Norths Win The Battle, But HOBM Can Still Win the Shield

Api Naikatini jumps high for Norths against HOBM at Trust Porirua Park.

The Swindale Shield is set to go down to the wire next weekend when Northern United and Hutt Old Boys Marist play their final round matches to decide the 2006 champions.

Norths play Tawa at Lyndhurst Park, and HOBM take on Ories at the Hutt Recreation Ground, with Norths needing only to win to secure the shield. HOBM will need to beat Ories and then hope for a Tawa victory to take the title off Norths, despite losing narrowly 26-24 to them in round ten at Porirua Park.

Norths’ win in their top of the table clash gives them a two-point buffer over the Eagles, while Poneke have slipped out of the race altogether after catching a case of the mid season wobbles and faltering for the second week in a row. The red and blacks were beaten 30-21 by Marist St. Pats at Kilbirnie Park, with MSP also securing the all-important eighth Jubilee Cup place with a round to spare.

Elsewhere, Western Suburbs’ 20-21 loss to Avalon at Fraser Park also helped seal the fate of the bottom four sides to contest the Hardham Cup following next week’s final set of Swindale Shield matches. Evergreen backs Toby Robson and Tristian Meo, with Scott Leighton - in his first appearance for the Roosters of the year, couldn’t prevent Avalon from stealing victory from Wests on their Old Timer’s Day after Wests led 14-8 at halftime.

Upper Hutt produced the upset of the round with a rousing 34-20 come-from-behind win over Petone at Maidstone Park. The boys in burgundy were down by a whopping 17 points at the halftime interval, before turning their fortunes around to win by 14 points. Hard running No. 8 James Mei was the star with a hat trick of tries off the base of the scrum. It’s been a rocky road for Upper Hutt in 2006 after winning their first ten games and taking the Swindale Shield last year, but this win over Petone will increase their confidence heading into the Hardham Cup.

The other round ten games went as expected, with the Old Boys-University juggernaut rolling on at the Polo Grounds, dispatching Ories five tries to two and leapfrogging Petone into fourth on the table. Meanwhile Tawa accounted for Johnsonville on Old Timer’s Day at Helston Park with a 30-18 bonus point victory.

Experience under pressure helped Norths defeat HOBM in this week’s feature match at Porirua Park, where it was tight on the scoreboard, but the run of play in the second half told a more convincing story for the Porirua super club. Norths should now go on to scoop their second Swindale Shield in three years, to add to their 2004 Jubilee Cup success.

With the game in the balance at 14-14 moments into the second half, and with new Norths All Black captain Jerry Collins in attendance, Norths were able to lift their intensity and commitment and deny HOBM further opportunities and force them into making mistakes at the wrong end of the field. At the forefront for Norths were two of their more experienced players, halfback Lua Vaoloaloa and right wing Peato Lafaele, with Vaoloaloa adopting a follow me approach for his mobile forwards, increasing the tempo with his snappy decision-making and forceful snipes around the fringes. Lafaele’s contribution came through his boot, with the veteran utility back cool and collected in kicking four consecutive second half penalties to win the game for his side.

HOBM always kept in touch, and a penalty to fullback Mike Kingsbeer and a try on fulltime to hooker Elvis Taione closed the deficit to just two points, with the last try securing them a bonus point.

The first half was evenly contested, with HOBM holding a 9-7 lead after 35 minutes, with three Kingsbeer penalties - including one that hit the upright and appeared to miss – against a converted try to Norths’ second five-eighth Semesa Manulevu off a chargedown after two minutes. Norths struck again to lead 14-9 at halftime with a try to Lafaele after a break by second five-eighth Lome Aloe, which he converted from the sideline. But HOBM struck back immediately after the break through left wing Michael Pehi, who recovered his own chip-and-chase just inside the in-goal chalk to even it all up, before Norths upped their ante and won the day.

Both Kingsbeer and Lafaele also brought up 100 points for the season in this clash, with Lafaele (now 110) and Kingsbeer (108) the leading points scorers, whilst Pehi leads the try scorers with nine touchdowns.

The crucial result also went Norths’ way in the Harper Lock Shield curtain raiser between Norths and HOBM. HOBM had done all the hard work to take a 21-15 lead into the final quarter of play, but a late converted try to Norths gave them a 22-21 victory and the likely Senior One title next week. Playing with the brisk northerly behind them, Norths had shot to a 15-0 lead after 30 minutes, before HOBM came back with a try on halftime, followed by a converted try and three penalties early in the second half.