Heartbreak for Upper Hutt as Wainuiomata topple Poneke

There was high drama at two separate venues in Wellington's Eastern Suburbs on Saturday after Wainuiomata had toppled previously unbeaten Poneke 22-20 at Kilbirnie Park and Upper Hutt had been desperately unlucky not record their first victory for the season in going down 25-27 to Oriental-Rongotai at the Polo Ground.

These two encounters proved the matches of the afternoon in round five of the Swindale Shield that also featured hard fought home wins for Northern United over Petone, 13-8 at Porirua Park, and for Hutt Old Boys Marist over Old Boys-University, 23-16 at the Hutt Recreation Ground.

In contrast, there were easy victories for Marist St Pat's over the Wests Roosters and Tawa over Johnsonville in the other two matches, MSP defeating the Roosters 44-5 at Evans Bay Park and Tawa accounting for Johnsonville 65-27 at Helston Park.

Wainuiomata were ecstatic after beating Poneke for the first time since in Premier rugby since their promotion in 2007 and claiming the coveted Hakaraia Trophy.

Wainuiomata won a thriller that went down to the wire, after scoring an intercept try with five minutes to play that took them into the lead and then holding off Poneke in a frantic finish.

Trailing 15-20, Wainuiomata winger Jason Love intercepted a Poneke pass on his own side of halfway and turned and sprinted 60 metres to score under the posts at the scoreboard end of Kilbirnie Park. First five-eighth Junior Taumaoe knocked over the conversion to see his side hit the lead.

From the re-start, Wainuiomata held on to possession for the next three minutes, but Poneke got their hands on the ball with fulltime fast approaching, rumbling up field and putting first five-eighth Sam Rasch in position for a dropped goal. Rasch's pot sailed wide, meaning Norths are the only unbeaten team left after five rounds.

Earlier, Wainuiomata had trailed 3-10 at halftime with the cool southerly at their backs, but dug deep after the interval and lock Sharn Eru finished off the try of the game in the second half. In a 70-metre team effort, backs and forwards combined to keep the ball alive through numerous sets of hands for Eru to cross under the uprights.

The win is good reward for Wainuiomata's young team, who had previously knocked over Hutt Old Boys Marist and run Norths close last week. With developing depth and belief in their squad this year, a place in the Jubilee Cup beckons.

Up the road and through the cutting, Upper Hutt came within a whisker of overcoming Oriental Rongotai, before eventually going down by two points.

Upper Hutt had twice come from behind to take the lead against Ories, after trailing 12-6 midway through the first half and then 13-17 later in the second.

Ories first five-eighth James Proctor kicked the winning penalty with time almost up on the clock, after right wing Ofa Pongi had scored his second try to give Upper Hutt a 25-24 lead with just over five minutes to go.

Pongi's try that put Upper Hutt in front had come hard on the heels of Ories' fourth and bonus point try to No. 8 Ian Pahulu, which was converted from the sideline by Proctor.

With Ories in the lead for the last time, the run of play remained tense right up until the final whistle with both sides battling hard until the end. The bonus point win lifts Ories to second behind Norths, one point ahead of Poneke, while Upper Hutt remain entrenched near the bottom of the table.

Earlier in the contest, Ories right winger Hayden Whelan had rolled in for an early converted try after a break by centre and new New Zealand U20 player Julian Savea. But Savea's national U20 teammate Jason Woodward replied with two penalties and Upper Hutt No. 8 Jarred Beyer scored a seven-pointer to put the visitors in the lead for the first time.

Openside flanker Asher Derbyshire then scored soon after halftime for Ories to retake the lead and set up a pulsating conclusion to the match.

As predicted, there was no runaway win for competition leaders Norths against Petone at Porirua Park.

In a tight tussle throughout, it took a try to Norths right winger James So'oialo up the blindside, which he converted himself, to separate the teams.

So'oialo's try late in the first half gave Norths a 10-3 advantage and the home side held on desperately until the end. Petone replied with their only try of the contest to right wing Sam O'Leary to close the gap to just two points. So'oialo then completed the points scoring with a second penalty to present his side with the narrowest of wins.

Norths are now five from five in the wins column as they prepare to meet Old Boys-University next week on the Students' Old Timers' Day at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve. Petone celebrates its first 125 years in existence next week against Poneke with a record so far?of two wins, two draws and a loss.

Hutt Old Boys Marist's narrow win over Old Boys-University was built on some strong attacking play in the first half, which was rewarded with two well-worked team tries, and equally committed defence in the second 40 minutes.

