Wainuiomata topple OBU as HOBM, Tawa and Avalon win again

Above: Northern United won this lineout, but Hutt Old Boys Marist won the match in today's second round Swindale Shield fixture at Jerry Collins Stadium. 

A fired up Wainuiomata set the Swindale Shield alight this afternoon by toppling defending champions OBU 22-20 at home at William Jones Park, while Hutt Old Boys Marist, Tawa and Avalon won their second straight matches to head the standings after two weeks.

HOBM rocked to a 47-19 win over Northern United at Jerry Collins Stadium, Tawa beat Ories 39-26 and Avalon defeated Johnsonville 34-10 in a trio of bonus point victories.

Elsewhere, Marist St Pat’s Poneke and Petone registered their first wins of 2018 with victories over Wellington, the Upper Hutt Rams and Paremata-Plimmerton respectively.

MSP beat Wellington 25-17 at Evans Bay Park, Poneke ousted the Rams 32-17 at Maidstone Park and Petone blanked Paremata-Plimmerton 55-0 at Ngatitoa Domain.

With the Eagles, Tawa and the Wolves unbeaten after the opening fortnight, the Rams, the Hawks and Pare-Plim are yet to get off the mark.

The second round of Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield saw Northern United lead HOBM 7-5 at halftime and go on and win 45-8 to register their second straight bonus point win. MSP and Poneke both made it two from two, MSP beating Wellington’s second team 53-17 and Poneke winning 29-19 at Upper Hutt.

In other early games today, Johnsonville reversed their Premier side’s result by beating the Wolves 31-17, Tawa pipped Ories 17-10, OBU beat Wainuiomata 44-14 and Petone defeated Paremata-Pimmerton 53-5.

Fullback Justin Wilson was the standout individual for a gallant Wainuiomata in their Peter Dunford Cup win over OBU, scoring all his team’s 22 points. Wilson scored a try and kicked five penalties and a conversion.

OBU had a clear edge in the scrums but failed to capitalise around the field, with some loose play and concession of a slew of penalties, particularly at the offside line.

Wainuiomata scored the first try after 10 minutes, through a turnover and a try in the right-hand corner, which try-scorer Wilson converted. OBU replied with unconverted tries to No. 8 Teariki Ben Nicholas and centre Wes Goosen. Returning from injury, Goosen was to play the first half only. Wilson kicked a penalty to put his side ahead 13-10 at halftime.

Wilson nailed a pair of long-range penalties to extend his side’s lead to 19-10. OBU replied to make it 19-13, before the Goats took the lead at 20-19 with halfback Tomasi Palu scoring on the back of scrum pressure. But Wilson kicked the winning penalty with about 10 minutes to play and they held on to win.

Wilson, OBU prop Jonathon Fuimaono and Wainuiomata centre Isaiah Mamea for his defensive work were three standout players.

At Jerry Collins Stadium, it was a case of visitors Hutt Old Boys Marist making a dream start to this year’s competition – after dropping their opening two matches last year – and Northern United putting in a performance they would rather forget.

As clinical as HOBM were in the slippery conditions at Porirua, Norths were mistake-addled and ill-disciplined and if not for a late flurry could have conceded a half-century on their own turf. This was after the late inclusion in their side of Super Rugby players Leni Apisai at blindside flanker and Jackson Garden-Bachop at 12 and later moving to 10.

HOBM led 20-7 at halftime – having had one of their two Super Rugby players James O’Reilly sin-binned between the 28th and 38th minutes – and then quickly pulled away with three tries including the second half opener to the other Super Rugby player on the park, Chase Tiatia (his second), and two penalties. HOBM led 47-7 with 10 minutes to play.

HOBM scored the game’s first try in the 12th minute, Tiatia and fullback Anthony Utanga linking up with halfback Sheridan Rangihuna to score under the poles. This was extended to 13-0 through two penalties to first five-eighth Glen Walters.

Hooker O’Reilly was sin-binned, but a breakout very nearly saw Tiatia score a try that would have made it 20-0. Instead, Norths replied with their first try to flanker Parekura Lalaga to close the gap to 13-7.

That was as close as they were to get, Tiatia scoring a runaway try just before the interval to give the Eagles a 20-7 halftime lead. HOBM spent the first 25 minutes of the second spell totally dominating territory and possession, the few chances Norths created they fumbled.

Norths scored two consolation tries to narrow the score, to replacement Esi Komaisavai and through a penalty try, but it was too little too late. Norths have five days to regroup as their third round fixture against the Wellington Axemen has been brought forward to Thursday night.

Up the road at Ngatitoa Domain, Petone retained the Ken Gray Cup with their first win of 2018, running in nine tries to beat Paremata-Plimmerton 55-0.

The match was competitive for 30 minutes, as Petone scored their first two tries and took a 12-0 lead. Just before halftime, halfback Logan Henry shot through a ruck and sprinted 40 metres to put his side up 19-0. The bonus point try followed and they led 24-0 at the oranges.

Petone fullback Adam Simpson then ran in an early second half hat-trick, completing some good lead-up play to score two and then scampering 40 metres to score his third.

The match then died down somewhat before Petone closed proceedings with a try to Jarrod Adams. Of note, former Wainuiomata centurion lock Glen Angus scored two tries in this game as well.

Down the motorway at leafy Lyndhurst Park, Tawa made a solid start against Ories and then survived a second half fightback to win a thriller 39-26.

Tawa raced to a 17-0 lead with tries to first five-eighth James So’oialo, centre Ryan Preston and fullback PJ Iosefo. Ories hit back with their first try to centre Malo Tuitama and it was 17-7 to Tawa. So’oialo kicked a penalty and scored his second try to put the home side ahead 25-7 as rain arrived to help spice things up going into the second half.

Ories were fired up after the break and crossed for a seven-pointer to close the gap to 14-25. They scored again to narrow the margin further to 19-25 and then ran in their bonus point try and took the lead at 26-25.

So’oialo’s boot took the match away from Ories, kicking three penalties to put Tawa back in front 31-26. Tawa then sealed a tight victory with a converted try in the corner to substitute Mark Lalotoa.

The Wolves were also celebrating their second straight win to start their 2018 campaign, turning a 22-5 halftime lead into a 34-10 win at Fraser Park.

Poneke took home the Alby Makeham Shield with their 32-17 win over the Upper Hutt Rams.Poneke led 22-3 at halftime and restricted the Rams to just two second half tries. This also reversed their horror 60-point loss to the Rams the last time they met at the end of the Hardham Cup last season.

In the sole Swindale Shield match in town today, Marist St Pat’s pulled clear of the Wellington Axemen late in the contest to take a 25-17 win to open their 2018 account.

All three of MSP’s loose forwards scored tries, Tom Horan, James Tuia and Matt Peni finding the chalk.

The Axemen scored the game’s first try on 15 minutes, their backs finishing of a kick ahead, making it 10-3 to the visitors. MSP hit back on 20 minutes with Horan’s try following a snipe by halfback Regan Sword. The Axemen quickly regained the lead at 13-10, before Peni crashed over to put MSP ahead 15-13 at the turnaround.

With the rain arriving, both sides battled hard for close to 20 minutes of the second half before Tuia scored after an attacking scrum on the 22 and fullback Andrew Wells converted to make it 22-13.

The tight and willing second half continued, the Axemen kicking a penalty to close the score to 22-16 with only a few minutes to play. Veteran flyhalf Fa’atonu Fili was injected off the bench and kicked a late dropped goal to deny the Axemen what could be a crucial bonus point in the weeks ahead.