Old Timers' Day success for MSP as Norths' dominance continues

Marist St. Pats' Swindale Shield resurgence continued on Saturday when they beat Petone 16-10 in an epic clash on their Old Timers' Day at Evans Bay Park.

After a horror start to the year that saw them drop their first three games to first round title contenders Northern United, Poneke and Oriental-Rongotai, the defending Jubilee Cup champions have bounced back to now win four matches in a row with this win over Petone for the Bill Elvy Cup their biggest win of the season so far.

The horse may have bolted as far as the first round Swindale Shield title success goes, but with winter rugby just around the corner and the coveted Jubilee Cup in their trophy cabinet to defend MSP are in business.

In a close-run encounter that saw scores locked up at 10-10 midway through the second half, MSP pulled away to win narrowly against Petone who the week before had scored on fulltime to beat Poneke on their 125^th Anniversary weekend.

It was hand on hearts stuff from MSP's supporters when two Fa'atonu Fili penalty attempts hit the uprights, but their first five-eighth made sure of a third and then added a dropped goal to clinch the victory.

Fili had earlier been the central figure in all MSP's first half scoring as they led 10-3 at the break, kicking a penalty and then setting up a try out wide with a well-weighted kick-pass to centre Chris Slade, which he converted from the sideline.

Petone's forwards rumbled into action in the second half and lock Chris Molenaar was driven over for the converted try that locked it all up and set up a tense finish.

It was also a great day out for MSP's second and third fifteens against Petone opposition, their Senior 1 team winning 57-8 to move from fourth to third on the Harper Lock Shield table and their Senior 2 side dispatching their Petone counterparts 79-3.

MSP's win, along with Upper Hutt's thrilling 37-34 win over Wainuiomata, was one of two close results on an afternoon of otherwise one-sided romps that saw comfortable bonus point wins for leaders Northern United, Poneke, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Oriental-Rongotai.

Norths beat Tawa 58-29 at Porirua Park, Poneke beat Old Boys-University 55-12 at Kilbirnie Park, HOBM overcame Johnsonville 66-26 at the Hutt Recreation Ground and Ories quelled the Wests Roosters' challenge at Ian Galloway Park, 37-3.

In still, mild conditions, Norths were again the headline act in coasting to their seventh consecutive win over Tawa, their fifth half century score of the year so far.

Norths were fast out of the blocks and raced to a 29-3 lead in as many minutes, securing the four-try bonus point in the process. They then put the afterburners on before halftime, adding another four tries to lead 48-3 at the break.

But in a game of two halves, Tawa came back in the second spell and restricted them to just one further try and scored four themselves to salvage a well-deserved bonus point.

A feature of the round's play in several games was the introduction of several Hurricanes players off the bench, who arrived back from Sydney at lunchtime and jumped into their club kits and headed for games. In this game Tawa had the services in the second half of David Smith, who scored a try and helped set up a second half hat trick for left winger George Tilsley.

For Norths, fullback Buxton Popoalii scored two more tries, including Norths' only second half try, to extend his season tally to 12, while right wing James So'oialo scored two tries and kicked 18 points for a 28-point haul.

In beating Tawa, Norths captured the inaugural Sammy Saili Memorial Trophy.

Hutt Old Boys Marist won easily against competition strugglers Johnsonville in a lively game with no shortage of try-scoring action. No sooner had fans bought their hot dogs than the action started, with three tries scored inside 10 minutes and HOBM taking a 12-7 lead.

From there, the home side kept their noses ahead and achieved their bonus point when they scored their fourth try to lead 26-14 after half an hour. They led 38-14 at halftime and the open rugby continued well into the second half with another 40 points scored by both sides.

For HOBM, loosehead prop Simon Malaeulu scored a hat trick, while Johnsonville scored four tries to four different players to take a bonus point from the defeat.

Poneke had the services of Dane Coles as a super-sub late in their match against OBU, but by that stage the result was already wrapped up in their favour. OBU, who pushed Norths close last week before fading, suffered the same providence in this game as Poneke pulled clear late in the first half and throughout the second.

OBU created several early chances but couldn't convert, before finally scoring the first try. But Poneke came back to lead 13-5 through two Sam Rasch penalties and a runaway try to halfback Brad Faulkner. All up, five players scored six tries for OBU, with NZ U20 World Cup bound midfielder Charlie Ngatai bagging two in Poneke's retention of the Beet Algar Rosebowl.

Two of Ngatai's teammates for the upcoming Argentina trip, Upper Hutt fullback Jason Woodward and Ories centre Julian Savea, also played leading roles in their teams wins.

At William Jones Park, Upper Hutt spoiled Wainuiomata's Old Timers' Day celebrations with a narrow three-point win in an evenly contested thriller that went down to the wire.

Both teams scored five tries with the difference being the points from Woodward's boot, his three conversions and two penalties (12 points) trumping Wainuiomata halfback Frae Wilson's three conversions and one penalty (9).

Upper Hutt led early, but Wainuiomata came back into the contest as the match wore on and had the chance to snatch a draw or win at the very end when they were awarded a late penalty. Turning down a kick which would have locked the scores up, Wainuiomata ran the ball but knocked on at the death and Upper Hutt held on for their second win to climb off the bottom of the table.

