Busy stretch of games coming up in Swindale Shield

After last Friday’s opening to the Premier season, this weekend sees the start of the rest of the club grades, opening tonight with a round of the Women’s competition, and the commencement of many weeks of full-on action.

Premier Swindale Shield

In the Premier grade there are no fewer than four interclub trophies at stake, while the Bill Brien Challenge Trophy is also on the line for the first time this year.

Also at the forefront of team’s minds is that they will play three times in the next eight days, with the first of the midweek rounds taking place on Wednesday night.

Two matches will be carried on radio with Gordon Noble-Campbell calling the Poneke vs HOBM match on RadioSport, and OBU vs MSP will be called by Adam Julian on Te Upoko (1161 AM).

Arguably the feature clash of the day is at Nairnville Park with the rematch of last year’s Jubilee Cup final. Old Boys-University ran their winning streak to 10 with a commanding performance away against the Upper Hutt Rams, while a Marist St Pat’s side that was down on personnel had to fight their way past a plucky Paremata-Plimmerton. Amongst the handful of changes for the Goats is the return of Teariki Ben-Nicholas and Sam Coventry to the starting loose trio, while MSP get Valentine Meachen and Isaia Petelo back from Samoa A duty, Ryan Setefano partners the latter in midfield with the job of containing OBU’s Wes Goosen, and the old master Fa’atonu Fili returns at first-five.

As well as some early season bragging rights, the interclub Jack Lamason Cup is up for grabs. Lamason was a Wellington College Old Boys stalwart who played both representative cricket and rugby, touring England with the national cricket side in 1937. Originally played for by WCOB and St Patrick’s OB, it’s now contested by the descendent clubs and held by OBU after last year’s 33-17 win, one of three they took over MSP.

The other match between first-up winners is between Poneke and Hutt Old Boys Marist at Kilbirnie Park, though both won in contrasting styles. Poneke ultimately came out on top of an entertaining arm-wrestle with Wainuiomata, while HOBM were untroubled by a new-look Johnsonville. Sheridan Rangihuna returns at halfback for the visitors while the hosts welcome back Greg Foe and hand last year’s Scots College first-five Sam Fox the 10 jersey for his Premier debut. Greg Mullany and Isaia Walker-Leawere both miss out due to injury.

The two will contest the interclub Roy John Trophy – John, like Lamason above, played both representative cricket and rugby, playing his club footy for both Poneke and the original Hutt FC – as well as the Bill Brien. Poneke won both of these with last year’s smash and grab 50-28 win at the Hutt Rec which also ended the Eagles unbeaten run, so HOBM will be out to reclaim both.

The Upper Hutt Rams were well beaten at home by OBU, so will be desperate for a better performance this weekend on the clubs Old Timers’ Day otherwise their ambitions will be in an early hole. The visitors to Maidstone Park this week are Northern United, who managed a comeback win against Petone on an emotional day at home. The Rams have made no fewer than seven personnel and two positional changes from last week’s named lineup as they look for a spark to their season, with Tynan Barrett handed the 10 jersey. Norths meanwhile make just four changes, with two of those coming in the loose trio with Peter Pili and Daniel Reuelu-Buchanan starting on the flanks.

The two sides contest the Terry Farrow Memorial Cup; Farrow became a Life Member of Norths after having an instrumental role in the merger of the Porirua and Titahi Bay clubs, while his father George was the first Life Member of the Upper Hutt club. The Rams hold this after their nail-biting 31-30 win in Porirua last year, and won the last meeting between the sides 23-18 in the Hardham Cup.

Oriental-Rongotai and Johnsonville meet at the Polo Ground, not only with their Ash Pointon Cup to play for, but also looking for vastly improved performances on their opening day outings. The Magpies struggled to find their rhythm after the lengthy injury-break against Avalon, and will look to set a higher standard this time out. They have named a mostly unchanged side, with Tuakana Metuarau back at blindside and Ken Aperilla starting in place of Declan Hay at halfback.

Johnsonville were simply outclassed by HOBM after some initial resistance and need to find some fluency otherwise it could be another long season. They make no fewer than nine changes, with eight more players making their starting debut for the Hawks after the 11 who did so last week. Ories hold the Ash Pointon Cup – named for a stalwart of both clubs – after last year’s 39-25 win at Helston, but two years ago the Hawks scored a shock 19-16 win at Polo.

Wellington had perhaps the most impressive half of rugby in the opening week, blasting out to a 29-0 lead at Tawa and cruising in the second half. They are at home for the first time this year, with Avalon the visitors to Hataitai Park. For their part Avalon turned in a resilient performance after the loss of fullback Donell Anae to a badly broken leg against Oriental-Rongotai and were well worth the draw. The Wolves make few changes, with one of those being Asafo Aumua making his first Premier start at hooker, while the Axemen make several – perhaps with an eye on Wednesday’s clash with MSP – including leaving Simon Gard’ner and Penijamini Nabainivalu out of the starting side. Veteran Athun Masun comes in for the latter and will match up against the Wolves bruising runner Ben Peni. Wellington won last year’s match at Fraser Park by 34-12.

