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Key fifth round Swindale Shield matches tomorrow

Swindale Shield | 15 April 2016 | Scott MacLean

Key fifth round Swindale Shield matches tomorrow

Above: Tawa defeated Avalon last week. Supporters of each will face potentially tense games to watch tomorrow, with Tawa hosting Hutt Old Boys Marist and Avalon meeting Petone at the Rec.

Another weekend, another full slate of club rugby; starting tonight with the third round of the Women’s Fleurs Trophy. Along with the host of lower grades, it’s also round five in both the Swindale and Harper Lock Shields where the fields are starting to sort themselves out, with Derby day just around the corner next weekend.

Premier Swindale Shield

Without doubt the headline game of the round is the clash between the last remaining unbeaten sides, as Old Boys-University welcome Oriental-Rongotai to the Goats ‘back paddock’ at Nairnville Park. OBU were made to work by a plucky Paremata-Plimmerton side, and only put the result beyond doubt with a late try, while Ories managed to put Wainuiomata away, but after playing 30 minutes of the match a man down due to yellow cards an improvement in discipline will be sought for.

The Magpies have named a strong team – James Proctor and Aukuso Tuitama (the latter replacing younger brother Malo) making their first starts for the year. The Goats have likewise named what looks a first-choice line-up, including Joe Hill who returns on the wing. Even their bench is imposing, with Jonathan Fuimaono, Hugh Renton, and Teariki Ben-Nicholas all named there. Marino Mikaele-Tu’u starts at No. 8. Ories won the corresponding fixture last year by 38-27 at Polo, but OBU won their other two meetings; 21-13 in the final Jubilee Cup round-robin match and then 20-18 a week later in the semi-final after James Proctor’s penalty kick with time up went wide. With a week off from his professional duties Ben O’Keeffe will have the whistle for this match.

Wellington sits third having boosted their points differential with their 90-12 thumping of Johnsonville. They will look to stay there and are once again at home with the Upper Hutt Rams the visitors to Hataitai Park. The Rams’ lone success this year came away from Maidstone against Tawa under lights at Fraser Park, and will be looking to see if they can repeat that. They will be without Hayden Schrijvers, though Josh Hunt returns, albeit at centre rather than his usual loose forward spot. The Axemen have returned to a full-strength side with wing Paddy Hughes out to add to his doubles in each of his first three starts this year. They also won this match-up last year, by 30-27 out at Maidstone.

Poneke fell to fourth after suffering their first loss of the year and tomorrow they venture up SH1 to face Paremata-Plimmerton looking to get back into the winner’s circle. Greg Mullany returns at 10 with Ivan Vaisagote replacing Ben Huntley in midfield, while they will be without Greg Foe. For 75 minutes there was a strong whiff of an upset in the seaside air at Ngatitoa as the locals more than held their own against OBU. Tane McMillan-Parata will be absent tomorrow, but twin brother Kewa returns in midfield, and the team will be looking to cross the tryline having not managed that in their last two Saturday outings. While Poneke won this particular match-up last year by 36-21, they won’t like to be reminded of their last meeting when Pare-Plim triumphed 12-8 in the Hardham Cup.

Northern United climbed to fifth with that win over Poneke, rebounding from their defeat to Ories midweek to claim the Bill Brien Challenge Cup. That won’t be on the line tomorrow when they make the journey to Johnsonville, but their interclub Barlow Trophy will be. The Barlow Trophy commemorates Bert Barlow who played for Johnsonville before moving to the Titahi Bay club. There he later coached several teams, including their top team alongside another Bay stalwart Ken Stirling, and also held the positions of Building Convenor, Club Captain, and President. Norths hold it after their 26-24 win last year, but Johnsonville won their Hardham encounter 62-33. On form though, and which much change in terms of personnel, it’s hard to see past a Norths victory in this one.

Two mid-table sides meet at William Jones, with Wainuiomata hosting Marist St Pat’s. The home side came out on the wrong end of a high-scoring encounter with Ories last weekend despite the Magpies discipline issues, while MSP rebounded from their poor outing in Wednesday’s round to turn in a much-improved one in beating the Upper Hutt Rams. Matt Peni starts at No.8 and Peter Sciascia – who came off the bench last weekend – makes his first start since round 1 last year; while for the hosts Michael Lealava’a returns to midfield in place of Marvin Karawana and Josh Robertson-Weepu makes his first start for the year in the unfamiliar position of first-five. MSP won both meetings last year, 22-16 in the Swindale and then 31-16 in the Jubilee Cup.

