Colossal set of matches this weekend

?

What more could Wellington sports fans want this Saturday?

Significant first round title defining and mid-table Swindale Shield clashes, four clubs holding their Old Timers' Days and some notable interclub trophies headlined by the annual McBain Shield clash between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Petone. This week's eighth round of Wellington club rugby promises to be exciting.

Five of the six Swindale Shield venues on Saturday are key battlegrounds in the race for the first round title and for places inside the top eight for the second round Jubilee Cup, while the sixth between the Wests Roosters and Rimutaka is a likely clash to avoid the wooden spoon.

At the least, the 2013 Swindale Shield title race could become a two-horse race after this weekend. In two matches involving the leading four teams, leaders Tawa (on 29 points) host third placed Ories (27) at Lyndhurst Park and second placed HOBM (28) host fourth placed Petone (25).

Below the current top? four, teams fifth through to ninth are separated by just two competition points and something has got to give.

Fifth placed Poneke (19) host seventh ?placed Marist St. Pat's (19) at Kilbirnie Park, Ninth placed Northern United (17) host sixth placed Old Boys University (19) at Kilbirnie Park and eighth placed Wainuiomata (18) do battle with 10^th placed Upper Hutt (10) at William Jones Park.

In the battle of the Swindale Shield minnows, the Wests Roosters (6) host Rimutaka (0) at Ian Galloway Park.

The four clubs holding their Old Timers' Days on Saturday are Northern United, Tawa, the Wests Roosters and Wainuiomata. There are three interclub trophies being contested this week, all in the Swindale Shield.?

A bumper crowd is expected at the Hutt Recreation Ground to watch one of the biggest traditional interclub trophy matches battles on the Wellington club calendar. The Alexander McBain Shield was first played for in 1935, and commemorates the memory of the man who was the first headmaster of Eastern Hutt School when it opened in 1915. He was a lifelong supporter of rugby and a loyal member and past President of the Hutt club and elected a life member in 1928. McBain was also Vice-President of the WRFU.

This clash regularly made back-page headlines in the Dominion and Evening Post newspapers back in the day. HOBM are the defending champions having run away from Petone and won 43-21 in last year's clash.

Close neighbours Poneke and MSP play for the Horan-Millar Trophy. This was first played for in 2009 and named after former Poneke legend of the 1950s to 1970s and life member Ken Millar who passed away in 1982 and former MSP coach and Marist hooker Mick Horan who played 175 Senior games between 1955-1965 and passed away in at the start of the ?1982 season aged 47. MSP are the current holders, having won 20-8 last year.

Upper Hutt and Wainuiomata square off for the Peter Jones/Dave Ritchie Cup, after the two former managers of the respective teams with work and living ties to both areas for a number of years. This was first played for in 2007 and Upper Hutt have been the holders the whole time. Of note, there's been some crackers over the past few seasons in this match, such as Upper Hutt's 30-26 win in 2009, their 37-34 win in 2010 and their 25-23 win last year when Jason Woodward kicked the winning conversion with the last play of the game.

In the other? matches, OBU will have to reverse a six-game losing streak to Norths that has seen them miss out by scores of 13-25,? 51-33, 54-7, 57-11, 45-0 and 55-14. But they will welcome at least some of their NZ Universities and injured players this week so this game should be much closer than many in the past.

The Tawa-Ories clash has all the hallmarks of a high quality clash, while the numbers are grim for Rimutaka, having already conceded 579 points in seven games, close behind the 663 they conceded in games last year and the 637 let in by Avalon in 11 games in 2009. In two clashes last year, Wests beat Rimutaka 24-13 and then 13-10 in the Hardham Cup.

Senior 1, Senior 2 and Women's

The situation in the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield sees leaders the Wellington Axemen potentially opening up a decisive break on the rest of the field at the end of this round, while the leading four teams could maintain their buffer to the rest of the field if results go their way.

The top four teams at the end of the first round Senior 1 competition join the bottom four from the Swindale Shield in the Hardham Cup throughout June and July.

The Wellington Axemen (on 31 points) play fifth placed Tawa (21) in the 1.15 pm match at Lyndhurst Park, while in the match of the round, second placed Johnsonville (30) and third placed Avalon (28) clash at Fraser Park at 3.00 pm.

Meanwhile, second placed OBU (29) meet Ninth placed Norths (10) at Porirua Park and seventh placed Paremata Plimmerton (17) and sixth placed Petone (20) play at Ngatitoa Domain at 3.00 pm in two other matches that could have a bearing on the title race and top four battle.

Eleventh placed Poneke (1) and eighth placed MSP (14) play in the Swindale Shield curtain-raiser at Kilbirnie Park and tenth placed Wainuiomata (10) and winless Upper Hutt (0) meet in the early fixture at William Jones Park.

Hutt Old Boys Marist's Senior 2 team is the only unbeaten side across the top three grades. HOBM (on 33 points) can keep their streak going for at least another week if they beat sixth placed Petone (20) at the Hutt Rec in their eighth round National Mutual Cup encounter.

Second placed Ories (31) and third placed Avalon (30) have both dropped just the one game and they can keep HOBM honest by winning their matches. Ories meet Ninth placed the Wests Roosters (11) at Ian Galloway Park at 1.15 pm and Avalon host seventh placed Johnsonville (14) at Fraser Park at 1.15 pm.

Fourth placed OBU (27) and fifth placed Norths (25) aren't far behind and the winner of their clash at Nairnville Park at 1.15 pm will keep in touch with the frontrunners. The highest two finishing teams from the National Mutual Cup join the bottom eight from the current Harper Lock Shield in the second round Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup.

In other Senior 2 fixtures this Saturday, 10^th placed Stokes Valley (10) host eighth Placed Wainuiomata at Delaney Park at 3.00 pm and 11^th and 12^th placed MSP and Poneke battle it out at Kilbirnie Park at 1.15 pm.

The fourth round of Premier women's games sees Norths host Avalon in a top of the table match at Poriria Park at 11.30 am. If Norths beat Avalon they will retain the first round Fleurs Trophy with a week to spare.

In the two other women's games, Ories and MSP-Poneke meet at the Polo Ground in the battle for eastern suburbs supremacy and OBU and Wainuiomata play at Newlands Park.

?