For Wainuiomata, centre Feterika Sage scored two tries and lock Shahn Eru scored one, his fifth of the season so far. Upper Hutt centre Brett Piggot made a welcome return to club rugby, scoring two tries after a long layoff following a season ending injury in the first week of the Jubilee Cup last year. Winger Ofa Pongi also scored, his seventh try of the season.

At Ian Galloway Park, Julian Savea lit up a match that was staggering along in an error and penalty fest and late in the first half with a stunning individual try.

Receiving a Wests clearing kick from halfway, Savea burst through the tackles of two lines of Rooster defence and found himself in the clear with a 40-metre skip to the tryline.

Importantly, Savea's try extended Ories' then lead from 10-3 to 17-3, and when first five-eighth James Proctor added a dropped kick before the break and a booming long-range penalty early in the second half their lead was extended to 20 points and the countdown was on to fulltime.

Ories added two more tries, but had to wait until almost the end to secure their bonus point try against a plucky and injury hit Wests side led by No. 8 Galu Taufale who lacked an attacking game but frustrated them for long periods on defence.

Ories would have won more convincingly too if the sting hadn't been taken out of their dominant scrum midway through the second half, when Wests suffered their second front injury of the contest and called for golden oldies scrums.

Wests were also down to their fourth choice openside flanker by game's end, with Scott Fuglistaller sidelined from the outset, Japanese fetcher Akai Daisuke ruled out in the warm-ups and his replacement Andrew Eastwood limping off before halftime.

Ories opened the scoring through livewire halfback Sean Hay, who crossed in the corner after 10 minutes from a dart at close-range and Proctor converted from the right hand touchline.

Wests replied with a penalty to Chris Brown from their first scoring chance in the 20^th minute, before Proctor added his first penalty to make it 10-3 after 35 minutes.

A flurry of scoring ensued, including Savea's try, before right wing Johnny Sola helped provide the game's second highlight when he fielded another Wests clearing kick on the fly and zipped through a weak defensive screen, drew the final defender and gifted a try to fullback Afa Fa'atau on his shoulder.

Blindside flanker Joe Maiava was close to the action all day and it was fitting that he ran in the final try for the bonus point, after a concerted build-up by Ories and a quickly taken tap penalty by lock Dan Reddish.

In beating Wests, Ories retained the Keith Mettrick Memorial Trophy.

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Senior 1

Northern United and Hutt Old Boys Marist remain neck-and-neck at the top of the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield points table on 30 points after each winning comfortable bonus point victories on Saturday.

Norths swept aside the challenge of mid table Tawa 42-15 at Porirua Park, while HOBM accounted for bottom placed Paremata-Plimmerton 55-5 at the Hutt Recreation Ground.

MSP's big win over Petone sees them in outright third, five points adrift of the leading pair, with Avalon holding steady in fourth following their 30-20 win over Oriental-Rongotai in the round's feature match at Fraser Park.

Ories' loss, their second in seven matches, sees them drop from third to fifth in a supercharged competition.

Elsewhere, Poneke pipped Old Boys-University 29-22 at Kilbirnie Park to see them move ahead of the students into sixth place.

Stokes Valley bolted from last to ninth with their 14-6 victory over Rimutaka on their Old Timers' Day at Delaney Park, to also capture the Snow Buchanan Memorial Trophy.

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Senior 2

Norths grabbed their sixth win of the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup to maintain their lead at the top of the standings after seven weeks, beating HOBM 41-5 at Porirua Park.

Norths' win gives them a four-point buffer to second placed Avalon who disposed struggling Paremata-Plimmerton 40-22 at Fraser Park.

Poneke were the big movers in the seventh round, beating OBU 30-20 at Kilbirnie Park to move from sixth to third. OBU's defeat sees them slide from fourth to sixth.

The Wests Roosters defeated the Wellington Axemen 22-7 at Ian Galloway Park to see them move to seventh up to a share of fourth with Wellington.

In other Senior 2 encounters, Wainuiomata overcame Upper Hutt 22-5 at Maidstone Park and MSP put one over Petone with their 79-3 victory at Evans Bay Park.

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Premier Women's

The Northern United Premier women's team have collected the first trophy of the season, wining the first round Fleurs Trophy after they had beaten Ekatahuna 40-26 at Eketahuna.

The Norths women played through the six-week first round competition unbeaten, scoring 255 points and conceding 26 (all in their last match).

Eketahuna still finished second, ahead of third placed Petone who had their bye in the final round.

In other matches, Wainuiomata grabbed their first win of the year by beating Old Boys-University 20-17 at Mary Crowther Park and Stokes Valley wrapped up a 59-0 win over MSP at Delany Park.

The second round Victoria Taevern Trophy starts next week. The Victoria Tavern Trophy is a double round-robin with semi-finals and a final at the end to decide the winner. Norths are the defending champions.

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U21s

Petone continue to run hot in the Paris Memorial U21 Division 1 competition, beating Ories 25-19 for their fourth consecutive victory.

Petone (18 points) have a one point buffer to second placed Norths (17), who won their third victory of the round by toppling winless Poneke 59-27.

Upper Hutt (15) are third after beating HOBM 26-22, ahead of fourth placed MSP (13) who went down 15-16 to OBU - OBU's first win of the season.