Busy stretch of games coming up for first round contenders

Saturday - Thursday - Sunday.

The Wellington club rugby Premier Swindale Shield, Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield and Senior 2 National Mutual Cup competitions swing into top gear from this Saturday with the first of three rounds in eight* days. *Updated, on account of poor mathematical ability.

?This Saturday's fourth round set of matches is followed by an ANZAC Day round next Thursday and sixth round matches the following Sunday. The ANZAC Day round is also a Derby Day set of matches, meaning there will be love lost that afternoon in the battles for neighborhood supremacy.

Eight teams out of 36 are currently unbeaten across the top three grades, and all are looking to stake their claims by the end of the April.

In the Premier Swindale Shield, defending champions Hutt Old Boys Marist, Tawa, Poneke and Old Boys University have won their first three games, while OBU's [Senior 1] and HOBM's [Senior 2] second XVs are also unbeaten, as are Avalon's top two sides in the Harper Lock Shield and National Mutual Cup.

In the Swindale Shield, the number of? unbeaten teams will reduce from four to three after this weekend unless there's a draw between Tawa and Poneke who clash in the match of the round at Kilbirnie Park.

On form, Old Boys University will be favoured to go four from four on Saturday when they host winless Upper Hutt at Nairnville Park and defend the Bill Brien Challenge Cup for the second time.

HOBM will hope to win their fourth match in succession against Northern United away at Porirua Park in the other match involving an unbeaten side.

In other Swindale Shield games on Saturday, all of them crucial, MSP (1 win from 3) want to ignite their season against the Wests Roosters (0 from 3), Petone (2 from 3) will look to get back on track against Rimutaka (0 from 3) at the Village and Wainuiomata (0 from 3) will be desperate to knock over Oriental-Rongotai (2 from 3) at the Polo Grounds.

For the second week in a row, Tawa are playing in a top-of-the-table clash, and having brushed aside Petone's challenge in the last round with consummate ease their fans will hope they can do the same to Poneke on Saturday.

With a powerful engine room and physicality in the backs, Tawa have made a bruising start to the season, beating Upper Hutt 32-0, Wainuiomata 35-12 and Petone 44-17. Poneke appear to have developed a penchant for attacking, running rugby and they racked up a century last game against Rimutaka. Fullback/wing Tauasosi Tuimavave scored almost half the points. But Tawa will be a different proposition this week.

Poneke - Tawa matches often have a twist or a slice of drama associated with them. Last year, in round seven, Tawa pulled clear from a 10-10 halftime score to win 20-13. In 2011 Poneke held on to win 28-21 in a thriller, while in 2010 Tawa came back from a 7-35 deficit to win 42-35. In 2009 the sprinkler system at Lyndhurst Park held up play for 30 minutes before Poneke won 40-13.

Old Boys University are about to lose five players to the New Zealand Universities team.No. 8 Andrew McWhirter, front rankers Stu Simonsen and Con Williams, speedy wing threequarter Te Wehi Wright and veteran inside back Seminar Manu are all off to Japan next week to play three games. For this reason alone, they will hope to beat Upper Hutt on Saturday and stay at the top end of the table. Upper Hutt really need to win this clash or they could be gone from Jubilee Cup reckoning.

Likewise, the Wests Roosters find themselves needing to win their fourth round match against MSP or another campaign playing in the Hardham Cup could be just around the corner. Wests will need to overcome a poor recent record against MSP, losing to them on their previous eight encounters.

Wests and MSP play for an interclub trophy named after Viv Haigh, who first played for the former Onslow club in 1929. After his promising career was cut short by injury he turned to administration and coaching. He died suddenly at the age of 46, having had a continuous association with the club for more than 30 years. After Viv's death, W.B. Griffiths presented a trophy in his memory for competition between the then Onslow and Marist clubs. Marist won the first match in 1960.

The Northern United - HOBM clash has all the hallmarks of a massive match. HOBM will stay unbeaten if they win, while Norths will climb into the top half of the table. Norths grabbed their first win of the season last Saturday, beating Upper Hutt 29-13, but they are yet to set the world alight like as has been their custom in past seasons. Their fans will be hoping that playing at home at Porirua Park for the first time this year will set them free.

