Slashing wins and slender outcomes mark Gala Day opening round

Above: The Wellington Axemen pulled ahead of an undermanned Johnsonville to win their Swindale Shield match 23-8. The prelude to this fixture was a moment's silence in honour of recently passed Axemen legends Mattie Blackburn and Graham Williams. 

A combination of slashing wins and slender results marked the opening set of 2018 Premier and Premier Reserve Wellington club rugby matches at a fine and windy Awakairangi and Maoribank Parks this afternoon.

Defending Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup champions Old Boys University sent out an ominous warning to all opponents this year by opening their season account with a 55-10 Swindale Shield win over Poneke.

Likewise, Oriental-Rongotai defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 48-3, last year’s beaten cup finalists Hutt Old Boys over-ran last year’s Hardham Cup winners the Upper Hutt Rams 43-17 and Tawa held on to beat Marist St Pat’s 35-29 after leading 28-7 at halftime.

In two of the closest results of the afternoon, the Avalon Wolves got up to beat Wainuiomata 33-32 and Northern United scored a converted try with the last play of the game to beat Petone 22-20.

The Wellington Axemen pulled clear of a 14-man Johnsonville Hawks to win their encounter 23-8.

The Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield saw Poneke beat Old Boys University 44-19. An organised Poneke leapt to a four tries to one win with the wind in their favour, before an intercept try from close range sparked an OBU comeback and then Poneke pulled away again at the end.

Oriental-Rongotai trailed Paremata-Plimmerton 3-0 at halftime but scored five second half tries with the wind to sail to a 27-3 HLS win. The Upper Hutt Rams reversed their Premier team’s result by beating the second string HOBM Eagles 39-14.

Avalon’s Premier Reserve side beat Wainuiomata’s 29-27 to give the Wolves a combined 62-59 win across their two games, Norths beat Petone 26-14 and MSP defeated Tawa 13-7. The Wellington Axemen’s second XV came roaring back in the second half to beat their Johnsonville counterparts 27-22.

Swindale Shield round-up

The Northern United – Petone Swindale Shield was a classic encounter between two sides that on this showing will likely both feature in the Jubilee Cup in the second round.

Played in a difficult crosswind, Petone were tight and organised in the first half. Their loose forward trio of Jake Quin, Jacob Gooch and Mateaki Kafatolu was prominent in shutting Norths down and halfback Carlos Price was effective with his organisation and box kicking. They dominated first half territory and a try to centre Taurima Morris put them ahead 10-3 at the interval.

Norths immediately lifted their efforts in the second half and their ball running forwards led by prop Mike Ioapo and No. 8 Peter Pili started to make inroads. They scored in the corner to tighthead JohnWhite Silva to equalise at 10-10. Price then kicked his second penalty to put Petone back in front 13-10, before Norths gained field position and scored from an attacking scrum with Pili and blindside Parekura Lalaga combining to send centre Denny To’o over to make it 15-13 to Norths.

Into the final 10 minutes now and Petone broke out and replacement wing Jarrod Adams crossed for a seven-pointer to make it 20-15 to Petone.

In a frantic finish, Norths poured down into Petone’s 22 and after a lineout and three drives close to the line by forwards, first five-eighth Leon Ellison succeeded with a fourth and scored near the posts to equalise. Ellison then stepped up to kick the winning conversion.

Norths won the Murray Henderson Trophy, while No. 8 Pili won the Collins Medal for Player of the Day in this match.

The story of the match in the Wellington – Johnsonville Swindale Shield clash for the Mick Kenny Memorial Cup on the adjacent parallel field was a red card to Johnsonville centre Kalolo Kalolo late in the first half that changed the game.

Johnsonville were up by a try at the time, following a break up the touchline by left wing Waisea Yabakivou and a try to halfbackWarren De Souzza in support.

There was a minor altercation following a high tackle that was penalised during which time Kalolo demonstrated his boxing skills on an opponent and was shown red.

This had a profound effect on the second half, with the Axemen utilising the one-man advantage to scored three tries out wide, to halfback Callum Harkin and to two to fullback Henry Hocking in the left-hand corner.

In the earlier game on the No. 1 field at the Totara Park end of Awakairangi Park, it was Marist St Pat’s that made a bright and breezy start against Tawa. Playing into the wind, they attacked inside MSP’s 22 with flanker James Tuia scoring the first try.

Tawa hit back after a breakdown and right wing Tom Maiava ran away to score a long-range try. This set the tone for Tawa for the remainder of the first half, scoring another three tries and their bonus point pushover try putting them ahead 28-5 at halftime.

With the wind, MSP struck back through Andrew Wells. But Tawa scored again to make it 35-10. MSP came roaring back with three consecutive tries but ran out of time and settled for two bonus points in defeat.

Hutt Old Boys Marist started their season with a comfortable 43-17 victory over the Upper Hutt Rams. A combination of weak tackling by the Rams and Brandyn Laursen attacking spark saw the Eagles surge ahead, 14-0 after five minutes.

Upper Hutt’s English import Tom Grimes showed promise and touched down for his side’s first try, but the bulk of prop Brett Manaia proved unstoppable as the Eagles led 21-5 after the opening quarter. Rams second-five Tyler Tane burst 40-metres to close the gap to 21-12, but another bust he made ended tragically for the Rams. Fereti Soloa poached an intercept and scored a 60-metres runaway to make it 28-12 to the Eagles. Glen Walters completed a faultless first-half kicking display by slotting a penalty to make it 31-12 at the interval.

The second-spell was an error-ridden affair, especially the last ten minutes. The Rams attack created enough chances to win some games, but their defence was a liability. Hutt extended the lead to 36-12, before Upper Hutt closed to 36-17. The last try was scored by industrious Eagles lock Dan Cordery.

Laursen was a constant threat for Hutt, openside Jordon Gillies had a blinder, centre Jerome Hairmate appears to be an organised player and the front row of Brett and Rei Manaia and Ben Power takes some stopping with ball in hand. Hooker Josh Houston-Tupou was the pick of the Rams, throwing accurately and making some bustling charges in the wider channels.

Old Boys University started their Swindale Shield defence with a resounding 55-10 win over Poneke to retain the Beet Algar Rosebowl. Things started badly for Poneke, conceding the first try and then losing Jonty Miller to the sin bin.

Miller’s departure cost two tries, but the blindside flanker did have the last say of the first-half to make it 17-5 at the oranges.

Any chance of a Poneke resurgence was snuffed out in the 42nd minute by prop Jonathon Fuimaono who barged over for the Goats’ fourth try.

No.8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas bagged a double and carried on from where he left off last season.

Centre Maile Koloto and wing Gavin Parker looked to get involved and the evergreen 

Finnbarr Kerr-Newell dotted down and was full of bustle.

Wellington Lion Greg Foe was back for Poneke, scored a try and maintained his high standards throughout.

Oriental-Rongotai opened their season with an eight tries to nil win over Paremata-Plimmerton. Assistant coach and prop Whetu Henry scored two tries, as did centre Malachai Unasa. Captain and flanker Tuakana Metuarau and fellow loosies John Tuia and Luca Rees each crossed once, as did replacement Hinckley Siaosi.

Avalon’s one-point win over Wainuiomata was for the inaugural Anthony Waldrom Trophy. The Wolves came back from behind to beat Wainuiomata

Elsewhere today, the Hurricanes Development side defeated the Blues Development team 40-19 at Evans Bay Park.