Upper Hutt Wins Swindale Shield With A Round To Spare

Upper Hutt lifted the Swindale Shield with a round to spare on Saturday. Upper Hutt?s triumphant first round win was not realised at home at Maidstone Park amidst flourishing fanfare, as expected it might be after next week?s final round, instead it was achieved at a wintry Basin Reserve following a 60-point rout of hapless Old Boys-University. Northern United, their only rivals for the Shield heading into round ten, lost to Avalon to hand them the title.

While Upper Hutt had no trouble in dispatching OBU and grabbing a maximum five competition points and moving to 46 points on the ladder, Norths could only manage a bonus point for losing narrowly in their tight encounter with Avalon, to take them to 40 points - giving Upper Hutt the title regardless of what happens next week.

Upper Hutt won their tenth match in succession in style, running in nine tries against the students. They were actually behind 17-5 after 20 minutes, but a four-try blitz late in the first half had them in a familiar position at halftime. A further four unanswered tries sealed the win for them. Meanwhile at Fraser Park Avalon ended Norths? challenge for the silverware by kicking four penalties and restricting Norths to a solitary second half try, scored by wing Siaosi Anamani.

In other round ten results, Western Suburbs had too much firepower in the midfield and out wide for Johnsonville. The high-flying Roosters absorbed early pressure to win comfortably in the end, while two brilliant long-range tries to Petone were enough to separate them from MSP in an otherwise close match at Rugby League Park. Tawa were comfortable winners over Oriental-Rongotai, and Poneke consigned Hutt Old Boys Marist to another disappointing loss.

With Upper Hutt?s wrapping up of the title and six of the seven second round Jubilee Cup berths already taken, the tussle for eighth was still wide open heading into the penultimate round. With HOBM to play in the last round, Ories had a chance to move into that position against rivals Tawa in this week?s feature match at Lyndhurst Park. But in a twist of excitement for next week, Tawa came away with an emphatic win instead.

In frigid conditions it was too cold for Ories, and they failed to make use of the stiff wind at their backs in the first spell. Despite playing a large part of the game at the Northern end of the ground, and dominating possession as well throughout most of the second quarter, Ories never looked liked scoring. They were unimaginative and error-ridden on attack and repeated infringing at the breakdowns also let Tawa off the hook. In contrast Tawa warmed to the task on defence and were cohesive and committed. Their loose forward trio of openside Matt Webster blindside Iona Fuatai and No.8 Greg Murray were particularly active.

All Ories could manage was a penalty on halftime and it was never going to be enough. Ories had the better of the early second half exchanges, but Tawa soon moved ahead. Their first try was actually against the run of play; with right wing Sam Lawrence linking up with left wing Junior Togia in a crisp counterattack. But a penalty to first five-eighth Gene Johnston and then a second try, scored by Webster saw Tawa ahead 17-3 after 65 minutes and Tawa had the game won. Three late tries, including a brace to Murray, gave Tawa a bonus point win.

Steven White

Swindale Shield leading points scorers (after ten rounds):

Scott Leighton (Wests) 120
Brad Cooper (Poneke) 108
Sam Rasch (MSP) 95
Riki Flutey (Petone) 74
Cameron Cross (Avalon) 72
Corey Burt (Jville) 64
Jonathon Bentley (HOBM) 63
Cory Aporo (Upper Hutt) 57
Rob Aloe (Norths) 56
Ben Aoina (Upper Hutt) 52
Willie Lafaele (Tawa) 49
Gene Johnston (Tawa) 46


Swindale Shield leading try scorers (after ten rounds):

Evan Belford (Poneke) 7
Siaosi Anamani (Norths) 6
Rob Aloe (Norths) 5
Brad Baker (Upper Hutt) 5
Tristan Meo (Wests) 5
Steve McColl (Poneke) 5
Junior Togia (Tawa) 5
Vila Apu?ula (Avalon) 4
Shaun O'Conner (Poneke) 4
Malakai Kisina (HOBM) 4
Willie Moala (Petone) 4
Dan Stemp (MSP) 4

Seven other players with four tries, 14 players with three tries.