Spotlight On Kilbirnie Park This Weekend

Killbirnie Park will be the centre of attention all this ANZAC weekend as Poneke celebrate their 125^th Jubilee. The Club's Jubilee celebrations are spread over three days from Friday to Sunday and include a Club Day on Friday with a Golden Oldies match in the afternoon and dinner at night and a full day's club rugby on or near Kilbirnie Park for all of Poneke's eight teams.

Fittingly, all Poneke teams where possible have been drawn to play Petone sides on Saturday. The Poneke and Petone clubs have been great adversaries over the years, with many titanic battles fought out between them - Petone was formed in 1885 making it just two years younger than Poneke.

Culminating in the round five Swindale Shield Premier match at 3 pm, the two clubs' Senior One, Senior Two, Senior Three, 85 kg and Presidents grade sides will meet, while both Poneke's Reserve grade teams will meet each other at Prince of Wales Park.

In recent years head to head battles at Premier level have typically reflected this long-standing rivalry between the two clubs. In eight Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup clashes over the past four seasons, wins have been equally divided at four apiece, with neither side beating the other twice in the same season since 2003. Last year's two games resulted in Poneke winning 25-20 in the Swindale Shield and Petone prevailing 12-10 when they met in the Jubilee Cup round.

This promises to be no different, with Poneke enjoying an excellent first win of the season last week in running in five tries and beating Wainuiomata 37-12, while Petone were upset 26-32 by Oriental-Rongotai, after drawing with Northern United 15-15 in round three. Poneke's dynamic hooker Dane Coles and Petone's New Zealand U20 first five-eighth Dan Kirkpatrick will be seen as key players for each team, but both can call upon plenty of experience as well as power and pace across the park.

Meanwhile, Swindale Shield leaders Hutt Old Boys Marist could extend their four-point lead at the top of the table if they hold their form and beat bottom placed Avalon at Fraser Park. Avalon, currently beset by injuries, struggled against the Wests Roosters last week and will have a hard time cracking a HOBM defence that has only conceded 24 points in four outings this year.

Two points separate the five teams below HOBM in positions second to sixth, including Upper Hutt and Norths who meet at Maidstone Park.? Upper Hutt have enjoyed two solid wins in a row over Ories and Old Boys-University respectively since losing to HOBM at home in round two, while Norths will be out to rectify their draw with Petone and their 22-25 defeat to Marist St. Pats in the last fortnight. In other matches, Wainuiomata host MSP at William Jones Park, Ories play Wests at the Polo Ground and OBU have a field trip to Lyndhurst Park to meet Tawa.