Levave and Leiua lead Norths into title contention

Swindale Shield 23 May: No. 8 Faifili Levave was at the helm of a strong forward pack and centre Alipati Leiua scored two brilliant tries in Northern United's 27-12 win over Hutt Old Boys Marist on Saturday in atrocious conditions to emphatically lift their side right into first round title contention.

Hurricanes flanker Levave was part of an all-star loose forward contingent and a committed Norths pack that overcame HOBM in the driving wind and rain at Porirua Park, while star-in-the-making Leiua's two tries? early in the second half took the game away from the Eagles.

The four tries to two victory, Norths' seventh in succession after dropping their first two games, has propelled the 2003, 2006 and 2007 champions into Swindale Shield title contention for this year. With just two rounds to go Norths have closed to just one point behind?Petone at the top of the standings, after Petone regained the outright lead but failed to earn a bonus point in their 16-7 victory over Tawa at Lyndhurst Park.

Petone (on 37 points) and Norths (36) now have a four and three point gap respectively to the chasing pack headed by joint third placed Oriental-Rongotai and Poneke (33), after Ories buried their previous week's loss to HOBM to beat Poneke 35-9 at Kilbirnie Park and retain the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield and capture the Bill Brien Cup for the first time.

In other ninth round results, defending champions Marist St. Pat's overcame Avalon 59-0 at Evans Bay Park, Upper Hutt defeated the Wests Roosters 27-3 at Maidstone Park and Wainuiomata edged out Old Boys-University 17-9 at the Basin Reserve on OBU's Old Timers' Day.

The wins for MSP and Upper Hutt puts them safely inside the top eight group along with HOBM to contest the Jubilee Cup in June and July, but it seems that the 2009 Swindale Shield is now a two-horse race between Petone and Norths.

This year's first round glory also appears set to go down to the wire on the final Saturday in a fortnight when Petone plays Ories at the Polo Ground and Norths meet MSP at Porirua Park. In this coming week's penultimate round Petone will be favoured to be Wainuiomata and Norths should outgun Wests, setting up a thrilling last weekend on 6 June and a possible mad scramble on the last afternoon from WRFU officials to deliver the silverware to the winning team at either Miramar or Porirua.

While a police escort up and down the motorway might be required on the last afternoon, the battle for the eighth and final spot in the Jubilee Cup is also very much alive and could also go down to the wire. Eighth placed Tawa (17 points) are still seemingly in the box seat to make the Jubilee Cup round, but they are still in danger of being overtaken by ninth placed Wainuiomata (14) and even the Roosters (11) in rounds 10 and 11. Only OBU and Avalon are officially confirmed as Hardham Cup bound.

In this week's games, Ories will be probably be left lamenting at the end of the first round their last-gasp two-point loss to HOBM last week, after bouncing back with a comprehensive four tries to nil victory over neighbours and eastern suburbs rivals Poneke at Kilbirnie.

Ories carried the spoils of their victory, the Jim Grbich and Bill Brien trophies, back to Miramar, but they are probably too far behind Norths and Petone to add the Swindale Shield to their collection as well.

Nevertheless their strong forwards showed why they will be a real force in the wet and the mud in this year's Jubilee Cup by out gunning and? out muscling traditional mudlarks Poneke on the coldest, meanest day of the season to date.

It was a dominant performance by Ories, who scored two tries playing into the teeth of the strong southerly and leapt to a 17-3 lead at halftime and then added two more in the second half for their second successive Swindale Shield win over the red and blacks.

Their first half tries were scored by hooker Manu Leiataua, off a lineout drive, and centre Paulo Aukuso, running on to a kick and chase put through by second five-eighth Paula Kinikinilau.

First five-eighth James Proctor extended their lead to 22-3 after the break with a try off a chargedown, while Kinikinilau and Proctor ensured first use of the hot showers afterwards with the final two scores. Kinikinilau scored the bonus point try with an intercept, while Proctor tested out his kicking distance with a booming penalty from his side of halfway that also brought up his 150^th point of the season.

At Lyndhurst Park, a Junior Togia try under the posts off a break by centre Willie Lafaele was all Tawa's Old Timers could cheer about as Petone hung on into the wind in the first half and then clawed their way past the home side in the second.

Hurricanes pivot Daniel Kirkpatrick, playing at second five-eighth for this game slotted two penalties and flanker Mateaki Kafatolu and replacement outside back Lewis Marshall scored tries as Petone moved past Tawa and moved back to the top of the standings. Tawa were left ruing their inability of transferring their weight of possession into points in the first half, while their lack of a bonus point in this close loss could come back to haunt them.

MSP's comfortable Evans Bay Park? win over bottom placed Avalon was marred by a concussion injury to halfback Anthony Bradshaw that forced an end to the match at least 10 minutes before its scheduled close.

The game was called off? after Bradshaw was taken out in a dangerous tackle, but the game was safely won by that stage in a comprehensive team victory that saw eight different try scorers score nine of their tries. Bradshaw had earlier bagged a double, while left wing JP Tocker was a try scorer in his 100^th Premier match for MSP and first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili kicked seven of nine conversions and moved past 100 points for the season in the process.

It was close early on at Maidstone Park between Upper Hutt and Wests, with scores locked at 3-3 at halftime. But Upper Hutt took control after the interval with the wind at their backs and ran in three tries and a penalty try thrown in as well, scoring their fourth and bonus point try on fulltime with the last play of the game.

