May Day Mayday for Swindale Strugglers

Distress signals will be reverberating around the training paddocks of Oriental-Rongotai, Johnsonville, Western Suburbs and Tawa this coming week following these clubs’ latest losses in round five of the Swindale Shield. Realistically Ories and Johnsonville will now need to win all of their next six games to avoid contesting the Hardham Cup in round two.

Wests were the least convincing of the struggling quartet in a round otherwise dominated by rain, getting thoroughly outplayed in their six tries to none drubbing by a rejuvenated Marist St. Pats. Two tries in just three minutes for MSP just prior to halftime were enough to knock the stuffing out of the Roosters and seal an easy win. Meanwhile Ories and Tawa went down with more of a fight, losing to Poneke and Petone respectively. Ories even managed to hold second-placed Poneke to 0-0 at halftime, but this was more due to the driving rain than great rugby. Johnsonville also gave a good account of themselves, pushing Hutt Old Boys Marist all the way, and even leading them at one stage, but HOBM came back and consolidated their lead on the points table.

Elsewhere Upper Hutt knocked off Old Boys-University and Norths managed to beat Avalon, creating a log jam at the top end of the table, where MSP, Norths and Avalon find themselves in a three way tie for third spot.

It was to the Norths - Avalon game at Fraser Park that the Club Weekly went this week. Billed as a hotly contested game between two no-nonsense forward packs, it actually proved to be a largely one-sided affair – except the team that made all the play, Avalon, lost the match. Avalon enjoyed the overwhelming majority of territory and possession and made most of the play for the best part of the first half and for much of the second spell, but poor handling and errors at the most crucial of times cost them dearly.

Seven times in the first half Avalon lost clear scoring opportunities either over or very near the Norths line and they could have easily led by 20 points at halftime. Instead two Darren Kapene penalties were all they could muster and Norths scored the game’s only two tries. The first of these, to openside flanker Tui Meavao in a first half blindside move, was essentially their only constructive play of the game. For their part, Norths’ defence was excellent though. It was their solid, tenacious tackling around the fringes, particularly from their loose forwards, that contributed to Avalon’s - minus their two loose forward stars, the Waldrom brothers – inability to convert.

The decisive play of the game came in the 50th minute. Avalon were hot on attack and applying all sorts of pressure when the ball popped out to Norths, who ran 95 metres to score at the other end through blindside flanker Serge Lilo. This made it 12-6 to the visitors and so it remained as a frustrated Avalon just could not breach the Norths line.