Swindale Shield preview: Let the games begin

Note: Swindale Shield round one starting XVs will be named on the Draws & Results section of this website on Friday

The phony war is over. Now may the season proper commence. Preparations are complete, predictions have been made and planning is in place for the start of the 2012 Wellington club rugby rugby season that kicks off with a full round of Premier Swindale Shield, Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield and Senior 2 National Mutual Cup matches on Saturday.

Kick-off is a week later than in recent years, but an action packed season gets straight into full swing right from the opening afternoon on Saturday, with five rounds being played throughout April.

Awesome April includes four regular Saturday afternoon rounds plus and a midweek round of matches on Anzac Day - for the first time since 2003 when Pita Alatini (for Norths), Thomas Waldrom (Avalon) and Scott Ireland (OBU) starred for their respective teams under lights.

Fans can expect another hugely exciting, competitive Premier season, starting with the 12 clubs playing each other in a round-robin series for the Swindale Shield, followed by the top eight finishing teams from the first round squaring off for the coveted Jubilee Cup. The finals for the Jubilee Cup and Hardham Cup will be played on the weekend of 11-12 August and will again be televised live on the Rugby Channel.

2012 will also see a number of new coaching combinations across the competition. Frank Rees and Tom Martin have moved on from a successful stint at Norths and will take charge of Petone this season. ?Ross Bond, who last coached in 2004 at Poneke, takes over at Norths alongside former Wests Roosters coach Okasene Moananu. Petone's 2011 Premier Coach, Mike Woollett, has moved from Petone to Wainuiomata. Rimutaka's campaign will be driven by the successful Wellington Maori combination of Ray MacDonald and Rangi Kelly. At Hutt Old Boys Marist, Matt Lee and former Hurricanes, Ories and New Zealand Sevens player Justin Wilson take over, with longtime coach Adam Campbell stepping down Elsewhere, Stephen So'oialo and Dion Waller take the cones at Tawa, John Adamson and Katsu Takeuchi take over at Wests, Paddy Gough and Ian Tulloch guide OBU, Murray Tocker returns to MSP to join Clayton McMillan and John Jackson slips into the coach's box, or in this the tin roof, at Kilbirnie Park alongside Scott Keith.

Who will reign supreme in 2012? Last year will always be remembered as Oriental-Rongotai's season, the Miramar club winning their first ever Jubilee Cup final in their first final appearance and their first senior club championship as a standalone club since 1910. They also won the Andy Leslie Trophy for finishing first at the end of the round-robin, ended it with the Bill Biren Challenge Cup (which is up for grabs again next week) and finished second to Norths in the Swindale Shield.

In a cockfight in the Cage, Ories meet the Wests Roosters for the Keith Mettrick Memorial Cup in round one on Saturday. Wests will be hungry to improve upon their 11^th placed finish last year and test themselves against the best first-up. Last time the Roosters made the Jubilee Cup was ?in 2007 and they missed out on the Hardham Cup semi-finals last year.

Another highlight of round one will be a clash between the old and the new. Rimutaka will play their first ever game of Premier Rugby after forming in 1982. Playing at home at Maoribank Park, Rimutaka will face Wellington's oldest Premier club Poneke. Their first round opponents were the 2011 Jubilee Cup semi-finalists and will provide a tough challenge to start Rimutaka's Premier Rugby campaign.

Defending Swindale Shield champions and beaten Jubilee Cup finalists Northern United start their campaign at home at Porirua Park against Upper Hutt for the Terry Farrow Memorial Cup. After winning the first round title in 2009 (shared with Petone), 2010 and 2011,Norths are gunning for a four-peat of Swindale Shields and to become the first team since Petone in the early to mid 1970s to win four in a row.

Norths are up against an Upper Hutt side who always deliver attractive rugby and who finished fifth in the Swindale Shield last year after winning their opening three games and contested six of their 11 matches with the margin of victory being fewer than five points.

In another big clash first-up, neighbours Wainuiomata and Petone square off at William Jones Park for the Darren Larsen Cup, which Wainuiomata won last year for the first time since re-earning promotion in 2007. In a thrilling 36-33 win, Wainuiomata raced to a 20-point lead before holding off a stern comeback by the Villagers. The green and blacks did it again in the Jubilee Cup round-robin return encounter, taking a decisive lead and holding on to win 22-20.

In another interclub trophy match, Marist St. Pat's host Old Boys University at Evans Bay Park for the Jack Lamason Memorial Cup. Fans of both teams will be eager for their sides to get off to winning starts after roller-coaster seasons last year that was summed up for both with the pair battling it out on at a desolate Hawkins Basin Reserve in the last round of the Swindale Shield in what was an effective shootout for the last remaining spot in the Jubilee Cup. OBU led 15-14, before MSP came back to win 27-21. The students regrouped and charged through the Hardham Cup unbeaten but were then overrun in the Hardham Cup final by a resurgent Tawa.

A star for Tawa in that Hardham Cup final, Stephen So'oialo, takes the coach's clipboard for the first time at home at Lyndhurst Park against Hutt Old Boys Marist. The Eagles already have one title to their name in 2012, winning the pre-season New Zealand Marist Spillane Cup tournament in New Plymouth, and have played through the pre-season unbeaten. ?

In the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield, Johnsonville begin their quest to regain Premier status for 2013 when they host Ories at Helston Park at 3.00pm. The two teams play for the Ash Pointon Cup. Ash is a stalwart of both the Johnsonville and Ories clubs and will be on hand to present the trophy.

Along with Johnsonville, Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton will also progress to the Hardham Cup and earn a shot at promotion to the Swindale Shield for next season if they finish inside the top four of the Harper Lock Shield. In their respective opening round matches Paremata-Plimmerton hosts Poneke at Ngatitoa Domain at 3.00pm and Avalon plays Norths at Porirua Park at 1.15pm in the curtain-raiser to the Swindale Shield game.

In three other Senior 1 matches that are also curtain raisers to Premier matches, Wainuiomata host Petone at William Jones Park, Tawa entertains HOBM at Lyndhurst Park and MSP and OBU square off at Evans Bay Park.

In the two 3.00pm matches in the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup involving first XV club sides, the Wellington Axemen host HOBM at Hataitai Park and Stokes Valley welcome Poneke on to Delaney Park.

Other opening round season openers involve Wests and Ories, MSP and OBU, Avalon and Petone and Norths and Upper Hutt.

All other grades start next weekend.

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