Contrasting Old Timers? Days as Tawa pip Ories and Petone thrash MSP

There were contrasting Old Timers' Day Swindale Shield matches at the Polo and Petone Recreation Grounds on Saturday, with Oriental-Rongotai going down in a shock loss to Tawa and Petone thrashing arch-rivals Marist St. Pat's.

Ories, unbeaten after the first five weeks, suffered their second consecutive loss to a lower ranked team, pipped 17-12 by Tawa in a thriller that saw Tawa score the match winning try right at the end after trailing 12-10 with the Miramar sun setting behind their backs.

Petone inflicted an emphatic 46-14 victory on Marist St. Pat's to win back the Bill Elvy Memorial Trophy in style and bury their upset defeat at the hands of Wainuiomata the week before. Petone, who led 12-0 early and then 17-7 at halftime took control of the match soon after halftime with two more tries to take a 32-7 advantage midway through the second spell. No. 8 Piers Gordon scored his second and third tries and completed a hat trick.

There was more joy for Petone's Senior 1 and Senior 2 teams against MSP opposition, Petone beating MSP 25-15 in their Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield clash to trade places third and fifth on the points table and previously winless Petone providing the boilover of the Senior 2 Harper Lock Shield by beating MSP 26-21. The win for the Petone Senior 2nds lifts them off the bottom and drops MSP a spot from fifth to sixth in a congested competition. MSP celebrate their 40th anniversary this coming weekend.

There was almost a third loss for eastern suburbs teams in round seven of the Swindale Shield, with Poneke pushed hard by the Wests Roosters at Evans Bay Park. Poneke held on to win 21-18, but not without a fright at the end as the Roosters scored back-to-back late tries and pressed hard with their tails up for the match winner. But they left their run too late and the Bill Brien Challenge Shield was safely put back away in Poneke's trophy cabinet across the road.

In a similar grandstand finish at Fraser Park, visitors Wainuiomata had to withstand a passionate comeback from Avalon before holding on to win 30-28. Wainuiomata had held a comfortable lead but Avalon came back late in the second half with tries to hooker Manual Efaraimo and blindside flanker Faga Leota to run them close.

In the Senior 2 curtain-raiser at Fraser Park, Avalon edged out Wainuiomata 25-20 to go to the top of the National Mutual Cup table. The loss for Wainuiomata keeps them in the hunt however, with previously unbeaten Hutt Old Boys Marist losing 25-37 to Upper Hutt and slipping from first to third. In a hotly contested competition, the leading teams are separated by just six points with four rounds to play.

It was also Old Timers' Day at the Hutt Recreation Ground, where the home team held of the challenge of Upper Hutt to win 29-17. The win was HOBM's fourth of the season to put them comfortably inside the top eight for the Jubilee Cup round. However, Upper Hutt have now slipped out of the eight and face a big game at home this coming week against Poneke.

Elsewhere, the Northern United machine took its latest victim in Old Boys-University, downing the students 55-14 at Porirua Park. Norths were devastating for the opening 50 minutes and were scoring at better than a point a minute. However, OBU fought back well over the remainder of the match and kept them scoreless. They pinned Norths inside their own territory for long periods and replacement halfback Nick Kavanagh's try towards the end was good reward.

Each team grabbed a win each in the two preceding Senior 1 and Senior 2 curtain raisers, Norths winning 23-12 in the Harper Lock Shield to maintain their top four position in that competition and OBU taking care of Norths 51-5 in the National Mutual Cup to climb from fourth to second behind new leaders Avalon in the Senior 2 grade.

Another feature of Swindale Sheild matches on Saturday was the healthy number of representative players on show in all matches across the region. The Poneke-Wests game featured such names as Rodney So'oialo, Dane Coles, Scott Fuglistaller, Ace Tiatia, Reg Goodes and Ruki Tipuna (Tipuna in his first match of the year). Hurricanes Mark Reddish and Julian Savea took the field for Ories, Brad Shields for Petone, Bryn Evans played a full game for OBU against Norths, as did Jacob Ellison and Api Naikatini for Norths.?

When the Canterbury Rugby Union make their next scouting trip north for players to buy this time they may be after props. There's several of those running around at the moment, such as MSP's Jeff Allen and Solomona Sakalia, Petone's Michael Kainga and Poneke's Reg Goodes (already a Vodafone Wellington Lion). Another one they can add to their target list is Northern United's Eric Sione who caught the eye at Porirua Park. Sione is a former St. Pat's Town first XV captain, Hurricanes U18 player and a leading player in last year's Wellington U18 team that won the Hurricanes region U18 title.

As well as scoring two of Norths' seven tries, Sione was into everything while he was on the field until midway through the second half and was part of a strong scrum that led directly to two of the tries. Norths combined hunger and outstanding teamwork and continuity to score some magical tries, and none more so than their third and Sione's first under the posts after a long period of flowing rugby that was started from a turnover on their own side of halfway.

