellington and visitors Avalon. It’s been several weeks since either side tasted success; the Axemen haven’t won since opening day and have suffered three hefty losses in as many Saturdays while the Wolves have endured four straight defeats since winning their opening two games. Both teams will be keen to show their attacking abilities after that aspect of their game has been shackled, and there is potential that this could be relatively high-scoring despite the two teams standing.

There are four interclub trophies at stake in tomorrow’s games:

HOBM and Poneke will play for their Roy John Trophy. John played his club rugby for both Poneke and the original Hutt FC, and was a Wellington representative in both rugby and cricket. HOBM won this 17-13 in their only encounter last season.

Petone and MSP contest their Bill Elvy Memorial Trophy. Elvy played for Petone soon after arriving in Wellington and was a representative player during the 1920s. His son Norm played for both the Marist and St Patrick’s Old Boys clubs, and grandson Martin played for MSP. Petone hold this after their 24-20 win at Evans Bay last year, though MSP won the Jubilee Cup match 19-17.

Johnsonville and Norths have their Barlow Trophy in play. Bert Barlow played for Johnsonville before moving to Titahi Bay where he later coached and held several roles within the Onepoto-based club. Norths are the holders after winning 37-17 last year.

And finally, Ories and Upper Hutt play for the Bob Lendrum Cup. Lendrum was Oriental’s senior captain in the 1960’s, and player-coach in the years following the merger with Rongotai College OB. He then had a stint coaching Fiji during which they beat both Queensland and New South Wales before settling in Upper Hutt where he mentored several coaches. Ories hold this after winning 41-19 last year.

All seven Premier matches kick-off at 2.45pm.

Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield

Norths and MSP continued their unbeaten ways at the head of the table, and will be looking for that to remain the case tomorrow but have very different tasks ahead of them. The form book would suggest that Norths will have little trouble with Johnsonville whose bright start has been extinguished with hefty losses in the last two rounds, while MSP head into Lower Hutt to face third-placed Petone in what shapes as the game of the round.

Behind them Poneke are at the Hutt Rec to face HOBM, Defending champs OBU meet Tawa at Nairnville Park, and mid-table pair Ories and the Upper Hutt Rams clash at Polo. The bottom four are in action amongst themselves with Wellington hosting Avalon at Fraser Park, and Wainuiomata doing likewise with winless Paremata-Plimmerton at William Jones.

All seven matches are at 1pm.