Tawa out in front in the Swindale Shield at halfway point

Above: Poneke's Misipalauni Moananu at the start of play in this 250^th Premier match. In another significant milestone today, Upper Hutt's Ben Aoina played his 150^th Premier match

Tawa are the leaders by two points after six rounds of the 11-round Swindale Shield competition, while the most successful Premier club of the past decade, Northern United, are outside the top eight after another exciting round of matches on Saturday.

Tawa pulled clear of the Wests Roosters at Lyndhurst Park to score four second half tries and win 33-5, while Northern United were out-played up front by Marist St. Pat's and lost 13-22 at Evans Bay Park.

Throw a blanket over the chasing pack, after some more close results today, including a draw between Oriental-Rongotai and Old Boys University and a fighting come-from-behind win by Petone over Upper Hutt, sees just six points separating second placed Hutt Old Boys Marist and seventh placed MSP.

Ories and OBU drew 27-27 at Evans Bay Park and Petone came back from a 3-20 deficit to beat Upper Hutt 28-26 at Maidstone Park.

In other round six games, played in fine but breezy conditions around the region, HOBM repelled a stiff challenge from Poneke before pulling clear over the last quarter and winning 28-18 at the Hutt Rec, and Wainuiomata ran away with the match in the second half against Rimutaka, winning 64-0.

There are five rounds remaining in this year's Swindale Shield, to be played on successive Saturdays from now to its conclusion, It's shaping up as a cracker with several key matches to come.

The Wellington Axemen have hit the front after six rounds of the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield, cutting through Old Boys Univesity's second XV at Hataitai Park and winning 62-3.

The Axemen lead the Harper Lock Shield by a point to Johnsonville who enjoyed a 55-5 win over Wainuiomata's second side at home at Helston Park.

The other big match of the day in the Harper Lock? Shield resulted in Avalon pipping Tawa 22-20 at Lyndhurst Park, while Paremata-Plimmerton continue their rise up the table with a 25-7 victory over Poneke's second XV.

MSP's Senior 1 team made a successful day for the club's top two sides against Norths, beating them 24-14 in the early game at Evans Bay Park.

Petone grabbed their third win of the competition with a 64-6 win over Upper Hutt in the curtain-raiser match at Maidstone Park.

HOBM, as expected maintained their perfect record in the National Mutual Cup Senior 2 grade by beating Poneke's third XV, winless so far. But it wasn't a thrashing. The Eagles won 50-12, after leading 38-12 at halftime.

HOBM's nearest challengers, Ories and Avalon, had a win and a loss respectively in round six. Ories beat OBU 32-3, while previously unbeaten Avalon missed out to Petone 17-24 in a minor upset.

Northern United got one back off MSP, beating them 26-15 in the battle of the third XVs, while Wainuiomata had a pleasing 36-13 win over Johnsonville and Stokes Valley grabbed their first win of the season in style, crushing the Wests Roosters 55-7.

In round two Premier Women's matches, played on Saturday, Norths made it two from two in beating Wainuiomata 56-0 in a replay of last year's second round final, while Ories also grabbed their second win in edging Avalon 25-24. Old Boys University opened their account for the season by beating MSP-Poneke 39-12.

In some scoring highlights from the sixth round of Swindale Shield matches, Wainuiomata flyer Jason Love bagged a hat-trick in his team's 10 tries to nil win over Rimutaka, to join Petone's Nick Grigg and Tauaosi Tuimavavae at the top of the try scoring charts with seven each so far.

Tuimavavae became the first player to bring up 100 points for the season with eight points for Poneke in his side's 10-point defeat to HOBM.

Poneke lock Presley Tufaga scored two tries in this same game, one of four forwards to score braces in this round. The other forwards to score four tries were Petone flanker Josh Hrstich and Norths flanker Dean Brunsdon and Wainuiomata lock Shahn Eru.

As well as Tufaga and Eru, other locks to find the try line were HOBM's Steven Bradshaw, OBU's Augustine Escalona and Tawa's Pati Gaualofa.

Petone's Jared Kahu (18 points)? was the round's leading points scorer, followed by Upper Hutt's Liam Berry (16) - in the same game - and HOBM's Brandyn Laursen (13).

There were four trophies contested in this round. Petone returned home from Maidstone with the interclub Connelly Cup off Upper Hutt and the Bill Brien Challenge Shield. The Bil Brien has now changed hands three times in six weeks this season. OBU won it off MSP, Upper Hutt off OBU and now Petone off Upper Hutt.

HOBM retained the Roy John Trophy in beating Poneke and Tawa retained the Forsyth Trophy against the Wests Roosters.

Club Rugby was at the Hutt Recreation Ground, where HOBM overcame a typically gritty Poneke challenge. The result was in the balance deep into the second half when HOBM scored two quick tries and extended their then three-point lead to a match-winning 28-13 advantage.

Playing with the wind, HOBM scored the only try of the first half when hooker James O'Reilly combined with halfback Nick Risdon and try scorer Steven Bradshaw off a smart lineout move that caught Poneke napping.

Poneke were right in the contest, playing positive rugby whenever possible. Their lock Presley Tufaga was a standout, while No. 8 Sam Tui (later sinbinned) and halfback Simon Tevita (later moved on to the wing with the introduction of Hurricane Samisoni Fisilau) weren't far behind.

Both teams were guilty of incessant turnovers and weak ball security. In one passage the ball was turned over half a dozen times by both teams as neither could create significant pressure inside the others 22. Poneke went the closest to scoring another try in the first 40, hooker Kelvin Harper held up over the line. HOBM led 13-3 at halftime.

Poneke closed to 16-10 on 55 minutes with a nice try, following a burst up the centre by a fired up Tui, having just returned from the sin-bin, scored by Tufaga and converted by fullback Tauaosi Tuimavavae.

The HOBM pack was clearly dominant in the set-pieces and this started to show in the second half. Their locks Bradshaw (later sinbinned) and Polonga Pedro were standouts. Their loose forwards came into the game in the second half too. James Wall impressed, as did Jason Risdon later in the match.

HOBM struck with a magnificent team try. A lineout, then a rolling maul, then a lovely run and pass by first five-eighth Brandyn Laursen led to a try in the corner to replacement wing Lorenzo Lolesio.

Loesio was in again a few minutes later after another strong build-up and some powerful pick and goes at the line by the forwards. Laursen converted from the sideline.

Poneke fought on gamely, and they had a glimmer of hope when Bradshaw was shown yellow by referee Baker, but HOBM held on to the dying moments. Tufaga was rewarded for an outstanding game when he scored his second try in the grandstand corner at the end.

For full game-by-game match reports from round six click here

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