Defending champions open up with comfortable wins

The weather was cool but the rugby was hot in today’s 2016 season opening round of club rugby Premier and Premier Reserve matches in Wellington.

Fourteen fixtures were contested today across the Premier Swindale Shield and Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield Grades.

The Swindale Shield saw impressive wins away from home for last year’s two champion teams, 2015 Jubilee Cup winners Old Boys University opening up with a 39-5 win over the Upper Hutt Rams at Maidstone Park and Swindale Shield title holders Hutt Old Boys Marist accounting for Johnsonville 64-7 at Helston Park.

There were narrow results, in each of the other five matches, with wins for Poneke over Wainuiomata at William Jones Park (28-26), Northern United over Petone at the newly renamed JCS (32-28) and Marist St Pat’s over Paremata-Plimmerton (33-20) at Evans Bay Park and the Wellington Axemen over Tawa at Lyndhurst Park (28-19).

The seventh match of the round between Avalon and Ories at Fraser Park resulted in an 11-11 draw. But the game was held up for a long time and subsequently transferred to an adjacent field at Fraser Park following a serious leg injury to Avalon fullback Donell Anae.

A feature of this year’s Swindale Shield opening round was the high number of players on Premier debut, amongst them some 70 players throughout the 14 starting XVs who were either making their maiden appearances in Wellington club rugby or playing their first games for new clubs after off-season transfers.

Old Boys University had a number of players representing the symbol of the goat for the first time, including new fullback Jodi Ihaka who scored two tries. OBU were fast out of the gates against the Rams, scoring two tries before many had taken their seats, and two more before the break. Unfortunately none were converted so their 20-0 lead could’ve been more. Similarly newly selected NZ U20 player Marino Makaele tu’u was denied two tries off the back of scrums.

Down 20-0 at halftime, Rams didn’t have the ideal start to the second stanza, conceding a second Ihaka try which was beautifully set up by halfback Tomasi Palu. Max Pearson hit back for Upper Hutt with a one-handed pick up at the base of the ruck after a Euan McKirdy half-break, then powering through OBU defenders from close range to score. But there was little more cheer for the Rams.

With a win comfortably in sight, OBU began to clear the bench who provided well for the visitors. Replacement halfback Nick Kavanagh dotted down after receiving the pass from a Jack Cooke break and next to score was replacement no 8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas who finished off a length-of-the-field effort, mainly by the OBU forward pack.

Wes Goosen illustrated why he is touted as one of Wellington’s best backs, making serious metres whenever he got his hands on the ball and dominating defensively in a truly complete performance. The whole OBU front row deserves credit for their scrum superiority but it was Finbarr Kerr-Newell who shone brightest, making his presence felt in open play, particularly defensively.

Johnsonville’s sole survivor from last year’s Hardham Cup final defeat to the Rams was lock Anthony Pettett, and it showed in their play. A lack of combinations, a lack of cohesion and several poor mistakes such as missed touch finders and costly turnovers made it a hard day in the office for the new-look Hawks in the battle of the birds against the HOBM Eagles.

The Eagles brought a dominant scrum and plenty of youthful enthusiasm to Helston Park, running in nine tries. Left wing LA Moemai , sporting a shock of green hair, scored a hat-trick whilst flyhalf Brandyn Laursen scored 19 points off the kicking tee.

HOBM’s tight five all played well, lock Kava Vulu a workhorse and tighthead prop Joe Apikitoa also impressive. No. 8 Lise Soloa grew stronger as the game developed, while former Wellington Lions halfback Sheridan Rangihuna added impetus off the bench in the second half.

Poneke beat Wainuiomata and won the Hakaraia Trophy with a penalty in the dying stages. Trailing 25-26, fullback Pakai Turia stepped up in front of the sticks to send the winning kick through the poles and the red and blacks held on to the end – surviving for seven minutes.

Earlier, Poneke had battled to a 15-12 halftime lead in an entertaining opening 40 minutes. Wellington contracted flyhalf TJ Va’a’s senior rugby injury woes continued, leaving the field midway through the match.

Northern United drew inspiration from the renaming of their ground Jerry Collins Stadium at a ceremony earlier in the morning, coming from behind to beat Petone.

Petone had led 13-3 midway through the first half, which grew to 25-8 when a dropped ball allowed the Villagers to race away and take a 25-8 advantage. Norths fought back and took the lead with their fourth try late in the match, before holding on sternly to fulltime.

Home side Tawa made a sluggish start against Wellington and it proved costly. The Axemen made a lightning start and scored twice early to lead 12-0. The first of these was scored by new prop Jason Bird and the second to centre Matt Goosen from a kick-off error.

Tawa continued making mistakes and by the time the halftime oranges were brought out the Axemen had scored five tries and led 29-0. Wing Paddy Hughes showed superb finishing skills in scoring two tries.  Tawa made a comeback but the damage was done and they’ll write this result off and start afresh next weekend.

Marist St Pat’s were made to work extremely hard by Paremata-Plimmerton in their opener at Evans Bay Park. Tipped to go deep into this year’s competition, MSP were in a fight against last year’s minnows before pulling clear late in the game.  Both sides were understrength owing to injuries, and both scored a try each in the first 40 minutes and it was 11-8 at the turnaround.

MSP scored a try immediately after halftime to take a 10-point lead, but the visitors from Mana came back at them and closed to within a try before MSP scored again at the end. New fullback Ryan Saunders, an off-season signing from the Axemen, screeched in for a brace.  A key to MSP’s narrow first-up win was their dominant scrum.

The Avalon – Ories match was marred by the injury and long break to Avalon fullback Anae. Nothing could separate the sides as both scored an unconverted try and the respective kickers, Jordan Aquila for Avalon and Trevor Marama for Ories, banged over two penalties.

The first round of the Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield was notable for being high scoring.

MSP’s second XV recorded the biggest win of the day, beating their Paremata-Plimmerton counterparts 73-0, while HOBM defeated Johnsonville’s second side 59-7, OBU defeated the Upper Hutt Rams 41-25, Norths overcame Poneke 30-5, Avalon ousted Ories 32-27, Poneke sneaked a 41-36 win over Wainuiomata and Wellington did the double over Tawa, beating the defending Harper Lock champions 25-7 in the early contest at Lyndhurst Park.

The second round of matches kicks off in eight days, next Saturday. Round Two will be the first of seven matches, including two midweek night rounds, throughout April.  

Lower grade and Women’s competition draws are expected to be released over the coming few days.