Tawa, Northern United, MSP and Ories to the fore in fourth round

Tawa, Northern United Marist St Pat’s and Oriental-Rongotai were all key winners today in six out of the seven fourth round Wellington Premier club rugby Swindale Shield matches that were played.

Just six points separate the top eight teams after four rounds of the competition, with tomorrow’s last game of the round between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Petone unable to affect the order of things in the top half of the table heading into a well-earned week’s rest for all 14 teams.

Old Boys University remain atop the standings, with four wins to start the season, after holding off a gallant Paremata-Pimmerton 17-6, while Northern United continued their early season resurgence by beating previously unbeaten Poneke 26-18 for the Cyril College and Bill Brien Challenge Shields at Kilbirnie Park.

It was moving day for several other contenders, as Tawa and Oriental-Rongotai and Marist St Pat’s earned key wins and the Wellington Axemen flexed their muscles against minnows Johnsonville. Tawa beat Avalon 48-10, Ories overcame Wainuiomata 48-27, MSP saw off the Upper Hutt Rams 29-17 and Wellington defeated the Hawks 90-12 for the Mick Kenny Cup.

It was an absorbing contest at kilbirnie Park, in which the lead changed hands five times. It was a scrappy start until Poneke wing Nick Robertson poached an intercept and sprinted 70-metres.

Norths second-five Perry Hayman got on the outside of his opposite Levi Harmon to create North's first try for Peato Lafaele. Poneke took the lead to the break due to the visitors’ ill-discipline and sinbinning of flanker Peter Pili.

Crucially both sides scored a try each while Norths were undermanned. A quick tap by Lafaele caught Poneke napping and Hayman crossed, but Poneke replied instantly when halfback Edwin Ainley collected an offload by Robertson as he was being ushered towards the touchline.  

Poneke's ball security inside their own-half was poor in the last 20 minutes. Norths scrum was vastly improved from Wednesday and these factors plus a brilliant 25-metre, three-man, cut-out pass by Hayman to Jonny Teleaga which led to Norths third try when they trailed 18-16 were eventually telling.

Former Poneke player Lafaele came on and showed the value of his 190 games of experience. Ioapo bolstered the scrum and made some bustling bursts. Lock Fala Tuala, No.8 Siaosi Mafi and Hayman were strong contributors. For Poneke locks Ray Treviranus and Cole Stewart played like additional loose forwards.

At Fraser Park, Tawa ended Avalon’s unbeaten run with a 48-10 win. Avalon were right in this for long periods after it took almost half an hour for the first points of the match to be posted, a penalty to Avalon.

But Tawa scored three tries leading up to halftime and led 19-3at the turnaround. Avalon crossed for what would be their only try of the match, to make it 19-10. But the committed Tawa pack dug in and their backs clicked to pull clear over the final part of the match. The match-winner was a clinical effort by wing Faraimo Nofoaiga, which pushed the lead out beyond three converted tries with 15 to play.

At the Polo Ground, Ories beat Wainuiomata  48-27 in an entertaining but error-ridden match, with Wainuiomata’s mistakes and turnovers proving their undoing, and Ories poor discipline (conceding three yellow cards) leaving second five-eighth and player-coach Roy Kinikinilau and sideline coach Mason Lawrence plenty to ponder.

Kinikinilau himself was a key protagonist as Ories effectively won the game by halftime by taking a 24-13 lead into the break. Kinikinilau scored two soft tries, one off a penalty and stroll through the midfield to the poles off the resulting lineout and one by intercepting a Wainuiomata quick lineout that turned into an own-goal as the former No. 8 cantered in.

Wainuiomata had come back to close to 13-17 when their best player for long periods, flanker Greg Lealofi, was in support after a shortside attacking play from a scrum and NZ Schools wing Peter Umaga-Jensen feeding him the try.

But Kinikinilau’s try, plus another two immediately the break, to former NZ Schools centre Malo Tuitama and former Johnsonville flanker Kane Leapape made it 38-13 to Ories. Wainuiomata came back again, helped by a penalty try and two subsequent yellow cards to Ories players. A bonus point was their lot from this one.

Marist St Pat’s got their season back on track, following consecutive losses to OBU last Saturday and to Wellington midweek, with a determined 29-17 win over the Upper Hutt Rams.

It was close throughout, MSP grabbing an early 5-3 and then scoring an outstanding try to left wing Kerrod Foaese on route to a 15-3 halftime lead. The Rams came back after the break, but MSP scored again to make it 22-10, and then they crossed for their bonus point try at the end.

Both the Rams’ tries were intercepts, which were what kept them in the game, while MSP suffered two injuries.

At the Graveyard, the Axemen ran all over the Johnsonville Hawks running in 14 tries to Johnsonville’s two in a 90-12 drubbing.

Missing key players James So’oialo, Paddy Hughes and Sam Gard’ner, the Axemen didn’t seem at all out of sorts as they made the most of a lacklustre Johnsonville outfit who were quite simply outclassed.

Henry Hocking opened the scoring, finishing off an Eremiha Tapsell break from 60-metres out which provided the omen for the rest of the game.

Wellington found their lead at 33-7 at the break but that was nothing in comparison to the home side’s second-half scoring blitz where they would run in 57 points, even after standout halfback Adam Deck was benched at the break.

For the Axemen, the aforementioned Deck, along with substitute halfback Carne Green, partnered well with flyhalf Dale Sabbaragh to provide quality ball for the Wellington backs to shine.

Adam Stewart was strong in the scrum and Ryan Hapi had good runs, while Johnsonville’s Jordan Kirby and Nomana Chase provided a few opportunities for the guests.

The fourth round of the Swindale Shield concludes tomorrow, with the famous McBain Shield fixture between Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist. This year’s ‘McBain’ is south of the river, at the Petone Recreation Ground from 2.45pm.

In the Harper Lock Shield Premier Reserve competition, Poneke defeated Norths 31-26 in the closest result of the day, while MSP got on top of the Upper Hutt Rams at Maidstone 35-24. The Premier Reserve grade resumes on Wednesday with the fourth round under lights.

The second round of the women’s Fleurs Trophy was played earlier in the day, with four comfortable wins and one close result.

Northern United, Oriental-Rongotai and new teams Marist St Pat’s and Poneke all had big wins. Norths beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 46-5 at Delaney Park, Ories defeated Avalon 56-7, before taking their positions sideline at the Polo Ground to watch their Premier team, and Marist St Pat’s dispatched the Upper Hutt Rams.

The day’s close result, as expected, was at William Jones Park, where the Old Boys University Impalas defeated Wainuiomata 38-27.

OBU outscored Wainuiomata seven tries to five, with outside backs Andrea Wadsworth and Georgia  Daals both bagging braces. OBU led 14-5 at the halftime interval.

The opening round of the Paris Memorial Trophy Colts Division A competition kicked off today, with last year’s order largely turned on its head. Regular contenders OBU Green had a win, beating Wellington 30-5, but three of last year’s semi-finalists lost.

Petone beat last year’s champions HOBM Green 16-10, Poneke beat Norths 24-12 and MSP Blue beat the Upper Hutt Rams 32-15. Meanwhile, Ories and Tawa drew 20-20.

The second round of the Thompson Memorial First Grade saw Norths defeat the Hutt Old Boys Marist Barbarians in one notable result. Norths won 29-27, but both sides scored four-try bonus points.

The Petone Brotherhood and OBU both made it two from two, with the Brotherhood defeating the Avalon Wolves 42-10 and OBU beating MSP 44-38 in a cracker.