Pressure on Petone, Upper Hutt In Third Round

Old Boys-University proved last year that club rugby seasons could be salvaged from three successive losses at the very start of the season. The students went on to recover from their poor start to finish third in the Swindale Shield. However it would take a miracle to recover from three defeats and win the first round title.

This year the pressure will be on 2004 champions Petone and 2005 champions Upper Hutt to register their first wins in this weekend's round three matches or their Shield aspirations will be over. Petone play Tawa at Lyndhurst Park in this week's Club Weekly feature match and Upper Hutt host Western Suburbs at Maidstone Park.

In an opening fortnight already characterised by a variable form guide and one major upset, Petone and Upper Hutt remain as the two winless sides desperate to kick-start their campaigns. This will be compounded if frontrunners OBU and Poneke make it three from three in the wins column from their matches against Wainuiomata and Oriental-Rongotai respectively.

Wainuiomata caused the stir of the Shield round last week when they upset champions Norths 30-29. They are unlikely to have the same passion or Piri Weepu at pivot, for their first away game, at the Basin Reserve. For OBU, a bonus point win would place them on maximum points from the first three weeks, giving them the perfect start to go on and challenge for the Swindale Shield. Similarly, a win for Poneke over Ories on their Old Timer's day at Kilbirnie Park will put them in good stead in their chase for the first round title they last won on 2002.

Petone, who also lost their first two matches in 2005, before eventually finishing fifth, have suffered losses to Norths and OBU heading into their clash with Tawa. However, this encounter in the corresponding match last year, at the same venue, left Petone's supporters reeling in a path of havoc laid down by Tawa. In their best performance all season, Tawa beat the Villagers 46-21, fullback Hirini Robin bagging a hat trick and long serving wing Junior Togia a brace in an eight tries to two victory.

Meanwhile, Norths and HOBM square off at the Hutt Recreation Ground and Marist St. Pat's host Avalon at Evans Bay Park in other round three action.

In the Senior One Harper Lock Shield, newly demoted Johnsonville will be out to make it three from three against Petone. In their quest to regain the Premier status they lost last year in a dramatic Hardham Cup, Johnsonville opened with wins against HOBM and Norths.

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