Close Encounters Of The Hutt Kind

Another week and another remarkable win for Hutt Old Boys Marist in round seven of the Swindale Shield. The high flying Hutt side maintained their unbeaten record at the top of the table with yet another amazing come-from-behind win, this time pipping Tawa with the last act of the game to win 22-20.

At the Petone Recreation Ground Northern United avenged last year’s Jubilee Cup final defeat to Petone with a rocketing 42-27 win. There was no shortage of action, with Norths first five-eighth Rob Aloe returning from a four-week layoff to score a hat trick of tries, while right wing Peato Lafaele bagged 22 points. The four-try bonus point sees Norths two points behind HOBM in second.

Poneke retained third place on the table in scoring four tries in their 28-17 win over Western Suburbs at Kilbirnie Park, with right wing Tupu Saena collecting a double. Saena, Poneke fullback Tevita Latu, who also scored against Wests, and Aloe, were all named in the Wellington XV squad to play Wairarapa Bush next Tuesday.

At Evans Bay Park, Marist St. Pats bounced back from three rare defeats in succession with a timely six tries to one, 44-7 rout of Johnsonville. The win sees MSP unchanged in seventh, but they will be relieved to now be five points clear of the relegation zone. Rounding out the top eight is Old Boys-University, who continued their improvement in beating an inconsistent Avalon 32-31 at the Prime Finance Basin Reserve on their Old Timer’s Day.

Meanwhile, defending champions Upper Hutt continued their wayward slide, with a 11-26 defeat to Oriental-Rongotai at Maidstone Park. The win to Ories still sees them in tenth, but five points clear of bottom equal placed Wests and Johnsonville.

Time stood still in the final minutes of this week’s feature match at the Hutt Recreation Ground, where Tawa poured their heart and soul into defending a five-point lead and looked likely to become the first side to tip up the Swindale Shield leaders, only to be defeated with HOBM’s last throw of the dice.

In a pulsating finish, played out to a bumper Old Timer’s Day crowd, HOBM won with a converted try to replacement wing Dennis Unasa, after they had spent a ten-minute spell pressed hard on attack in Tawa’s 22. Trailing 15-20, they seemingly couldn’t crack Tawa’s outstanding defence in close. In desperation they finally went wide and Unasa scored. This levelled the score at 20-20 with a wide angled conversion to come, which HOBM fullback Mike Kingsbeer then calmly slotted for a two-point victory.

HOBM have now won four of their seven games this year with last minute comeback victories, a trend that their supporters will never get used to. On top of this victory over Tawa, these include wins against Upper Hutt and MSP, after trailing 27-29 and 26-28 respectively late in the games, and against OBU, after scores were locked at 17-17 with fulltime also upon them.

With a fleet of dangerous backs, it was Tawa’s hardworking pack that almost won them the day. Led by their mobile front three of hooker Stephen Fairbrother and props Livingston ‘Juice’ Finau and Cam Brockie, tireless flankers Iona Fuatai and Josh Abraham, who made countless tackles, they were desperately unlucky.

But this result is more of a testament to the tremendous resilience and composure of HOBM this year. The key to their success is simple - their forwards work together as a unit, their backs run hard and straight and they defend like crazy when they have to.

Two penalties to centre Willie Lafaele and an intercept runaway try to left wing Vice Saletele gave Tawa a 13-0 lead late in the first half. HOBM replied with a penalty and their first try to left wing Michael Pehi in the 50^th minute, which closed the deficit to 13-10. Tawa then scored again through right wing Jerome Thompson, who collected a clever angled kick from first five-eighth Malasia Mailo. Lafaele converted from the sideline, giving Tawa a 20-10 lead.

HOBM closed the score to 20-15 soon after, through first five-eighth Leone Tumua, after HOBM had stretched Tawa’s defence in a rapid assault inside their 22. This try came from a mistake in judgement from Tawa hooker, Fairbrother, who feigned an injury to delay his own throw into the lineout while his teammate was down injured. Referee Kyle McLean was having none of that, and HOBM halfback Nick Risdon tapped the penalty and took off, which led to the try.

Kingsbeer was unable to convert from 15 metres in, on top of two tricky missed penalties earlier in the first half, but he saved his best until last to convert the match-winning try.