HOBM piled on a flurry of points at the start and then held fast throughout the second half to retain the Len Wood Cup and move to fourth equal on the points table with Petone.

HOBM's backs and forwards combined well to set up two early penalties to first five-eighth Dan Snee and a converted try under the posts to veteran No. 8 Polonga Pedro?ans they took?a 13-0 lead inside 10 minutes.

But OBU hit back to level the scores through a converted try to left wing Hanipale Galo and two penalties to halfback Sam Hall, before HOBM pulled clear again with their second seven-pointer - and very nearly scored again straightaway in similar fashion but were called back for a forward pass.

Galo's and OBU's only try of the match, came from an excellent piece of broken field counterattacking by first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga who ran back a HOBM kick in play from near halfway and linked up with lock Ian Kennedy in support. Kennedy was dragged down just short of the line, but from the next phase OBU passed left to Galo who scored in the corner.

The Eagles' second try, from a well-worked lineout drive, saw second five-eighth Alexis Time punch hard at the defensive line and pop a great pass to centre Thaiso Solefai who crashed through to score. Snee's conversion made it 20-13 at halftime.

In slippery, showery conditions, the second half was a tense affair and neither team was able to take the game by the horns.

OBU halfback Sam Hall kicked his third penalty immediately after the break and HOBM spent the next 30 minutes precariously protecting a 20-16 lead. Both teams had further scoring opportunities, with Hall missing two penalty chances as the students pressed hard for long periods inside the attacking zone before Snee added a further penalty with five minutes left.

At Evans Bay Park, MSP retained the Viv Haigh Memorial Trophy with an emphatic six tries to one victory over a flat Wests Roosters outfit who have slipped to tenth with just one win and that was back in the opening week when the sun was beating down.

Following an early penalty to first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili and a try to right wing Julian Tupai, MSP put the foot down and scored two further tries in the first half to left wing Mark Le and centre Chris Slade and led 25-0 at halftime.

They wrapped up the result in the second spell with a brace to fullback Apoua Stewart and a try to Fili who scored 19 points.

At Helston Park, Tawa wrapped up a comfortable 65-27 Carman Cup win over Johnsonville. Tawa scorers unavailable.

Harper Lock Shield

The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles enjoyed a bonus point 30-27 victory over their Old Boys-University counterparts at the Hutt Recreation Ground to shoot to the top of the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield Points table, alongside Norths.

HOBM's win, their fourth in five games, puts them in good stead to reach the Hardham Cup later in the season, along with Norths who had the biggest win of the day in a tight Harper Lock Shield round, beating Petone 38-10 at Porirua Park.

The other four games all went the same way as the HOBM v OBU fixture, with Rimutaka's timely 17-13 win over previous leaders Oriental-Rongotai the widest winning margin of these other four contests.

The Rimutaka Rams' win over Ories lifts them one place from tenth to ninth on the points table, while Ories drop from first to third.

In other games, Marist St. Pat's have moved up a place to join Avalon in fifth equal after beating them 13-11 at Evans Bay Park, Paramata-Plimmerton earned their first win of the year in pipping Tawa 18-17 at Ngatitoa Domain and Poneke have joined Tawa in seventh equal after defeating Stokes Valley 22-19.

After five rounds just eight points separates the leading eight teams who are chasing four spots in the Hardham Cup for the second half of the season.

National Mutual Cup

There were two close results in the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup round, Wainuiomata edging out Poneke 22-18 in their mid table clash and Avalon pipping previously unbeaten Old Boys-University 27-26.

Avalon's win lifts them a place from fourth to third, while OBU slip out of the lead and are replaced by Northern United who easily accounted for Petone 58-5.

The Wellington Axemen are now fourth equal, having knocked over previously third placed Upper Hutt 30-8, along with the Wests Roosters who defeated MSP 41-28 and HOBM who won by default over Paremata-Plimmerton.

Meanwhile in the Paris Memorial U21 Divison 1 grade, Petone and Upper Hutt each made it two wins from two by beating HOBM 32-0 and OBU 36-21 respectively.

In the same grade, Norths and MSP each earned opening wins, Norths beating Ories 31-0 and MSP trumping Poneke 36-8.

There were some close results in the JC Bowl 85kg Restricted Division 1 grade - early leaders MSP Blue pipping the Poneke Dogs of War 12-5, the OBU Onslow Bunnies edging out Tawa 12-8, Johnsonville overcoming the OBU Onslow Spartans 12-7 and Wellington beating the HOBM Robots 18-7.