Crunch Time For Title Hopefuls In Fourth Round

The involvement of several Hurricanes players and All Blacks Ma’a Nonu, Piri Weepu and Chris Masoe in last week’s round of Wellington club rugby certainly brought an extra level of intensity into the Jubilee and Hardham Cup competitions. But the likely absence of the All Blacks, and the Vodafone Wellington Lions players to the Air New Zealand Cup, until at least finals day, won’t diminish either of the competitions.

After just three rounds, both the Hardham and Jubilee Cups are finely balanced and both look set to go down to the wire over the final month of round-robin rugby. It’s crunch time this weekend for several sides for their respective semi-final chances, and in the case of the Hardham Cup, the threat of relegation next year. For winless Tawa and Marist St. Pats in the Jubilee Cup, week four is a must win round for their semi-final chances, whilst in the Hardham Cup the rise of Wainuiomata is adding pressure on the other competing clubs, not just for their playoff hopes but for their survival in the Swindale Shield next year.

Johnsonville will be desperate to beat unbeaten Oriental-Rongotai in their clash at the Polo Ground. Following losses to Western Suburbs and Wainuiomata in their first two games and Upper Hutt to play next week, the Helston Park faithful will be hoping for a repeat of their team’s 20-17 Swindale Shield win, after Ories had won their previous head-to-head 38-16 in the 2005 Hardham Cup final. With the help of their All Blacks both these teams enjoyed comfortable wins in their round three clashes. Ma’a Nonu ran at second five-eighth for 50 minutes in Ories’ 34-10 win over Hutt Old Boys Marist B and Chris Masoe scored a hat trick of tries off the back of Johnsonville’s scrum in their 40-21 victory over Northern United B.

An influential player for Wainuiomata in their convincing win over Poneke B was Piri Weepu, whose 23 points including two tries helped them to a 53-5 win. This was their third win in a row and they find themselves on top of the points table, one ahead of Ories and three clear of third placed Upper Hutt. Another win against HOBM at the Hutt Recreation Ground this week will push them another step closer to achieving premier one status next year, with their 14-11 win over Johnsonville their high point to date. With Ories and Western Suburbs to play in the final three weeks, they will also see this as a must win.

Meanwhile, Upper Hutt deserve their favourites tag following two recent comprehensive wins against HOBM and Wests in recent weeks and shouldn’t have any problems taking care of Norths at Maidstone Park, while Wests have the opportunity to regroup from that 36-10 loss when they play Poneke at Kilbirnie Park.