Right wing James So'oialo duly converted this try and Norths' 50th of the season and it was now 27-0 after 23 minutes. OBU came back with a try to lock Dan Mellon after an attacking lineout and nice flick pass from halfback Dennis Sims to Mellon. But Norths scored two more tries to lead 41-7 at the break. Second five-eighth Leon Ellison intercepted a short pass on OBU's 22 and raced away to score his second try and No. 8 Dean Brunsdon finished off a lovely try up the grandstand touchline after a scrum turnover.

Sione crashed over for his second and halfback Tomasi Palu scored their final try, both the result of Norths putting immense pressure on OBU deep inside their own territory.

At the Petone Recreation Ground, it was also largely one-way traffic, with the Villagers setting the scene with two early tries, the first, to No. 8 Gordon, coming from a tighthead scrum win. Strapping wing Belgium Tutagaloa scored the second after a run up the shortside by newly named New Zealand U20 player Brad Shields. This was converted by halfback Sam Hall and Petone led 12-0.

Later in the half Petone scored again through fullback Tomosi Alosio to extend their lead to 17-0, before MSP openside flanker Sio Tuia finished off a period of sustained pressure and crossed out wide. First five-eighth Trent Vatelias converted from out wide and MSP trailed by 17-7 at the break.

However, Petone took the game away from them early in the second half, kicking a penalty and then scoring three further tries, to Gordon (2) and lock Scott Miller to make it 39-7. The resulted decided, both sides scored another converted try apiece and MSP were left with plenty of work to do ahead of their 40th anniversary clash with Hutt Old Boys Marist in round eight.

HOBM led from start to finish against Upper Hutt in their match at the Hutt Recreation ground. The Eagles got the ball rolling, literally, from the a lineout drive on Upper Hutt's 22 that resulted in an early try to prop Simon Malaeulu. This put them ahead 12-0 after centre Parataiso Silafai-Leaanaa had scored under the posts from a slick backline movement.

HOBM added to their score with a penalty just after halftime, before Upper Hutt came back with an unconverted try in the corner to make it 15-5. But the Eagles quickly pulled ahead again when second five-eighth Alexis Time crossed to put them in front 22-5 and then Time clocked in for their bonus point try. Upper Hutt kept fighting hard and scored their second and third tries towards the end.

Up the road at Fraser Park, Wainuiomata lock Glen Angus and blindside flanker Genesis Mamea scored early to give Wainuiomata 14-8 advantage midway through the first half.
Wainuiomata halfback kicked a long-rage penalty on halftime and his side turned holding sway at 17-8.

This quickly became 20-8 with another Wilson penalty, followed by a try to speedy wing Jason Love. But Avalon came back with tries to halfback Josua Raulini, hooker Efaraimon and blindside Leota to close to within two points with a kick to come. The final conversion was missed and Wainuiomata held on for their third win to keep their Jubilee Cup aspirations very much alive.

At Evans Bay Park, Wests scored first through a Declan McKeefry penalty, before Poneke fullback Ben Huntley put in a chip kick and left wing Peter Shand ran through to score their opening try. Wests didn't lie down though and a second McKeefry penalty put them behind at just 7-6 at halftime.

Poneke applied the pressure on their line early in the second half and were rewarded with a penalty try, converted, to extend the advantage to 14-6. First five-eighth Tipuna next put in a grubber kick for centre Eito Tamura to run on to and extend the lead beyond two converted tries.

But with an all-star loose forward trio of So'oialo, Fuglistaller, Galu Taufele and impact player off the bench Ace Tiatia, the Roosters weren't going to take it. Tiatia scored and McKeefry converted to close the deficit to 21-13 and then centre Steve Johnson crossed towards the end to make it 21-18. In the shadows of fulltime, the Roosters launched a final raid but the street kids held them out and held on to win.

There was also high drama at the Polo Ground, where Tawa fullback Randall Bishop charged down a clearing kick by his opposite Matt Proctor and scored the match winning try with barely three minutes left on the clock. Bishop converted his own try to put Tawa ahead 17-12 and they held on over the remaining minutes for a very timely win.

Previously, Ories had broken open a tight game played on a heavy, slippery track with a Proctor converted try late in the first half after a break by second five-eighth Paula Kinikinlau. Tawa hit back with a try to lock Pati Gaualofa off a chargedown, but Ories pulled ahead again to 12-7 with a try to hooker Joey Mears. Bishop nailed a penalty for the visitors, setting up the big finish.

Meanwhile in other matches, the Wellington Senior 2nds retained the Mick Kenny Memorial Cup with a 31-10 win over Johnsonville. The gap between the top half of the Senior 2 competition and bottom half remains stark, but Wellington are the best of the rest.

Johnsonville's top team upset the Poneke Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield side 18-17, but only after watching Poneke's conversion with the final act of the game sail wide of the poles. In a tight encounter, Johnsonville extended their 13-12 midway through the second half to 18-12. Poneke then hit back on fulltime, but couldn't add the extras.

Despite the loss, Poneke remain in second place in the Harper Lock Shield behind leaders Hutt Old Boys Marist who failed to win their seventh straight game. They drew 18-18 with Rimutaka though, and that was enough for them to extend their lead at the top of the table from four to five points.

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