Plenty to play for in Hardham Cup

The Jubilee Cup dream may be gone for another year but there's still plenty to play for over the second half of the season for the bottom four clubs from the recently completed Swindale Shield round. For the second year in a row, these teams will be joined by two other stand alone club teams who will be vying to finishing ahead of them and qualify for next year's Swindale Shield round.

Joining current Premier clubs Wainuiomata, the Wests Roosters, Avalon and Old Boys-University in this year's Hardham Cup will be Johnsonville and Rimutaka, both desperate to finish in the top half of the competition and win promotion to next year's Swindale Shield. For Rimutaka, this will be their third appearance in the Hardham Cup in five years, after coming up from the Senior One grade in 2004 and again last year where they competed with most sides but ultimately failed to register any wins.

For Johnsonville, it will be their third consecutive attempt to regain their place in the top grade after being relegated in an extraordinary Hardham Cup in 2006 that came down to the dying moments of the last regular Saturday of the season. With four teams still in line for relegation heading into the final round, Johnsonville were the team to miss out ahead of the Wests Roosters because Wests had beaten them 27-26 back in round one.

But amongst the chaos of the Hardham Cup three years ago emerged Wainuiomata, back in this grade after 15 years contesting the Senior One Ed Chaney Cup, winning their first five games and drawing their next to qualify second for the semi-finals behind Upper Hutt. They then went on to upset Upper Hutt in the final to win the Hardham Cup.

This was no flash in the pan. In 2007 Wainuiomata returned to upset top qualifiers Oriental-Rongotai to win back-to-back Hardham Cups. Last year they made the final again, but lost to Tawa at Westpac Stadium 33-20 after leading early on.

In 2009 Wainuiomata will thus be gunning for their third Hardham Cup in four years and their fourth consecutive finals appearance. Their team this season is a generally settled one from past years, with several players in their ranks still young but with plenty of Swindale Shield rugby now under their engines. They have a competitive forward pack, and genuine excitement out wide, including their top try scorer Isaiah Mamea (six tries) and the extremely fast Jason Love.

Wainuiomata were pipped for ninth place at the end of the Swindale Shield round by? the Wests Roosters, who started the first round with a series of agonizingly close losses which ultimately damaged their hopes of re-entering the Jubilee Cup. The first half of the Roosters' season this year was a torrent of heartbreak and included defeats to HOBM (24-21), Petone (17-10), Ories (34-28), Poneke (13-8) and a 1O-10 draw with OBU. If the Roosters can replicate this previous form they will beat the weaker teams and be a shoe-in for the semi-finals.

The other two recent Swindale Shield contenders Avalon and OBU have both had difficult seasons to date, with OBU upsetting Upper Hutt in the last round to consign Avalon to the wooden spoon after Avalon had beaten them 27-26 in the penultimate round. Both these sides are capable of competing with any other, with Avalon's big pack an asset if on-song and OBU with a fleet of dangerous backs if they can gel. This is Avalon's third season now in the Hardham Cup after previously being a strong Jubilee Cup contender and making the semi-finals in 2003 and 2004, while it's unfamiliar territory for OBU who comfortably made the top eight between 2006-2008.

These six teams are joined in the Hardham Cup by the second fifteen sides of Marist St. Pat's and Poneke, who finished first and third in the Harper Lock Shield, but can't be promoted to the Swindale Shield with their top sides already in that grade.

Their value is as spoilers to the other six protagonists, but they won't be just making up the numbers. Indeed, MSP are a real threat to make the semi-finals which could make the promotion-relegation race wide open. MSP B have yet to taste defeat in 2009 and won the first round Senior One Harper Lock Shield by 17 points and with two rounds to spare. Their lineup contains several familiar names who have played Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup rugby before. The only thing holding these two B sides back however could be the need for their top teams to delve into their ranks for extra players should injuries take effect. The last time a B team made the Hardham Cup semi-finals was in 2002 when MSP lost 31-17 to Wests.

In first round games, Poneke hosts Avalon at Kilbirnie Park at 1.15pm, Rimutaka and Wainuiomata lock horns at Maoribank Park, OBU and MSP square off at the Basin Reserve and the Wests Roosters and Johnsonville meet is an expected keenly contested local derby clash at Helston Park.

Meanwhile, in other grades the first round of the Senior One Ed Chaney Cup, Senior Two HD Morgan Memorial and Premier Women's Victoria Tavern Women's Trophy get underway this weekend.

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