OBU had their chances to beat Wainuiomata and grab their first win of the year, but several mistakes at key times let them down and allowed Wainuiomata to pounce and score all three of their tries from broken play.

Wainuiomata right winger Isaiah Mamea flashed in for his sixth try of the season and lock Glen Angus also crossed the chalk to give the visitors a 10-6 lead at halftime into the wind. OBU kept the pressure on after the break and halfback Sam Hall slotted his third penalty to narrow the gap to 10-9.

A tight battle then raged until Wainuiomata fullback Jason Love ran in for a late try to seal his side's win and also deny OBU a bonus point and send them packing to the Hardham Cup for the second half of the season.

Meanwhile, the Club Weekly was at Porirua Park where Norths brought up their 400^th point of the season with their win over HOBM in a victory made much more comfortable by Leuia's two scorching into-the-wind second half tries as well as a key penalty to fullback James So'oialo that all added up to give Norths a match winning 27-0 lead with 25 minutes remaining.

The Eagles then came back strongly over the final quarter of play and scored two great tries themselves to evergreen halfback Nick Risdon and Canadian winger Phil Mackenzie, and were unlucky not to score at least one more. But both teams were ultimately beaten in the end by the wind and the rain and the increasingly gloomy conditions.

HOBM had also scrambled well in the first half, holding Norths to just two tries and a 12-0 halftime lead despite a dominant Norths scrum and loose forward contingent that featured an in-form Levave, Dean Brunsdon and Tui Meavao in his 100^th Premier game, as well as Api Naikatini and Anare Koliavu on the bench.

Norths applied all the early pressure and after several early handling errors near the line duly came away with tries to halfback Tomasi Palu and Meavao off scrum turnover ball.

The Hutt side then frustrated Norths late in the spell, with a period of attack themselves inside Norths' territory, Risdon with a quick tap penalty and fullback James Kusel with a stab kick into the in-goal almost setting up a comeback try and giving them plenty of positives as they turned with the elements at their backs.

The driving, squally rain also intensified at the interval, but an undeterred Norths picked up a gear and battled their way towards Hutt's 22 with a determined period of possession. Awarded a penalty, first five-eighth Leon Ellison took a quick tap and passed to Leiua who slammed his foot on the pedal and in a flash bolted through Hutt's defensives to score in the corner.

So'oialo's sideline conversion missed, but more rapacious attack led to a penalty which he kicked into the wind to move his side ahead 20-0.

Next it was the turn of Leiua to warm up the healthy crowd in the stand with a 70-metre solo run that led to a sizzling try. From their own 22 line, Norths freed up the ball from a maul and quick hands from Ellison to second five-eighth Robert Fruean and on to Leiua gave the speedy centre an opening.

The quick footed Leiua sidestepped his marker on the inside and then accelerated through and past Hutt's defenders and set sail up field, fending off Hutt right wing Brad Hines' deperate last tackle and scoring to the right of the posts. So'oialo then kicked the conversion to add to his earlier kicks that had brought up his 100 points for the season.

In scoring a brace of tries, Leiua has now scored 12 tries in nine outings for Norths this year, playing on either the left wing or at centre. Still at school at Mana College this time last year, Leiua has now scored 21 tries in 19 Premier appearances for Norths in 2008 and 2009 including five doubles and a hat trick.

In other grades, MSP have wrapped up the 2009 first round Senior One Harper Lock Shield title with two rounds to spare by beating Rimutaka 22-8 in their tenth round clash at Evans Bay Park. Despite ending their perfect record of bonus points in every match, MSP cruised past 400 points for the season and to an unassailable 14 point lead at the top of the points table to second placed Poneke, who were defeated by fifth placed Ories 11-13 at Kilbirnie Park.

?

Johnsonville possibly earned their most important win of the season, edging out Petone 21-20 on their Old Timers' Day at Helston Park to move ahead of Rimutaka into third.

?

The top four finishing teams from the Harper Lock Shield play in the eight-team Hardham Cup alongside the bottom four finishing sides of the Swindale Shield.

?

In other ninth round Harper Lock Shield matches, Old Boys-University beat Paremata-Plimmerton 24-8, Hutt Old Boys Marist pipped Northern United 17-12 and Stokes Valley and Upper Hutt drew 12-12 in their bottom of the table clash.

?

The race to win the Senior Two National Mutual Cup is still alive with two rounds remaining, with six points separating the top three teams after nine weeks. MSP holds a two-point lead at the top of the table to Norths with Tawa a further four points adrift in third, but MSP and Norths and drawn to meet each other in the last round. The top two finishing teams progress to play in the Senior One? Ed Chaney Cup in the second half of the season.

?

Some Senior Two ninth round results included MSP beating Avalon 22-5, Norths beating HOBM 22-7, Tawa defeating Paremata-Plimmerton 72-3 and the Wellington Axemen getting up to beat Poneke 25-5.

?

Northern United should go on to capture the first round Fleurs Trophy Women's Premier title in a fortnight after accounting for nearest rival Johnsonville 29-7 in round nine. The win for Norths gives them a five-point buffer at the top of the table to Johnsonville ahead of their final two matches against mid-table Eketahuna and MSP.

?

In other results from women's matches, OBU moved from seventh to third with their 12-5 win over Petone and Stokes Valley beat Poneke 60-0.

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?