Norths beat HOBM twice last year, winning this corresponding match 35-13 at the Hutt Rec and then defeating them 21-18 in the Jubilee Cup round that followed. In their second match in 2011, HOBM won 20-19, which was significant for breaking Norths' then 20-match winning streak and for becoming the first team to win at Porirua Park since the winter of 2009.

The last time that Ories and Wainuiomata met was in last July's Jubilee Cup semi-final at the Polo Grounds. In a high quality fixture, featuring such players as Ardie and Julian Savea, Ma'a Nonu and Matt Proctor (Ories) and Piri Weepu and Frae Wilson (Wainuiomata), Ories ran out 45-17 winners.Without all these stars on show, this re-match promises to be just as explosive. Wainuiomata have yet to click and are desperate to get their show on the road against an Ories side that pipped big guns MSP 21-18 in round three. With more front foot ball, they're not far off.

Ories are set to welcome new first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili from MSP, playing in his first match in the black and white stripes, while Wainuiomata have named previously injured Hawke's Bay Magpie Marvin Karawana at centre and Dion Lealofi at hooker and Justin Va'a back at prop after illness.

In the other match, Petone will hope to bag maximum points against Rimutaka who have met three sizable defeats so far. Petone have a familiar face in their line-up, 100-game hooker Eugene Smith starting in this first match of the season.

Lower Grades

Based on early season results, the OBU and Avalon teams could be expected to win their fourth round Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield encounters on Saturday.

OBU have started their season with bonus point wins over MSP (32-0), Johnsonville (29-28) and Wainuiomata (37-3).They host winless Upper Hutt in the early game at Nairnville Park.

Avalon meet last year's first round Harper Lock Shield champions MSP at Evans Bay Park for the Joe Aspell Cup, a long standing interclub trophy originally contested between the Marist and Taita clubs after the 1940s Marist player and former Taita Hotel Publican.

Avalon are coming off a 10-7 win over Paremata-Plimmerton, while MSP lost 10-57 to the Wellington Axemen last week. MSP are the Joe Aspell Cup holders having won this match last year 37-19. Northern United (2 wins from 3) host Paremata-Plimmerton (0 from 3) in the early game at Porirua Park for the Ivan Hargreaves Trophy. Norths are the defending champions, winning this contest 22-10 in 2012.

Ivan Hargreaves was an active club rugby administrator for the old Titahi Bay RFC then the Northern United RFC until recent years.? He was also a longstanding Porirua City Councillor donated this trophy to be played between the local Western Bays clubs - Porirua, Titahi Bay, Pare-Plimmerton and Tawa. ?

In other Senior 1 matches on Saturday, the Wellington Axemen (2 wins from 3) travel to William Jones Park to play Wainuiomata (2 wins from 3),? Johnsonville (2 wins from 3) meet Petone (1 win from 3) at the Petone Rec and Tawa (2 wins from 3) travel to play Poneke (0 wins from 3).

In Senior 2 National Mutual Cup matches on Saturday, unbeaten Hutt Old Boys Marist meet Northern United (2 from 3) in the early game on the top field at Porirua Park, while unbeaten Avalon meet Poneke (0 from 3) at 1.15 pm on Kilbirnie Park.

OBU (2 from 3) host Stokes Valley (0 from 3) at Prince of Wales Park, Ories (2 from 3) travel to play Wainuiomata (1 from 3) at Mary Crowther Park, Petone (2 from 3) and Johnsonville (2 from 3) clash on the Petone Rec and the Wests Roosters (1 from 3) and MSP (0 from 3) play at Evans Bay Park.

The Premier Women's competition starts this Saturday, all games starting at 11.30 am. Defending first round champions Northern United host Old Boys University at Porirua Park, Ories and Wainuiomata meet at the Polo Ground and new teams for 2013 MSP-Poneke and Avalon open their seasons against each other at Kilbirnie Park.

The U85 kg Division 1 and 2 grades both start up on Saturday, As does the Colts and President's grades.? Senior 3 and Reserve Grades 1 and 2 play their second round matches on Saturday.

Secondary Schools pre-season continues around the region this Saturday. The St Pat's Town and Rongotai College First XVs meet at Rongotai at 1.30 pm in a Traditional.

The St. Pat's Town and Wellington College lower grade teams, from their second XVs down to their U55 kg division sides, play in a series of Traditional games at Wellington College. The Rongotai and Bishop Viard College second XVs meet, as does the Tawa College First XV And St. Pat's Town Second XV.