HOBM Upset Poneke In Tight First Round

Hutt Old Boys Marist were the significant winners in round one of the 2006 Swindale Shield in a closely fought set of opening round matches this weekend. HOBM ran in four second half tries to beat Poneke 28-18 away at Kilbirnie Park, after Poneke had led the Eagles 8-0 at halftime.

The result could have gone the other way in four of the other five venues, with only Upper Hutt emerging as clear-cut winners over Old Boys-University, 24-17 at Maidstone Park. Only a late flurry of scoring from OBU narrowed the margin. Elsewhere, Northern United beat Avalon 7-0 at Porirua Park, Western Suburbs pipped Johnsonville 18-17 at Helston Park, Petone won over Marist St. Pats 15-13 at the Petone Recreation Grounds and Oriental-Rongotai overcame Tawa 10-8 at the Polo Grounds.

The Club Weekly was at the season opener on Friday night, where it took Northern United 78 minutes of play to break a 0-0 deadlock and score the match-winning try over Avalon.

Influenced by extremely slippery underfoot conditions, the fixture seemed to be heading towards a scoreless draw. But a late mistake by Avalon in clearing their ball from inside their own 22 gave Norths first five-eighth Rob Aloe the opportunity to hack a loose ball from a charge down ahead, where the try line opened up for him to slide over. Aloe also added the extras and that was the game.

Earlier, Norths were almost left to rue their inability to convert pressure into points, as they dominated field position for much of the game. Hard on attack for most of the opening 30 minutes, they created several opportunities, largely through the high workrate in broken play of locks Api Naikatini and Toni Leota and flankers Serge Lilo and Tui Meavao. But handling errors and forced passes let them down.

Avalon held firm on defence, and through an increasingly committed forward effort, led by lock and captain Jason Goble, in his 250^th game for the club, and No. 8 Pirie Ngarimu, they fought back strongly. The second half also grew scrappier as the ball got greasier and Norths grew more frustrated.

With the clock counting down, it was ultimately a pressing need for urgency by Norths that put pressure on Avalon and forced a mistake, allowing them to finally score at the death and take the four competition points.

At the Petone Recreation Grounds the run of play was just as close between defending Jubilee Cup champions Petone and MSP. In a tight tussle between two evenly matched sides, it was Petone who eventually overcome MSP and also opened up a four-game winning streak over their archrivals, going back to this corresponding clash two years ago.

Both teams created good territory but missed several clear scoring chances through a lack of accuracy and a well-contested tussle in open play. A try to hardworking Petone hooker Eugene Smith gave the home side a 5-3 lead at halftime. MSP scored a runaway try to right wing Irisa Ta’ala and again through halfback Ciaran O’Brien to lead 13-8 with 15 minutes remaining.

Petone came back strongly and won the game with a penalty try. An MSP hand in an attacking Petone scrum prevented a near-certain score and replacement referee Dean Adams, on for the injured referee Garratt Williamson, made a sound call. This seven-pointer made it 15-13 and Petone held on to the end.