Upper Hutt stun defending Swindale champions Norths in season opener

Above: Rimutaka fullback Dan Konise probing for a hole in Poneke's defence.

Upper Hutt caused the upset of the opening round of Wellington club rugby Swindale Shield matches on Saturday, stunning defending first round champions Northern United 46-34 at Porirua Park.

Upper Hutt ran in six tries to Norths' five to inflict a third successive defeat on Norths, including last August's Jubilee Cup final loss to Ories and their unofficial New Zealand club championship defeat to Ponsonby in October.

The boys in burgundy were fast out of the blocks, racking up a 30-point lead in almost as many minutes, before Norths hit back with a much needed converted try to close the gap to 38-15 at halftime. The Shellshocked Norths regrouped at the interval and won the second half three tries to one but couldn't peg back the deficit.

In beating Norths in the Swindale Shield for the first time since 2005, Upper Hutt also won back the Terry Farrow Memorial Cup.

Upper Hutt's win over Norths was one of?several thrilling results as part of the season opening afternoon of Premier, Senior 1 and Senior 2 matches played under bright, sunny skies.

In two other notable results in the Swindale Shield, Old Boys University came back from 15-12 to beat Marist St. Pat's 19-15 at Evans Bay Park and then held on bravely for 10 minutes at the end, and a Piri Weepu-inspired Wainuiomata lowered Petone's flag for the third consecutive time, beating them 23-13 at home at William Jones Park.

OBU won back the Jack Lamason Trophy, after the legendary pre and post world war two Wellington College Old Boys and Wellington representative cricketer and rugby player. In a tight match, OBU?won?it?in tries, scoring two tries in the first half and another in the second whilst MSP were left to rely on the boot of returning first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili who kicked all his sdie's points in penalties.

Wainuiomata, who twice edged Petone in thrillers last year, overtook and then pulled clear of Petone in the second half to retain the Darren Larsen Cup.

Blues star Weepu kicked 15 points in the win, including the match-sealing 48 metre penalty at the end that put the result out of Petone's reach. Earlier, Petone had scored the only try of the first half, to centre Blaise Lomax, and then extended their advantage to 10-6 with a penalty just after the break.

Wainuiomata hit back with two converted tries through the forwards, to prop David Va'a and 2010 Wellington Development lock Shahn Eru in his return match to the green and black fold following a year away in the Manawatu. Petone closed to within a converted try, before Weepu stepped up to kick the match winner.

Elsewhere in the Swindale Shield, defending Jubilee Cup champions Oriental-Rongotai beat the Wests Roosters 41-21 at Ian Galloway Park to retain the Keith Mettrick Trophy, but not before surviving a second half comeback that saw the Roosters close to within eight points.

Ories right wing Ambrose Curtis cut through Wests early, scoring two tries and having a direct hand in two more as Ories cruised to a 29-6 early in the second half.

Ories punished the Roosters for missed tackles and a poor lineout, three of their first four tries coming from long-range counterattacks and the fourth that saw Curtis beat three would-be Wests defenders near the corner flag coming from a lineout steal inside Wests' 22.

The defending champions then lost halfback Sean Hay to injury, the break allowing Wests to regroup and suddenly find their straps, and they stung Ories with three tries in five minutes. New right wing Mika Rabukatoka scored two of these and the score was suddenly 29-21 to Ories with 25 minutes still to play and fans could sense an upset.

A clearly flustered Ories managed to refocus, eventually scoring two more tries, including a brace to fullback Matt Proctor after he counterattacked from halfway and ran in a great solo try.

A feature of the Wests team was that 10 of their starting XV were making their run-on debuts for their Premier side. Three of these new players to make an impact were tighthead prop Chris Eaves and halfback Nalu Tuigamala, both from North Harbour, and second five-eighth Taulagi Lepupa.

At Maoribank Park, Premier newcomers Rimutaka pushed Poneke for long periods in their debut Premier match at Maoribank Park, before losing 3-26. A committed Rimutaka were certainly up for their first challenge of the season, but let themselves down with a lack of accuracy, such as in the re-starts and lineouts.

It was a close contest early on, with both teams exchanging penalties. Poneke right wing Peter Shand broke the deadlock by finishing off a great try that was run through the backs.

Poneke added three more tries in the second half, to fullback Ben Huntley and flankers Galu Taufale and Ally Paine.

In the first round's other match, Hutt Old Boys Marist pulled away from Hardham Cup champions Tawa to win 29-18.

The Eagles had their noses in front throughout the contest, scoring their first two of four tries and leading 17-11 late in the first half. Tawa remained in the hunt, but HOBM found the tryline twice more to record a solid first-up win.

In the Harper Lock Shield, five of the six first round winners grabbed four-try bonus point wins, Norths being the most convincing of these with a 49-27 victory over Avalon.

Also collecting maximum points in the first round of the Senior 1 competition were Hutt Old Boys Marist (29-7 over Tawa), Johnsonville (24-5 over Ories), Poneke (24-27 over Paremata-Plimmerton) and Petone (35-29 over Wainuiomata). In the round's other match, MSP defeated OBU 17-6.

In the National Mutual Cup, OBU made it two from three in matches against MSP, winning 19-10, and the Wellington Axemen gave HOBM the chop 28-15.

The Wests Roosters scored a late try to clinch their 29-25 win over Ories, Avalon edged Petone 39-25, Upper Hutt smoked Norths 42-17 in a second terrific result for them at Porirua Park and Poneke accounted for Stokes Valley.

It was a successful all-round day for Poneke. Of the seven clubs with teams competing in all three grades, only Poneke enjoyed three wins. Their teams earned bonus point wins in all three grades.

All other grades start next week.

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