Swindale Heats Up In Round Five

A week ago Hutt Old Boys Marist would have pencilled in for themselves another four or five competition points from this week’s round five Swindale Shield fixture with Old Boys-University at the Prime Finance Basin Reserve. After all the Hutt high-flyers began 2006 by upstaging three of the top four 2005 Jubilee Cup sides, before overhauling third placed Marist St. Pats for a 29-28 win last week. On a role, HOBM need one more win to secure their place in the top eight.

However, OBU’s surprise winning result in round four makes a fifth win on the trot for the Eagles less certain. In their first premier win since the 2004 Jubilee Cup round, OBU trounced Western Suburbs 52-17 last week, and despite the possible absence of a couple of players to the NZ University side to play Japan U23, they will be hoping for a repeat performance this week.

It won’t just be OBU’s supporters gunning for another win, Norths’ fans could see their team race out to a clear lead on the points table if OBU can end HOBM’s run. Norths play Poneke on their Old Timer’s Day at Kilbirnie Park this week, who should prove a much tougher test for them than their last three opponents. Norths have shown they are a notch above Johnsonville, Western Suburbs and Oriental-Rongotai, racking up 142 points against the trio. Poneke will certainly match Norths in the loose and out wide, but their tight five will need to play well against the dynamic Norths pack.

In other round five action, sixth placed Avalon and seventh placed Petone meet at the Petone Recreation Ground. Smarting after a heavy defeat to Tawa, Petone will want to bounce back against Avalon, with the winner of this fixture likely to move up the ladder.

Tawa, who lived up to their dark horse routine superbly against the Villagers, will be seeking a rare win over Marist St. Pats at Evans Bay Park. MSP have won the previous six clashes between these two sides, albeit by narrow margins, with the previous five going down to the wire. In other matches, it’s also Old Timer’s Day for Upper Hutt at Maidstone Park and for Oriental-Rongotai at the Polo Grounds. Upper Hutt host Johnsonville and Ories host a Wests team in disarray after conceding 110 points in their previous two outings. While it’s still early in the season, Upper Hutt, Johnsonville, Ories and Wests will all want to separate themselves from the bottom of the pack and these head to head encounters could prove vital in the week’s ahead.