No Fairytale For Poneke In Fifth Round Points Fest

There was no fairytale on the field for the Poneke RFC on their 125^th anniversary, with their Premier team soundly beaten 51-20 by Petone in their fifth round Swindale Shield match at Kilbirnie Park on Saturday.

Poneke were comprehensively outgunned up front and out flanked out wide by an impressive Petone side whose seven tries were all?run in through their backs.

But the red and blacks were not alone on that front, the ANZAC weekend of matches played under lovely blue autumnal skies served up several lopsided results and a veritable scoring spree.

Scoreboard operators were kept busy throughout most Swindale Shield venues, with a total of 373 points scored and 51 tries run in across the six games. There were also nine multiple try scorers, including one hat-trick scorer and eight players who scored two tries.

Leading the charge were Hutt Old Boys Marist who kept their winning run well and truly alive by flaying a hapless Avalon 85-0 at Fraser Park. HOBM enjoyed the Hutt Valley sunshine on their backs in scoring 13 tries and racing to a commanding 40-0 lead at halftime. Winger Brad Hines and halfback Nick Risdon set the tone with tries in the opening five minutes and the Eagles continued from there. Veteran lock Polonga Pedro scored a hat-trick before being subbed off after 60 minutes, while Risdon, left winger James Kusel and returning Wellington B No. 8 Leo Auv'va all crossed for braces.

Also in the firing line were Wainuiomata who succumbed to Marist St. Pat's 60-15 at William Jones Park, while in other games Northern United defeated Upper Hutt 30-20 at Maidstone Park, Old Boys-University beat Tawa 37-25 at?Lyndhurst Park?and Oriental-Rongotai staved off the challenge of the Wests Roosters to win 24-6 at home at the Polo Ground.

MSP welcomed back New Zealand Sevens sensation Victor Vito, who together with fellow loose forwards Alex Tulou and Sio Tuia helped MSP to pull clear of a spirited Wainui challenge. Openside Tuia scored two tries and No. 8 Tulou one off the coat tails of a rampaging Vito run.

Second five-eighth Chris Slade opened the scoring for MSP with an intercept try, which was quickly followed by a penalty try for a defensive scrum infringement by Wainuiomata. 42-year old Wainui first five-eighth Yogi Rogers ambled over for an intercept try to close the deficit to 15-8 after 25 minutes. It was all one-way traffic for MSP from then on, crossing for another eight tries including two to right winger Julian Tupai.

It was much closer between Norths and Upper Hutt, Upper Hutt at one stage in the second half trailing the two-time defending champions just 10-11. But Norths scored next to make it 16-10 and keep their noses in front to the end, also scoring an all-important bonus try with four tries. Norths had earlier held an 11-3 halftime lead after scoring a try not long after the opening whistle.

It was a stalemate for much of the contest between OBU and Tawa, the students only making sure of their fourth victory of the year late in the engagement after a Tawa comeback.

Tawa threatened to overrun the students after coming back from a 25-13 deficit to level the scores to 25-25 with time fast running out. But OBU managed to score twice more to clinch victory and like Norths earn a late bonus point. For Tawa, Damien Madsen scored two tries and kicked 10 points for a personal haul of 20 points, while OBU No. 8 Chris Mclean also scored two tries.

The Polo Ground proved a much quieter sector of play, with Wests' general inability to post points on the board once again letting them down. The Roosters have now scored just 41 points and three tries in five games and two of their tries and almost half their points were scored in one game last week against fellow strugglers Avalon.

A dour struggle developed in the first half, before Ories scored a decisive try on halftime to lead at the interval 12-3. But the excitement levels barely increased in the second 40 minutes as Ories galloped to a 24-6 lead.

Meanwhile there was action aplenty not far away on the?Kilbirnie Park salient, but unfortunately for the throngs of Poneke faithful who lined the field and then filled the bar afterwards the home side finds itself languishing near the foot of the table just above Wests with just last weekend's win over Wainuiomata to show after five games.

They were however up against a Petone side who played with just as much passion and with a little luck and a lot of commitment and seized the initiative off Poneke early on, and despite brief hopes of a famous comeback later in the second half, maintained their dominance over their red and black rivals.

Petone scored the first three tries that saw them race to a 22-0 lead after 25 minutes.

The first of these was scored completely against the run of play, after Poneke had come up desperately short of scoring the opener themselves with a series of drives at the line. Unsuccessful, Poneke spun the ball wide, only for Petone centre Greg Walker to intercept and run?almost the length of the field before offloading to second five-eighth August Collins to score.

It was a big spot tackle by Petone first five-eighth Dan Kirkpatrick on his opposite Gus Ferguson that instigated the second, Kirkpatrick's tackle jolting the ball free to Petone's side of the ruck near the halfway line. From the turnover Walker kicked ahead and determined left wing Fautua Otto?chased through and beat the cover defence to the ball and scored in the corner.

The next try was more conventional, the forwards taking down and driving an attacking lineout and sending fullback Lewis Marshall on the opposite side of the field several phases later for the try.

Poneke hit back almost immediately following Marshall's try with an outstanding individual try to ball playing No. 8 Chris Brightwell whose twenty metre shortside run made it 22-7.

After converting Marshall's try from the sideline, Kirkpatrick threw over a penalty from in front to extend the lead to 25-7, before Poneke halfback Blair Bradley?responded in kind just before the break to make it 25-10 and with Petone lock Chris Molenaar sent to the sin bin for repeated infringements on the ground.

It was Kirkpatrick who then scored the game's decisive try soon after halftime. Following a not straight Poneke lineout and with Mahoney still in the bin, the seven man Petone forwards packed down for an attacking scrum 15 metres in from touch and on the Poneke 22.

From the set piece, Kirkpatrick put through a perfectly weighted chip and chase behind the Poneke advantage line and rushed through to score a converted try under the bar. This made it 32-10 and with over half an hour to play the game was as good as won.

Nevertheless, Poneke rallied well and produced their best period of the game in a ten-minute period spent inside the Petone 22. They were duely rewarded when replacement left wing Evan Belford received a final pass from wide ranging hooker Dane Coles and crossed near the clubrooms touch line for his team's second try.

But the Villagers quickly dashed hopes of a comeback when moments later replacement halfback Frae Wilson caught up with another kick ahead over the goal line after another lightning raid into Poneke's territory. This was quickly followed by a sixth try to Willie Moala scored in similar fashion.

Poneke kept trying to the end, and none battled harder than No. 8 Chris Brightwell, who regathered his grubber kick behind the on coming Petone defensive screen and offloaded to the flying Belford who rushed through to score a popular third try for the red and blacks.

Petone's backs had the last say though, left wing? Otto posting 50 points on fulltime with another decisive long-range try.

This result sees Petone remain in second place on the points table behind front-runners HOBM, with OBU, MSP and Norths all within striking distance.

Meanwhile in other grades, Johnsonville maintained their grip at the top of the Senior One Harper Lock points table with a 27-13 win over Johnsonville, Wellington continue to top the Senior Two National?Mutual Cup after defeating the Wests Roosters 22-13 and OBU and Norths left their opposition in disarray in their Fleurs Trophy Women's Grade games. OBU annihilated Waikanae 126-0 and Norths quelled the Ories challenge to prevail 92-0