RLM

The remaining two matches feature four sides all clustered around the back end of the top-eight. Undoubtedly buoyed by Sunday’s come from behind, last gasp, McBain Shield win over HOBM to notch their first victory of the year Petone face Avalon at the Rec. The Villagers make a handful of changes with Jacob Gooch returning at openside while Sunday’s hat-trick hero Willie Fine retains his place on the wing. Avalon fell to their first loss when beaten by Tawa, and will want to show plenty of resolve and bounce back from that. Hooker Asafo Aumua returns, and along with brother Sefo and lock Akuila Alatini will provide plenty of physicality up front with the in-form Ben Peni doing likewise in midfield.

The two teams also contest their interclub Morgan Family Trophy, donated in 1987 by cousins John and Trevor Morgan on behalf of the family who have ties to both clubs. It is held by Petone after last year’s narrow 25-23 win.

The final match of this preview is at Lyndhurst Park, where Hutt Old Boys Marist continue their annual road odyssey against home side Tawa. How the Eagles respond to the deflating manner of Sunday’s loss will be a talking point as another loss would leave them with plenty of work to do over the remaining weeks; and since lifting the Swindale Shield last May – ironically after beating Tawa 28-22 – they have won only two (and drawn another) of their last 12 games. They make only two changes – David Filipo comes in at lock with Lui Okeamoa-Luamanu moving to the flank, and Ben Power replaces James O’Reilly at hooker.

Tawa found Fraser Park more to their liking in daylight rather than at night, sending Avalon to their first loss of the season after losing to Upper Hutt in Wednesday night’s round, and get lock Pati Gaualofa back this week. HOBM took the win in this match last year by 28-22, but Tawa reversed that in the Jubilee Cup winning 28-24.

All Premier matches kick off at 2.45pm.

Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield

After Wednesday’s round of night games it’s a quick turnaround for the clubs’ second sides, with Poneke and MSP the remaining unbeaten teams. Poneke saw off Johnsonville, and head to Ngatitoa to take on Paremata-Plimmerton who were also victorious on Wednesday, beating Avalon. MSP won a battle of unbeaten sides over Wellington, and like Poneke are also on the road on Saturday taking on Wainuiomata at William Jones. Despite their loss Wellington are third, and are the only top-three side at home tomorrow where they will welcome the Upper Hutt Rams to Hataitai.

In the other matches tomorrow Wednesday night winners Petone and Norths are at home against Avalon and away to bottom-side Johnsonville respectively, OBU and Ories meet in the early game at Nairnville, and holders Tawa will look to get their defence on track against HOBM.

All Premier Reserve matches kick off at 1pm.

Women’s Fleurs Trophy

The Women’s competition reaches round three, being played under lights tonight. Marist St Pat’s are the early front runners on points difference from Norths and Oriental-Rongotai, but after playing minnows Johnsonville-Tawa and the Upper Hutt Rams in the first two weeks the Scarlets face a step-up in opposition when they take on Old Boys-University at the St Pat’s College turf. The Lady Impala’s won an entertaining clash with Wainuiomata last Saturday and will be looking for another one here to at least remain in touch with the top of the table.

Norths already have the weekend off after Johnsonville-Tawa defaulted to them, while Ories should have a relatively straightforward assignment against Poneke at Te Whaea. Hutt Old Boys Marist will be odds-on favourite to get their first win at Maidstone against an Upper Hutt Rams side still looking to just get on the scoreboard, while the fifth match is at Fraser Park where Avalon and Wainuiomata meet in what shapes up as an early crunch game for both.

All five matches kick off at 7.30pm.

Colts Division 1 Paris Memorial Trophy

The second round of the Division 1 Colts competition has all five matches kicking off at 1pm tomorrow. The only clash between round one winner’s is at the Petone Rec, when the home side takes on Poneke, while the other two sides that took opening day wins, Marist St Pat’s and OBU Green take on Norths at Evans Bay and Oriental-Rongotai at Te Whaea. Wellington and the Upper Hutt Rams will go looking for their first win when they meet on Kilbirnie #3, while Tawa, who drew with Ories first-up, host HOBM at Redwood Park.

First Grade Thompson Memorial Trophy

After two weeks three sides are unbeaten. The Petone Brotherhood will keep their record intact tomorrow with the bye, while their Saxons clubmates, who won their opener last weekend, travel to Porirua Park and face Norths who themselves notched their first win last weekend in beating HOBM. The third unbeaten side, OBU, face Avalon at Te Whaea, while two sides that both narrowly lost high-scoring encounters last week, MSP and HOBM meet at Evans Bay. The fourth match of the round is across the road at Kilbirnie Park where Poneke and Tawa clash with both looking for their first wins of the season.

All four matches kick off at 2.45pm

 

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