Massive weekend for rugby in Wellington

The best of grassroots and professional rugby?is on show?in Wellington on Saturday. A mouth-watering fifth round set of Jubilee and Hardham Cup club matches in the afternoon is followed by the second Tri-Nations Test at night between the All Blacks and South Africa at Westpac Stadium.

After last week's emphatic 20-point win at Auckland, the All Blacks, featuring four Wellington players in their backline, will be hoping to shut the gates on their Springbok counterparts.

But first there's a full round of fifth round Jubilee and Hardham Cup matches kicking off at the earlier times of 12.30pm and 2.15pm. With tightly bunched fields and several teams treading water across both competitions, this week's club rugby promises to be just as huge as the Test that follows.

After a month of round-robin play, four sides are separated on the Jubilee Cup points table by just one point and at least three of the other four contenders realistically need to win this weekend or their semi-final dream will be over for another year.

In two colossal Jubilee Cup matches of contrasting significance in town from 2.15pm, heavyweights Marist St. Pat's (on 14 points) and Northern United (13) collide at Evans Bay Park in a rematch of last year's Jubilee Cup final, and in a virtual knockout clash, Old Boys-University (4) and Petone (6) meet at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve.

The winner of the top-of-the-table MSP-Norths match will almost certainly book their semi-finals place, two weeks out from the playoffs. With just one win each from the opening four rounds, the loser of the OBU and Petone fixture will almost certainly be eliminated from semi-final reckoning. Petone hasn't lost four games in a row since 2003, while for a more desperate OBU who are 9 points adrift of the top four, even victory might not be enough and they would still need other results going their way to get through.

Upper Hutt (7) face a similar task as Petone and Old Boys-University, also needing to beat joint second placed Poneke (13) at home at Maidstone Park at 2.15pm to keep themselves in the running.

In the final game of the round at the Hutt Recreation Ground at 2.15pm, visitors Oriental-Rongotai (8 points) will also be desperate to beat joint second HOBM (13) or they too could well be squeezed out of the playoff race over the final fortnight for the second season in succession.

In the Hardham Cup, the major clash of the round is at William Jones Park at 2.15pm between the two unbeaten teams, home side Wainuiomata and the Wests Roosters.

Victory for either side would almost certainly send them into the playoffs with two weeks to spare, while for leaders Wests who currently have a 9-point buffer to fourth placed Northern United B, a win over Wainuiomata with a bonus point would probably be enough to secure a home semi-final at the Cage.

Another crunch Hardham Cup game at Lyndhurst Park at 2.15pm sees third placed Tawa hosting fifth placed Johnsonville. Tawa are?angling to join Wests and Wainuiomata in the semi-final zone and Johnsonville are?desperate to move into top four and also into promotion-relegation safety.

Johnsonville's late draw with MSP B last week was probably enough to see them ward off the promotion-relegation threat of Avalon who have yet to win a game. But with just 7 points separating Johnsonville and Avalon, the boys in blue are far from safe.

Although their playoff chances have evaporated, all it will take is for Avalon to win this week and for Johnsonville to lose and the pressure will be right on. This week Avalon play Hutt Old Boys Marist B in the early game at the Hutt Recreation Ground at the earlier time of 12.30pm.

The final game in the Hardham Cup this week at Evans Bay Park at 12.30pm is the battle of the ‘B' teams between the MSP and Northern United second fifteens.

Far from being a mere curtain-raiser to the main Jubilee Cup that follows, this clash carries much weight for both the fortunes of these two teams and the teams around them on the points table. All three ‘B' teams in the Hardham Cup are still alive in the race to semi-finals, while a win for current fourth placed Norths would cement their position or even propel them up to third if Tawa were to lose to Johnsonville.

The last time a ‘B' side made the Hardham Cup semi-finals was in 2002 when Marist St. Pat's B won four and lost three in the round-robin en route to meeting and losing 17-31 to the Wests Roosters at the playoff stage.

In other grades, Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup frontrunners Ories, OBU and Poneke will be searching for their fourth wins in five game when they take the field this weekend. Leaders Ories (14 points) tackle eighth placed Tawa at Lyndhurst Park at 12.30pm, OBU (13) host fifth placed Petone at Nairnville Park at 12.30pm and Poneke (13) play seventh placed Rimutaka at Maoribank Park at 2.15pm.

In other Senior 1 games, winless Avalon and Norths will both be hoping to get on the board when they meet at Fraser Park at 12.30pm, and midtable Stokes Valley and Paremata-Plimmerton will be out to make their moves when they clash at Delany Park at 2.15pm.

MSP (on 19 points) and Wellington (17) are the two unbeaten teams in the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial and they meet in a table topping clash at Kilbirnie Park number two at 12.30pm.

Third placed Upper Hutt (14) and fourth placed Hutt Old Boys Marist (13) will both be eager for their fourth wins to keep in touch with either MSP or Wellington. Upper Hutt hosts Poneke at Maidstone Park at 12.30pm and HOBM entertains Paremata-Plimmerton at the Hutt Rec at 2.15pm. In other Senior 2 games, early strugglers Wainuiomata and the Wests Roosters meet at William Jones Park at 12.30pm and midtable OBU host Petone at Martin Luckie Park.

Frontrunners MSP and Petone are both shooting for their fifth straight wins of the round in the 10-team Senior 3 Johnsonville Centennium Cup. MSP plays eighth placed Stokes Valley at Delaney Park and Petone encounters seventh placed Ories at the Polo Grounds.

In round four of the U21 Division 1 John E Kelly Memorial grade, unbeaten Norths square off against MSP who have won two from three.