Two sides that will be eager to get their first win meet at Lyndhurst Park with Tawa playing host to Petone. The home side was simply overrun in the first 40 by Wellington, and although the second half was much improved the damage had already been done so a better start tomorrow is a must. Conversely Petone started well against Norths and held a handy halftime edge before being run down in the second half and will not want that to happen in successive weeks. Jarrod Adams comes onto the right wing, combining with Losi Filipo and Lester Maulolo in the three-quarters in a reunion of the 2014 Silverstream backline, while for Tawa veteran Etuale Togia shifts to fullback with Paul Bickle – last year’s St Pats Town first-five – making his debut Premier start and combining with Kemara Hauiti-Parapara to give an all-teenaged halves combination. Petone prevailed in their two meetings last year, taking the Swindale encounter by 45-14 before edging the Jubilee Cup contest by 31-30.

The final match of this preview is further up State Highway 1 where Paremata-Plimmerton welcome Wainuiomata onto Ngatitoa Domain. The home side gave a much-improved performance to open the season and gave MSP plenty of problems before succumbing, and would dearly like that to be something that they can build from in 2016. Talismanic skipper Tane McMillan-Parata returns to lead the side.

Wainuiomata will see last week’s result as one that got away and the two bonus points will only provide some solace. They have named a totally rejigged backline, with four personnel changes – one of those being Peter Umaga-Jensen for his debut on the wing and the other three wearing different jerseys to last week; while up front both Greg and Dion Lealofi return. The two met at the same point last year, with Wainuiomata running out 44-5 winners at home

Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield

Three matchups of first-round winners highlight the round. OBU and MSP meet in the early game at Nairnville, Poneke and HOBM do likewise at Kilbirnie, while just up the road Wellington and Avalon meet at Hataitai and the other winning side last week, Norths, are at Maidstone against the Upper Hutt Rams. The other three matches are between sides that lost their openers with Tawa hosting Petone, Wainuiomata travel to face Paremata-Plimmerton, and Oriental-Rongotai are at home to Johnsonville.

All Premier Reserve matches kick off at 1pm.

Women’s Fleurs Trophy

A preview of the Women’s competition was published here yesterday. Those matches, which all kick off at 7.30pm and are on artificial turfs, have defending double-winners Norths at home at Ascot Park against Poneke, Johnsonville-Tawa host Marist St Pats at Alex Moore, and newcomers Upper Hutt Rams make their debut against Wainuiomata. The other matches have the local derby between Avalon and Hutt Old Boys Marist at Fraser Park, and the feature match of the round at Te Whaea between Old Boys-University and Oriental-Rongotai.

First Grade Thompson Memorial

Nine teams will front for the third-tier competition. Both of Petone’s sides – the first-round winning Brotherhood and second-round winning Saxons – return, as do HOBM, Norths, and OBU. Poneke and Tawa are also starters from last year, while MSP have downsized to one team and Wainuiomata have entered a third senior side. The big loss however is the absence of last year’s runners-up Stokes Valley, who have dropped down to the Reserve Grade. Tomorrow’s matches are all at 2.45pm, with Norths hosting OBU on the Jerry Collins Stadium, the Petone Brotherhood and MSP meet at the Petone Rec, Poneke and HOBM clash on Kilbirnie #2, and Wainuiomata host Tawa at Mary Crowther. The Saxons have the first-round bye.

Colts

The age grade competition starts with grading rounds this weekend - the competition starts on 9 April.

Under 85kg Restricted

The lightweights go straight into competition, with the first game of their season taking place tonight under lights at Lyndhurst between the defending champion Tawa Titans side and Johnsonville at 7.30pm. The remainder of the Division 1 JC Bowl matches are all 2.45pm kickoffs tomorrow; last season’s runners-up Poneke Cavs travel to HW Shortt to play Eastbourne, Avalon host MSP Reds at Fraser Park, HOBM and last year’s Division 2 winners Stokes Valley meet at Trafalgar Park, and the OBU Bunnies and Wellington are at the St Pats college turf. The Division 2 Phillip Wiggins Trophy matches have MSP Greens against competition-returnees Petone at Evans Bay and the Upper Hutt Rams facing Kapiti at Maoribank, both at 1pm, while Wainuiomata and Paremata-Plimmerton are at Mary Crowther and Wests face another returning team, the OBU Spartans, in the Ian Galloway cage both at 2.45pm. Wellington B has the bye.

Reserve Grade

The Reserve Grade also returns to a two-division structure for 2016. In Division 1 the longstanding rivalry between the Johnsonville Cripples and the Wests Mixed Veges resumes at Helston at 1pm, while the 2.45pm kick offs have Stokes Valley hosting MSP at Delaney Park, and the defending grade champion Poneke Ruffnuts travel to face the Upper Hutt J8’s at Maidstone, with the other Upper Hutt side, the Thirsty Rams, having the bye. Division 2 features the clutch of OBU sides; the 69ers are at Maoribank against the Upper Hutt Pirates, the Pink Ginners host the Paremata-Plimmerton Punters on the top field at Prince of Wales, while below the Teddy Bears and Righteous Brothers renew acquaintances, all at 2.45pm.

Lastly the President's Grade also gets into gear with their unique form of social combativeness.