Club and college rugby set to heat up this weekend

Above: Several teams including Poneke are hunting their opening wins of the second round in tomorrow's Jubilee and Hardham Cup grades. 

After last weekend’s opener to the second round, expect tomorrow's round of Premier matches to be just as hard-fought and the possibility that some teams could get a real jump on their competitors on the table.

Across the lower grades, there are trophies that will be decided in some, while others also move further into the business end of their campaigns.

Premier Jubilee Cup

With the Jubilee Cup featuring the best sides in the province there’s no time for rest or complacency and certainly no such thing as an easy week, something that’s evidenced by this weekend’s round of matches.

Perhaps the feature clash – if you could apply such a tag at this stage – is at the Hutt Rec in the only match between sides that won last weekend Hutt Old Boys Marist takes on neighbours and rivals Wainuiomata. The Eagles simply wore down Ories last Saturday – completing the season double over them – and facing a big veteran pack might look to repeat the plan.

Experience isn’t something HOBM lack themselves – of tomorrow's starters only lock Lui Okeamoa-Luamanu, wing LA Moemai and fullback Matt Poole have played less than 30 Premier games, and their only changes are both at lock with Okeamoa-Luamanu and Jared Woodward replacing Sam Faisandier and David Filipo.

Wainuiomata make three changes: Dion Lealofi comes back in a hooker with Henry Smith moving to tighthead with Justin Va’a dropping out, while Frae Wilson and Uale Mai form this week’s starting halves pairing. Best and Fairest leader Ben Tupuola will again be their main source of go-forward and they will want to build off of that.

You have to all the way back to the second round of the Swindale to find their earlier meeting, with Wainuiomata prevailing 31-26 that day.

Across the hills, Old Boys-University return to suburban Nairnville Park where they’ll host Petone. The Goats were fairly ruthless in stifling Norths’ ambitions and are well attuned to the pressures of Jubilee Cup rugby at present, while Petone got a reminder of it on their return last weekend when they arguably had the better of the match against MSP but found themselves on the wrong side of the result.

The home side have a few changes for tomorrow. Will Mangos returns on the flank for the first time in several weeks, and Teegan Minkley switches back to fullback. Their list of absentees is notable however with Teariki Ben Nicholas, Tomasi Palu, Joe Hill and Jono Ihaka all missing tomorrow. Despite this, after last week’s success in moving the ball wide, you can bet that OBU will look to do the same again. Petone make just as many with returns for Mateaki Kafatolu, Marcus Roil, Carne Green, and Jarrod Adams, with Jonny Sykes replacing the stricken Willie Tufui in midfield. OBU won their earlier meeting this year 27-20 at the Rec, something the Villagers would like to return tomorrow.

Evans Bay is the scene of another eastern suburbs derby when Marist St Pat’s face Oriental-Rongotai. Both sides will be looking for improvements on last weekend; even though they won MSP wouldn’t have been too happy with parts of their play, while Ories fell to HOBM for the second time in a month and suffered their first loss at Polo this season.

MSP make just one enforced change, with Dudley Parsons replacing the suspended jay Cameron in midfield, as they otherwise stick with the same side that overcame the Villagers. Ories however make considerably more, with Xavier Numia, Karl Dumelow, Fiu Gibbons, and Hayden Whelan all amongst their raft of moves. The Swindale contest between the two was a hard-fought affair with MSP failing to pull back a second-half advantage they had conceded with Ories taking the spoils that day by 32-27.

The fourth game of the round is at Lyndhurst where Tawa and Northern United meet again. With both having gone down last Saturday getting one in the wins column is vitally important to maintaining their hopes – even Tawa will know that the odds of repeating what they did last year are fairly slim.

Norths will be concerned at their slow starts the past two weeks, and while they were almost able to peg back HOBM, they weren’t even given the chance by OBU. Also on their minds is that this is the first of three consecutive matches away from Porirua Park owing to its use as a training base for the Lions series.

Despite last week’s result Tawa have named the same starting XV, though the interest is on their bench where 2013 Jubilee Cup winning captain Taniela Koroi and Ato Fa’amau are both named having returned from overseas. As pointed out by manager Vice Salatele tomorrows front row of Sitiveni Paongo, Lotu Nuku, and James Coburn started last year’s Jubilee Cup final, with the bench having the corresponding trio from the 2013 final in Matt Treeby, Tolu Fahamokoia, and Koroi. Norths make just the one change in their starting personnel with veteran Peato Lafaele named at first-five with Leon Ellison moving into halfback and Esi Komaisavai to fullback.

Their meeting earlier in the year – also at Lyndhurst – saw the home side prevail 24-17.

Premier 2 Hardham Cup

The match-up between sides that won their openers is at Hataitai, with the Upper Hutt Rams making the trip down into the city to take on Wellington. The home side slugged past Avalon in the mud, but know that if they are to be genuine contenders for the trophy that they need to win games like this and the Rams will be after a repeat of their win (at Maidstone) three months ago, but know that conceding a handful of seconds after kickoff - as they did last weekend - is far from ideal.

The Axemen make just a single change, with either Tony Smith or Sam Church replacing Isaiah Montgomery on the wing. Vaughan Koopu starts at tighthead for the Rams who are again without Mitchell Markov, Tynan Barrett steps into first-five for Nua Fono-Hunt, and Josh Hunt returns to midfield.

A little further north, Johnsonville welcome Poneke to Helston Park for the second time this season. The hosts backed up their showing against Ories two weeks ago with a surprisingly comfortable win against Pare-Plim, and will look to continue that this week. Another side to make few changes, Kane Thompson moves into lock so that Marcus Ale can be accommodated in a reshuffled loose trio and Romu Senileba swaps to start with Kalolo Kalolo.

