Swindale Shield Round Two preview: Many questions still to be answered

Above: The Johnsonville Hawks were more competitive against Marist St Pat's in their first match than the 8-52 scorelines suggests. Tomorrow they host the Wellington Axemen on their Old Timers' Day at Helston Park.

Last weekend’s Gala Opening Day at Trentham seemingly threw up as many new questions as answers to those already posed. Already the indications are that the fight for the eight Jubilee Cup places will be hard fought, and that adds extra spice to every game this week.

Last weekend’s biggest winners, Tawa, are on home turf at Lyndhurst Park with Oriental-Rongotai the visitors. Tawa eased into the season with a comprehensive 70-15 win over newcomers Paremata-Plimmerton with half those points coming via fullback James So’oialo, while No.8 TJ Fermanis was a standout performer in the pack despite not managing to get on the scoresheet himself. They name a largely unchanged side for tomorrow.

Ories did score the first try of the year through Afa Fa’atau, but otherwise couldn’t swing momentum their way in going down to Petone and will be desperate not to fall behind the leaders even at this early stage. They will have the services of Taranaki ITM Cup player and Hurricanes squad member Iopu Iopu-Aso, who starts at openside. The two sides split their two meetings last year, Tawa winning the Swindale clash at the Polo Ground 22-15, with Ories winning their Jubilee Cup clash 45-15 where Ardie Savea, on leave from Hurricanes duty during the international break, was simply riotous. With the firepower both sides have out wide, the ball should see plenty of air.

The other big winner was Marist St Pat’s, who ran away with things against Johnsonville with five second-half tries en route to a 52-8 opening day win. It was a fairly well-rounded performance, with tries shared between front-rowers, halfback, midfield, and the outside backs, and an 18-point haul from first-five Fa’atonu Fili, and one they’ll surely like to build on as they seek to defend their title. Their opponents are Avalon, who put in a stoic shift against Old Boys-University, but found that inaccuracies and ill-discipline are punished at this level. They will be buoyed by how competitive they were however and if they can take the rough edges off their game they will be tough opponents. The loose forward battle in particular will be intriguing.

The two sides also contest Joe Aspell Cup, which was awarded by the late Joe Aspell for competition between the Marist and Taita clubs when Joe was the licensee of the Taita Hotel, one of many that he ran. Joe played for Marist in the 1940’s, later serving the club in many ways, being a President and Life Member, and a notable benefactor of many charitable causes. Avalon holds this after their 27-11 Senior 1 grade victory last year over MSP’s second side. Owing to ground availability issues, this game will be played at the St Pat's College Artifcial, with a 3pm kickoff.

Petone make the trip north into Upper Hutt for the second week in succession, though this time it’s to Maidstone Park to take on the Upper Hutt Rams. The Villagers eventually subdued Ories after a lengthy arm wrestle to prevail 30-19, with loose forwards Jacob Gooch and Mateaki Kafatolu especially prominent, and are looking to start with back-to-back wins for the second time in three years with a side that has only one change in personnel from opening day. The Rams had to dig deep against Poneke, needing two late tries, the first to hat-trick man Max Pearson and the second at the death to Josh Hunt each converted by Jordon Simpson Hefft, to notch a 35-all draw.

Two trophies are on the line for this match, the first being the Connolly Cup played for by the two clubs and?first presented in 1969. It was named after Ted Connolly, who with his brothers Adrian and Eric, played a significant role in the Upper Hutt Club in the years pre and post World War 2.Of note, Ted established a post-war team known as “Connolly’s All Stars XV” initially comprising returned servicemen which played an annual match.Petone are the holders, after their 34-22 win in the Swindale fixture, though the Rams turned the tables in the Jubilee Cup match winning 27-17. The second is the Bill Brien Challenge Cup, which is at stake for the first time this season.

Up and over the Hill Road Wainuiomata play host to Paremata-Plimmerton, with this match being played at Mary Crowther Park as William Jones Park recovers from the latest attempt at curing its ills. The hosts will want a better 80 minute effort this time out, having blown a 24-0 halftime advantage against Norths to wind up 34-all despite a 29 point effort from wing Tyler Tane, to start with a draw for the second year in succession. Pare-Plim endured a torrid outing in their return to the top-flight against Tawa, and at the very least making first-time tackles would have been a focus at training this week. However they also showed some promise when they did have the ball in hand and that will be something Wainui will have to be wary of, though they have named a very different looking backline.

