A glance back over the last five Swindale Shields suggests Marist St. Pat's should comfortably capture their 10th first round title and their first since 2000 in the last round played this weekend. Not only are last year's beaten Jubilee Cup finalists in the box seat for the title win with a four-point buffer at the top of the table, they have recent history on their side with each of the five previous Swindale Shield champion sides having led the field after ten rounds and duly gone on to win in the last week...More

Marist St. Pat's have emerged as the likely winners of the 2008 Swindale shield next week, after their bonus point victory over Oriental-Rongotai and with other results going their way have seen them open up a four-point lead at the top of the table after the penultimate set of matches played on Saturday. MSP were in imperial form over Ories in a comfortable five tries to one 41-11 win at Hataitai Park. Ories, who last week qualified to contest their first Jubilee Cup in five seasons, were expected to provide tougher resistance but MSP were too strong on the day, running in four tries to nil in the first half for a 31-6 lead at the break...More

The teams at the top of the Swindale Shield still have everything to play for over the closing two rounds starting this weekend. Four clubs are still realistically in contention of winning the 40th edition of Wellington Premier rugby's first round title, with Old Boys-University, Marist St. Pat's, Northern United and Petone all still aspiring for first round glory in the 10th and 11th rounds. OBU and MSP are in the box seat, both on 37 competition points, four clear of defending champions Norths and Petone on 33, with Hutt old Boys Marist a further four points back on 29 and also mathematically still alive...More

Jubilee Cup rugby will once again return to Miramar this year after Oriental-Rongotai cemented a top eight finish in the Swindale Shield with a well-earned 24-14 victory over Poneke in their round nine clash at the Polo Ground. Ories' fifth win of the season places them in sixth place on the Swindale Shield points table and ten points clear of the Hardham Cup zone with just two rounds remaining. It's been a five-year hiatus since Ories last made the Jubilee Cup, but the Polo ground will once more come alive with top level Premier rugby after what was a tenacious win over Poneke for the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield...More

The race for the 2008 Swindale Shield looks set to go down to the wire over the next three weeks with just a bonus point win separating leaders Old Boys-University and the chasing pack consisting of Marist St. Pat's, Northern United, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Petone. But below the title contenders the scramble is now also on to fill the remaining three places still realistically up for grabs in the Jubilee Cup. In this category are Oriental-Rongotai, Poneke, Upper Hutt and Wainuiomata, and although there's also a six-point buffer between sixth placed Ories and ninth placed Wainui their fortunes can still change radically over the next three weeks...More

Old Boys-University are within sight of their first Swindale Shield title after beating Northern United 37-26 in an absorbing round eight encounter at the Basin Reserve. OBU's four try bonus point win over Norths sees them move into the outright lead, four competition points ahead of defending champions Norths and one ahead of Marist St. Pat's who have leapfrogged Norths into second after winning 29-0 with a bonus point against the Wests Roosters at Evans Bay Park. With three rounds to go OBU must be considered favourites to take out the first round title for the first time in both the clubs' 17-year history and also that of their predecessors WCOB and University...More

It's the battle of the Basin Reserve this Saturday where home team Old Boys-University will take the Swindale Shield spotlight for the second week in succession in an almighty top-of the-table clash with joint leaders Northern United.While neither team will win the first round title on Saturday, to the victor will go the tag of competition favourites with just three rounds remaining after this. For Norths, the lure of a Swindale Shield three-peat, last achieved by Marist St Pat's in 1994,1995 and 1996 will be strong motivation to subdue the students, while OBU supporters will be hoping this is their year after two back-to-back third placed finishes in 2006 and 2007...More

Old Boys-University and Northern United emerged as the significant winners at the end of the seventh round of the Swindale Shield set of matches played on Saturday. In a tight tussle for first round title honours OBU and Norths now share the lead on 28 points with just four rounds remaining. OBU secured their sixth win of the season and brought up exactly 200 points for the year by beating Hutt Old Boys Marist 24-15 at the Hutt Recreation Ground, while Norths toppled Tawa as expected with a bonus point in winning 32-13 at Porirua Park...More

It's tight at the top of the Swindale Shield with just two points separating the leading five teams on the points table as the competition heads into this weekend's round seven set of matches. Picking a winner at this stage is anyone's guess, with Hutt Old Boys Marist, Old Boys-University, Petone, Northern United and Marist St. Pat's all right in contention for the 2008 first round title. Following on from last Saturday's results, another epic weekend of games is expected. Norths' 95-0 win over the Wests Roosters stood out like a beacon among the other round six results, that saw ?the average margins of victory in four of the other five encounters fewer than six points, and in the other Avalon restricted OBU to just two tries in the second half...More

Two time defending champions Northern United are no longer the sleeping giants of the Swindale Shield. Norths awoke from their relative slow start to 2008 in ominous fashion by inflicting a 95-0 drubbing on the Wests Roosters In the sixth round set of matches played on SaturdayIn what is the highest Premier score for at least several seasons, Norths demolished a hapless Wests side fifteen tries to nil at home at Poriua Park. Norths scored six tries in the first half to lead 38-0 at the break, before turning the Roosters into headless chickens in the second half...More