It’s Norths!

UPDATED: The sleeping giant has reawoken. 

A decade and a half after first winning it and seven seasons since they last held it aloft, Northern United are once more Swindale Shield champions.

Heading into today’s 13th and last round, Norths were level pegging on points with Old Boys University and one ahead of Hutt Old Boys Marist and knew a bonus point win today against Marist St Pat’s would secure them the first round title.

That was as good as achieved midway through the first half when outstanding openside flanker Du Plessis Kirifi barged over the whitewash from a lineout drive for their bonus point and a 26-0 lead. Norths would go on and score a further three first half tries and lead 45-0 at halftime. MSP came back in the second half but Norths won 64-36.

Five of Norths first seven tries were scored by forwards. This was also Norths first win over MSP in seven matches dating back to 2012. As well as Kirifi, first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop produced a masterclass while second five-eighth Kienan Higgins played well. For MSP, halfback Regan Sword, second five-eighth Ryan Setefano and flanker James Tuia played well in the second half as they outscored Norths 36-19. Norths won inaugural Maurice Standish Cup.

Norths finished on top on 55 points, ahead of both Old Boys University and Hutt Old Boys Marist who each won their last round matches too, OBU beating Petone 19-5 and HOBM beat Wainuiomata 54-22.

Whilst there were celebrations for Norths, it was heartbreak for Petone who missed out on the ‘top 7’ and a place in the Jubilee Cup as they failed to get a bonus point against OBU and Ories did in their 43-3 win over Johnsonville.

OBU held a 12-5 lead over Petone for much of the second half at Nairnville Park, but a late penalty try to OBU sunk Petone hearts.

Petone scored the game's first try in this Marc Verhoeven Memorial Trophy match, with No. 8 Tupou Sopoaga making a break and setting a try to wing Jarrod Adams. OBU had the lion's share of territory in the first half and finally crossed on halftime through halfback Matt Fowler to put them ahead 7-5 at the break. The second half remained tight, but a second Goats try extended their lead and then the third penalty try won them the game. 

Up the road at Helston Park, Oriental-Rongotai held a 19-3 lead over Johnsonville at halftime and then prolific try-scoring No. 8 Luca Rees took a quick tap and crossed for the first of his two consecutive tries and four for the match for the Magpies’ bonus point. 

Earlier, Johnsonville started competiively against Ories on their Old Timers' Day in this Ash Pointon Cup fixture, but Ories broke free to score two early tries to take a 12-3 lead and then scored their third. 

Tawa finished fourth by beating Paremata-Plimmerton 62-14 ahead of Poneke who finished fifth by beating the Avalon Wolves 57-17 and Tawa fifth by beating Paremata-Plimmerton 62-14. MSP finished sixth and Ories snuck into the championship in seventh.

Tawa started well by scoring tries to right wing Ryan Preston and centre Pepesana Patafilo, before a third try to halfback Adam Preston made it 17-0. They scored a fourth try on halftime and pulled clear in the second 40, with Ryan Preston scoring four tries. 

At Fraser Park, Avalon started the match with a penalty and then Poneke responded with a try to take a 7-3 lead. Poneke then scored two quick tries, to first five-eighth Charlie Russell-Vick and fullback Nick Robertson. They pulled away from the Wolves in the second half. 

Fullback Chase Tiatia was the star of the show at the Hutt Recreation Ground for the home side, who defeated Wainuiomata comfortably in the end. It was also close early on, with the Eagles leading 7-3 after 25 minutes. Tiatia then ran freely from a scrum 70 metres out on a blistering run that resulted in a try to him under the posts. Left-wing Albert Polu scored soon after and it was now 21-3 by halftime.

Tiatia went on another big run immediately after the break to extend the Eagles' lead t 28-3 and give them the bonus point try they needed. From that point on, the floodgates opened at both ends and several more tries were run in. 

HOBM ended up as being the only Hutt Valley side to qualify for this year's Jubilee Cup.

A last play try to fullback Matt Day and an angled conversion by Te Raina Richards-Coxhead earned Wellington a 49-47 win over Upper Hutt on Thursday night at Jerry Collins Stadium.

Down 40-42, Upper Hutt reclaimed the lead with two minutes remaining when hooker Eli Hunt rumbled over from close range.

Wellington kicked off deep and the Rams strung together half a dozen phases before a handling blemish presented the Axeman with a final chance. Three consecutive penalties allowed Wellington to advance inside the 22 and after a series of committed pick and goes by the forwards, space opened up on the blindside with Richards-Coxhead drawing in the last defender and putting Day into the clear.

An entertaining spectacle yielded a total of 14 tries and five lead changes as both teams abandoned defence and played with commendable ambition.

Upper Hutt struck first when Tyler Tane busted through weak tackles and charged 40-meters. Wellington flankers Tom Robinson and Mike Smith responded with trilling tries to make it 14-7, but Tane would complete a first-half hat-trick as the Rams surged to a comfortable advantage.

With about 15 minutes remaining Upper Hutt was ahead 40-28, but the smaller Axemen finished stronger. Halfback Gareth Simpson and No.8 Hamish Dalzell were full of running and when lock Ryan Dawson scored it was suddenly 42-40.

It was a game where extended periods with possession were richly rewarded. Wellington achieved their highest score in a Swindale Shield match since they beat Johnsonville by 90-12 in Round 4 of the 2016 season.

Meanwhile, the Marist St Pat’s Premier Reserve side was celebrating a hard-fought 46-29 win over Northern United in their last round virtual final for the Harper Lock Shield. In a tit-for-tat Premier Reserve decider, MSP came back from a 17-21 halftime deficit to lay on a bevvy of points scoring and take a 31-21 lead into the final 50 minutes of the match.

MSP won the first round by winning all 13 matches and scoring over 700 points.

Norths finished second, ahead of third-placed Poneke and fourth-placed OBU. Poneke beat Avalon 48-13 today and OBU edged Petone 24-17, who were fifth. Tawa were sixth after beating Paremata-Plimmerton 50-5 and Johnsonville seventh after defeating Ories 36-32. Elsewhere, Wainuiomata beat HOBM 34-17 and the Axemen and Rams second XVs drew 32-32.

In the early game at Jerry Collins Stadium, the Northern United women beat Paremata-Plimmerton 55-0 to win the first round Rebecca Liua’ana Women's Trophy with a week to spare. Norths retained the Challenge Cup in this match. 

Oriental-Rongotai beat OBU 79-7 in their game, while first five-eighth Siteri Tabua scored a hat-trick in HOBM's 46-22 win over Poneke. On Wednesday night, Petone beat MSP 74-17, with centre Terina Higgins scoring a hat-trick. 

In U85kg rugby, the Avalon Wolves didn’t leave their den in collecting maximum points in their default win over the HOBM Howlers to maintain their Paul Potiki Shield lead, the Paraparaumu side maintained second with their 26-10 win over Johnsonville, Tawa beat Wellington 56-0, MSP Red beat the Wests Roosters 24-19 and the OBU Bunnies edged Eastbourne 10-8 in a thriller.

In College Premiership games today, Scots College put on a pulsating performance in beating Rongotai College 38-23 on the latter’s 90th birthday weekend celebrations, Silverstream beat Wairarapa College 64-12, Kapiti edged HIBS 22-20 in Trentham and visitors St Bernard’s defeated and out of sorts Porirua College 36-15.