Old Boys-University are at home to Poneke, with the match being played at Ian Galloway Park owing to Nairnville remaining unavailable for another week due to cricket. The Goats made an ideal start to the season, banking maximum points in seeing off Avalon with the returning Thomas Fleming a massive factor in that match, and will look to make it two-from-two. Fleming starts at No.8, with Luke Campbell and Hamish Buick returning as the halves combination and Joe Hill back on the right wing. Poneke already look a much more balanced side this year with the influence of Greg Mullany, who faces the side he played for last year, obvious. Mullany moves out one spot to 12 tomorrow where he’ll combine with another Hurricanes squad player, Southlander Willis Halaholo, in midfield and youngster Pakai Turia starting at 10. After letting their lead slip last weekend, they will want to make amends this time out.

The two sides contest the Beet Algar Rosebowl; Beet (short for Beethoven) Algar was Poneke's senior captain in the post-WWI years, an administrator after retiring and Poneke's patron until his death in 1978. OBU hold this trophy after their 24-21 win last year, where Poneke turned down a penalty shot with time up to push for a match winning try.

Johnsonville welcome Wellington to Helston Park for their Old Timers’ Day; both sides having lost last week at Trentham, though in quite different circumstances. The Hawks held tough against MSP, holding them to penalties only until just before half time before the floodgates opened after the break; and coach Mason Lawrence will clearly be after improvement this week. Jack Taulapapa and Declan Hay swap halves jerseys, while prop Tevita Falekakala faces his former club.

For the Axemen Week 1 was a heartbreaker, having led Jubilee Cup holders HOBM for much of the game only to concede two late tries to go down 36-37, despite the best efforts of standout forward Vaea Fifita and halfback Adam Deck, while openside Terry Soli had perhaps his best game at this level. That trio will again need to be to the fore this week. The Mick Kenny Memorial Cup is at stake between the two sides; Kenny played for Johnsonville prior to serving in World War II and for Wellington post-war and the cup was donated in 2001, the year of his death. It is held by Wellington after their 16-9 victory at Hataitai Park in Round 3 last year.

The final match is out at Porirua Park, where two of last week’s comeback kids, Norths and Hutt Old Boys Marist collide. Whatever Norths coach Steve Haturini said at halftime clearly worked as his side salvaged a 34-all draw against Wainuiomata from what seemed an impossible situation 40 minutes earlier with Wellington 7s rep Inoke Rasebale coming off the bench to score two second-half tries. He starts tomorrow, alongside Dean Brunsdon (who has transferred back from Wellington) and Hurricanes and Wellington rep hooker Leni Apisai.

HOBM may already have cashed in their Get Out of Jail card, stealing a win against Wellington despite being outplayed for much of the match. They’ll be hoping that they’ve shaken the rust off and look more like the side that was rampant in the second half of last season this week; and have made few changes. One of those is at 10, where long-serving halfback Nick Risdon starts after finishing the game there last week and his matchup against Jackson Garden-Bachop will be intriguing.

All Premier matches kickoff at the new season-long start time of 2.30pm, with the exception this week of the MSP v Avalon clash at 3pm as noted above.

The seven Premier Reserve matches all serve as curtainraisers for the corresponding Premier matches that follow, as they will for the remainder of the Swindale rounds. The only match of first up winners is at Ian Galloway Park where OBU and Poneke meet in the early game, while the only game between sides that both lost is at Porirua Park between Norths and HOBM. Opening day winners Tawa and Wainuiomata are at home against Oriental-Rongotai and Paremata-Plimmerton respectively, while Wellington travel to face Johnsonville and Petone are on the road to take on the Upper Hutt Rams. These matches are all 12.45pm kickoffs with the remaining fixture, MSP against Avalon, a 1pm start at the St Pat’s College artificial.

There is also more rugby at Trentham Memorial Park this weekend, with a grading day to start the U21 season. 21 teams have been entered, with Old Boys-University entering three teams, the Upper Hutt Rams, Petone, and Wellington Axemen two each, while there are again sides entered from Kapiti and Otaki-based club Rahui. These latter two sides will clash on Saturday up the coast, with Tawa and the OBU Black and White squads having the weekend off. The remaining 16 sides will be on show at TMP, with four games kicking off at 12.45pm and the balance at 2.30pm.? ?