Poneke on the other hand were well-beaten by the Rams, but tomorrow get back some of the players who were absent last Saturday such as Cole Stewart and Ivan Vaisagote, while Galu Taufale remains in Auckland with the Samoan test squad. They’ll hope to repeat the result from earlier in the year where they won 30-17.

The third Hardham Cup match is in the Hutt Valley where Avalon host Paremata-Plimmerton on their Old Timers Day, with the match taking place on the grass at Fraser Park rather than the artificial. Both sides remain winless on the year, and surely that will change tomorrow even though their Swindale meeting at Ngati Toa resulted in a 17-all draw.

Scott Waldrom starts game #101 for Avalon and his dual-openside pairing with Logan Blake will be a menace at the breakdown. Ben Peni also returns to his usual midfield place. Pare-Plim shake their side up with Alex Hinchliffe, Ulutoto Malu, and James Hansen all given starts in their forward pack, and Ethan Jones are first start in midfield.

All seven Premier matches kick off at the usual time of 2.45pm.

Premier Reserve Ed Chaney Cup & HD Morgan Memorial

The first round of the Ed Chaney Cup last weekend produced a number of runaways, with all four winners topping 35 points. Two of those teams, OBU and Petone, meet in early game at Nairnville, while the two teams that only managed a penalty goal each – Norths and Ories – are away to Tawa at Lyndhurst and MSP at Evans Bay respectively. The fourth clash sees Hutt Valley neighbours HOBM and Wainuiomata clash at the Rec.

In the HD Morgan Memorial division there’s a clash of first-up winners as Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton meet at Fraser Park, Johnsonville host Poneke at Helston and the Upper Hutt Rams travel into the city to face Wellington at Te Whaea at the earlier time of 12.30pm.

All four matches kickoff at 1pm.

Women’s

As usual there’s four matches on in the Women’s grade. Oriental-Rongotai will look to keep their winning streak intact when they host Old Boys-University at the Polo Ground, while the other Victoria Tavern Trophy match has Marist St Pat’s travelling out to William Jones to face Wainuiomata with the latter looking for their first win in this part of the season.

In Division 2 leaders Petone host minnows Tawa at the Petone Rec and across the river HOBM take on Paremata-Plimmerton at the Hutt Rec.

All four matches get underway at 11.35am. Norths and Poneke have the respective byes this weekend.

Colts Division 1 John E Kelly Memorial

The Colts schedule tomorrow is highlightedby a potential playoff preview at Kelburn Park where the dominant side of the grade so far this season – Petone – travel to take on the top side of the past few years in Old Boys-University Green.

The other two sides that won their second-round openers last Saturday each face a neighbouring side that lost. Matching their respective Premier contests Ories take Marist St Pats on the St Pats artificial, with Tawa hosting Norths at Redwood at the slightly earlier time of 12.45pm. The final contest is at the Hutt Rec between the two promoted sides in Hutt Old Boys Marist and Paremata-Plimmerton.

All matches are at 1pm unless stated.

College WelTec Premiership

It’s another full slate of matches in the top College grade tomorrow. There’s a pair of feature clashes with joint-leaders Scots College hosting St Pat’s Town in Strathmore, and Wellington College and Rongotai College looking to improve their records when they meet at Coll in their annual match.

Kapiti College – who toppled Rongotai last weekend – travel south to take on Porirua College, Wairarapa College come over the hills to face Silverstream (at 1pm), and Hutt Valley High School will again go looking to get a try on the board when they host Tawa College.

This last match also doubles as a Co-ed Cup match; there are two others at 1pm in the Premier 3 grade between Upper Hutt and Onslow, and Mana and Wainuiomata

Unless stated all matches are at 2.30pm.

Elsewhere, a number of first-round trophies will find homes tomorrow.

Under 85kg Division 1 JC Bowl

The first-round crown in the lightweights comes down to a straight shootout between defending grade champions Tawa and current JC Bowl titleholders Wellington at Redwood. The Axemen hold a one-point edge on the table, but victory will decide the trophy’s destination.

Elsewhere the OBU Bunnies and Eastbourne meet at Te Whaea; HOBM were scheduled to take on Johnsonville at the Hutt Rec but the Hawks have already defaulted the match, while it’s understood that the same fate might befall the Wests vs Avalon clash at Ian Galloway. If played these matches are timed for 2.45pm.

In the Division 2 Phillip Wiggins Trophy Poneke have a one-point edge over Kapiti, but have a tricky trip to Stokes Valley to negotiate. With the Coasters already gifted five points due to Petone defaulting, Poneke need a win to share the trophy, and a bonus point with four tries to lift it outright.

First Grade Division 1 Thompson Memorial

HOBM’s win over neighbours and rivals Petone last weekend put them in the box seat to claim the first-round title, which they will do if they avoid disaster away against the Norths Red’s on the #3 field at Porirua Park. However next door the Norths Uso’s will be hoping that their clubmates do them a massive favour and they can sneak past, providing that they themselves beat winless MSP on #4. Elsewhere Petone and OBU will fight over third place when they meet at the Petone Rec, and Stokes Valley welcome Poneke to Delaney Park.

In Division 2 the Johnsonville Cripples will be awarded the JDR Cup should they beat the Upper Hutt Rams side at Newlands Park, though if they don’t that might leave the door open for the Stokes Valley Rhinos who take on Avalon at Fraser Park.

All First Grade matches kickoff at 2.45pm.