Wellington club rugby ready to roll on Saturday

The Phony War is now over, and on Saturday competitive hostilities commence for the Wellington club rugby season with the Premier, Senior 1 and Senior 2 grades opening the season

As always, the opening round is full of intrigue and uncertainty. Who's moved clubs? Who's new? Who's left? Are we better than we were last year?? By 5.00 pm on Saturday many of those questions will be on their way to being answered.

Tawa open the season on home turf at Lyndhurst Park, and for the first time as defending Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup champions. The challenge to repeat as Swindale winners is a daunting one, as apart from Norths, no team has successfully defended the Swindale title since Marist St Pats in 1999-2000. Aiding in that quest however is that they return much of last year's champion squad; bolstered by the return of former player and All Blacks Sevens player George Tilsley and the arrival of Tu Umaga-Marshall from Japan.

Their opponents on Saturday are Hutt Old Boys Marist. The Eagles are fresh off their fifth consecutive national Marist association Spillane Cup triumph and will be looking to carry that form into the season and reclaim the trophy they won in 2012. They have had two notable departures, in 200-game lock Polanga Pedro (to retirement) and prolific points-scorer Brandyn Laursen (to Tasman), with hopes that Silverstream leaver Chase Tiatia can fill the void left by the latter. They have also brought in 2013 NZ U20 representative halfback Sheridan Rangihuna from Hawkes Bay.

The Bill Brien Challenge Cup is also at stake in this match.

Oriental-Rongotai - Jubilee Cup runners-up for the past two seasons - open up at home against Wainuiomata at the Polo Ground. Ories were also runners-up to Tawa in the Swindale last year, so will have the motivation to go one better this year and will want a fast start to the season. They will be dented by the loss of all three members of the 8-9-10 combination in Joe Maiava, Sean Hay and Fa'atonu Fili, but the return to the club of James Proctor from Australia and arrival of Isaac Marriner from Rimutaka will offset those in part.

Wainuiomata face a tough start to the season, with this game followed by taking on Tawa away next week as well. New coach Justin Wilson does have a very settled squad available to him however with no major losses of personnel, and bolstered by the return of flanker Greg Lealofi from a year playing in Counties-Manukau and the addition of local boy and St Pats Silverstream fullback Josh Robertson-Weepu.?

Northern United begin at home at Porirua Park taking on Marist St Pats. After missing out on last year's Jubilee Cup, winning the Hardham Cup provided some form of consolation for a club used to winning, let alone merely competing for the major prizes; and they will be looking to make amends in 2014 with a squad that includes Dudley Parsons who has returned from Australia.

Marist St Pat's warmed up for the season by handily winning the second-tier Ham Cuming Cup at the Marist tournament and their offseason recruiting has added strength and depth to the squad. This applies particularly to the back division, where the returns of Fa'atonu Fili and Ryan Setefano to the club make them amongst the most dangerous in the competition.

The newly-merged Upper Hutt Rams start their inaugural campaign at home against last year's Jubilee Cup semi-finalists Old Boys-University. 2013 was a disappointing year for both of the Rams antecedent clubs, with Upper Hutt firstly missing out on the Jubilee Cup and then failing to make the Hardham Cup final while Rimutaka's final season will be remembered for all the wrong reasons; so hopes are high that the merged club will produce stronger performances this year. They have lost livewire halfback Kayne Hammington who has decided to seek opportunities in the Manawatu, but gained loose forward Taniela Manu from Canterbury, while Matt Luamanu will be available for the Swindale round. First-five eighth Liam Berry has also returned after a stint playing in Italy.

For their part the students will look to go at least one step further than last year, but firstly will want to avoid their seemingly annual situation of being caught up in the dogfight for the last couple of Jubilee Cup places as the Swindale concludes. While they have lost hard-working loose forward duo Andrew Smith and Thomas Fleming, they have brought in a pair of standout school leavers in Kings College Auckland's Teariki Ben-Nicholas and Wellington College's Wes Goosen, and Tomasi Palu returns to the club he played for from 2006-08.

The final two games see the clubs returning to the Premier grade both at home. Johnsonville play their first Swindale Shield match since 2010 at Helston Park against Poneke, while the Wellington Axemen will play their first in over a decade when they face Petone at Hataitai Park.

After their controversial promotion following last season Johnsonville will be looking to make a statement that they deserve to be in the top-flight on merit and want to reassert Helston as a difficult place for teams to visit. However they have lost both co-captains in Louis Karl and James Fa'atuatu, and coach Mason Lawrence will be fielding a young squad in 2014 with an eye ahead towards next year.

Poneke come into the season having travelled across the Tasman for the annual Seti Tafua Shield match against Sydney side Northern Suburbs last weekend, where they went down 19-26. The Streetkids have had more turnover than most, with several players unavailable due to work commitments or long-term injury, plus Greg Foe is currently with the Manu Samoa 7's team. Arrivals include Wellington College first-five Pakia Turei, and Galu Taufale returns from long-term injury to captain the club.

Petone make the trip to the south side of Mt Victoria to face the Axemen in a battle of two of Wellington's oldest clubs. Coming off two successive years without a win in the Jubilee Cup round the Villagers have an intriguing new mix of youth and experience with New Zealand Secondary Schools fullback Sam McNicol joining from Napier Boys' High and Riki Flutey, Hayden Cripps and Belgium Tuatagaloa all rejoining the club. Amongst their few losses are 200-game lock Chris Molenaar and vastly-experienced prop Thomas Tupuivao, both of whom have called time on their Premier careers.

Wellington are the competitions unknown quantity having been very active in recruiting over the summer bringing in players from as far away as the USA and South Africa, with their most notable local recruit being abrasive former Norths flanker Dean Brunsdon. However, Axemen supporters may have to wait a week before seeing their first-choice combination in action with a number of players away with the IRANZ team at the Hong Kong 10s tournament.

All Premier matches are 3.00 pm kickoffs.

In Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield action the early 1.15pm games mirror the Premier games that follow, with Ed Chaney Cup winners Tawa hosting HOBM at Lyndhurst, Norths playing MSP at Porirua Park, Ories face Wainuiomata on the Polo Ground, and Upper Hutt against OBU at Maidstone. In the two 3pm kickoffs Avalon start their campaign to make this year's Hardham Cup at home to Petone's second side on Fraser Park, while the Wests Roosters begin life in the second-tier by taking on Paremata-Plimmerton in the Cage at Ian Galloway Park.

National Mutual Cup Senior 2 games are all earlier kickoffs, with Norths taking on MSP, Upper Hutt facing defending HD Morgan winners OBU, Johnsonville hosting Poneke, Wests facing Petone, and Avalon up against HOBM. The final game sees Stokes Valley's senior side make the trip to Hataitai to take on the Axemen's second side, which were only entered into the competition following Wainuiomata's withdrawal last week.

As well as the action in the senior grades there is plenty of Womens, Colts, under 85kg restricted and some College teams in preseason matches as well as those grades build up for their competition starts over the next few weeks.

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