Unbeaten Tawa And HOBM To Meet In Third Round

A third straight win this weekend for Hutt Old Boys Marist against Tawa at the Hutt Recreation ground will send them firmly on the path towards the Jubilee Cup playoffs and beyond. HOBM are gathering steam for their first tilt at the title at Westpac Stadium following two contrasting Jubilee Cup wins, beating Poneke 19-9 in the wet and cold in round one and trouncing the Wests Roosters 64-0 under blue skies in round two. Both victories were away from home, the Eagles returning home for the first of two straight matches at the Hutt Recreation Ground.

Tawa are also unbeaten and are surprise co-leaders with HOBM after beating Wests 27-7 at home and Petone 30-18, and will be out to reverse their 18-15 defeat to HOBM two months ago in the first round. Their fans will also remember well their last visit to the Hutt Rec in 2006 when HOBM scored a converted try on fulltime to pip them 22-20.

Also unbeaten after a fortnight are Marist St Pat's who take on Poneke at Kilbirnie Park in one of the great modern clashes of Wellington rugby. MSP will expect a backlash from their close neighbours, humbled 67-7 by a rampant Northern United last week. Also losing to HOBM in week one, Poneke are pointless on the scoreboard. However they will only need to look at their season last year for their inspiration, recovering from four straight midseason losses to be top qualifiers for the semi-finals.

In other Jubilee Cup matches, Norths play Petone at the Petone Recreation Ground, while Old Boys University and Wests seek out their first wins when they meet at the Basin Reserve.

Meanwhile the Hardham Cup heats up this weekend with Oriental-Rongotai hosting Wainuiomata at the Polo Ground and Johnsonville entertaining Upper Hutt in this week's feature matches.

Ories will be gunning for their third successive win when they line up against a Wainui side fresh from defeating Johnsonville in the first round. Ories overcame Avalon 17-12 in week one and played purposeful attacking rugby in beating Marist St. Pat's 49-9 in week two. If they can beat Wainui in their first home game of the competition they will probably cement their playoff spot.

It will be a desperate Johnsonville who lines up against Upper Hutt at Helston Park needing their first win to stay in contention. It won't get any easier for them against Upper Hutt, who will quickly want to put last week's second round 17-34 defeat to Avalon behind them.

In other Hardham Cup matches, Avalon hosts Norths at Fraser Park and Poneke and MSP clash in the early game at Kilbirnie Park.

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