OBU and Norths Swindale Frontrunners After Seven Rounds

Old Boys-University and Northern United emerged as the significant winners at the end of the seventh round of the Swindale Shield set of matches played on Saturday. In a tight tussle for first round title honours OBU and Norths now share the lead on 28 points with just four rounds remaining.

OBU secured their sixth win of the season and brought up exactly 200 points for the year by beating Hutt Old Boys Marist 24-15 at the Hutt Recreation Ground, while Norths toppled Tawa as expected with a bonus point in winning 32-13 at Porirua Park.

Marist St. Pat's were the other big winners of round seven to climb to outright third and just one point further back on 27 after beating Petone 35-15 at the Petone Recreation Ground and claiming the Bill Elvy Memorial Cup.

HOBM slips from first equal to fourth with their second successive defeat and Petone drops one place from fourth to fifth ahead of next week's massive clash at the Basin Reserve between OBU and Norths.

Other results from the seventh round saw the ever-improving Oriental-Rongotai beat Avalon 36-10 at Fraser Park, Upper Hutt defeat Wainuiomata 23-16 at William Jones Park and Poneke overcome the Wests Roosters 31-19 at Ian Galloway Park.

Several Hurricanes players also featured for their clubs, including Alby Mathewson for Upper Hutt, Shannon Paku for OBU, Bernie Upton for MSP, Thomas Waldrom for Avalon and Tamati Ellison for Norths, while Serge Lilo made a welcome return to rugby for Norths after suffering a knee injury during last year's Air New Zealand Cup.

OBU spoiled HOBM's Old Timers' Day party with a two-try blitz in the first five minutes of play. The brothers Palu, Tomasi and David, both crossed the chalk to open up an early 10-0 lead, a double act - which considering HOBM had only condeded two tries in their previous six matches including one penalty try - that proved a match winning one for the students.

More points followed as they held a 15-0 lead?at halftime and waited for an Eagles second half resurgence. It came in the 60th minute when openside Jason Risdon finished off a long range try from broken play also involving his brother and halfback Nick and centre Michael Kingsbeer. But from then on OBU were able to protect their lead and held on to win well.

MSP also dampened Petone's chances with a two-try burst late in the first half to extend a 9-3 lead to a 21-3 advantage by halftime. Halfback Peter Sciascia was involved in both of them, with right wing Julian Tupai and centre JP Tocker both going over within moments of each other.

Petone came out firing after the interval and crossed through hooker Eugene Smith to close the margin to 21-10, but like OBU just up the road, MSP held firm to the end and sealed their victory with a bonus point try to No. 8 Alex Tulou on fulltime.

Also hanging on but much less convincingly were Upper Hutt against Wainuiomata, their defences severely tested by Wainui on their Old Timers' Day. Despite being behind on both possession and territory Upper Hutt managed to earn a 23-3 halftime lead, thanks to tries by halfback Daniel Beckett, left wing Ofa Pongi and right wing Sam Williamson.

Wainui came back strongly with two further penalties to second five-eighth Michael Leala'ava and a converted try to halfback Cory Draper but try as they might they were unsuccessful in breaching the desperate Upper Hutt defence.

Ories made it four wins on the trot in their five tries to one win over the luckless Avalon, with fullback James Proctor continuing his excellent introduction to premier rugby in scoring a try and kicking four penalties and a conversion for 19 points. There were signs of improvement for Avalon though, after Ories continued the trend of other matches by racing to an early two-try lead courtesy of touchdowns to Proctor and the versatile Johnny Sola playing on the left wing.

Avalon held Ories out thereafter for long periods in the first half before Ories scored their third try of the day. Avalon replied with a converted try to Thomas Waldrom under the posts to close the gap to 17-10, but Ories pulled ahead again in the second half.

The Wests Roosters were competitive against Poneke, also striding out to a two-try, 14-0 lead early in the contest. But Poneke struck back with two tries and then a third late in the first half to carry a 19-14 lead into the turnaround, with No. 8 Chris Brightwell continuing his good form with his third try in as many games. The red and blacks added two more tries after the break to earn a bonus point win and continue their march up the table after a diabolical start to their season.

It was a super-competitive local derby at Porirua Park where Norths celebrated their Old Timers' Day with a bonus point win over Tawa.

But it was far from convincing, the final five tries to one winning margin a decidedly flattering one given the wholehearted way Tawa played the game against their big brother northern rivals.

Playing with spirit and enterprise, and also welcoming back two long serving veterans to their midfield in Willie Lafaele and Malasia Mailo, Tawa met Norths head on in the tight exchanges and spoiled much of Norths' ball in the loose. For more than a few fleeting moments an upset appeared on the cards until Norths eventually subdued their challenge late in the match.

Tawa matched Norths in the flair department throughout the first 25 minutes as they threw the ball around and counterattacked for good effect but no reward, before Norths scored two tries and kicked a penalty to lead 13-0 at halftime.

Tawa didn't lie down after halftime either, especially after fullback Shaun Treeby intercepted a pass on halfway thrown by his opposite Buxton Leutulava and skirted 50 metres to score under the posts to make it 13-7.

But poor discipline and missed chances cost them after that, with Norths' electric right wing Sinoti To'omaga hurtling himself over the tryline from close range after a forwards drive from a lineout penalty. Tawa first five-eighth Gene Johnston then missed a crucial penalty which would have reduced the score to just 18-16 and openside flanker Sam Tuala was sin binned with the game still in the balance.

In true Norths style, the home team score two more tries of their own to seal victory. The first of these was scored by Serge Lilo, in his first game back since sustaining a knee injury while playing for the Vodafone Wellington Lions late last year.

The second and final try was scored by fullback Leutulava, atoning for his earlier intercept pass that handed Tawa fullback Treeby his try and out sprinting the Tawa cover defence for a brilliant solo try to finish.

It was also Leutulava who had been the spark for Norths in all of their points in the first half largely against the run of play, breaking out from his own goaline and putting through a long kick that forced a 22 dropout by Tawa.

The dropout was claimed by player of the day No. 8 Anare Koliavu and carried on by captain Anthony Perenise and Leutulava to present wing Sinoti To'omaga with the first of his two tries in the right hand corner.

This was followed by another strong Leutulava run up the grandstand touchline that led to a penalty to halfback Leon Ellison for a head high tackle.

Norths completed their first half scoring when Leutulava delivered the final pass to the other wing Francis Seumanutafa to dot down just inside the left hand corner flag after a concerted buildup by Norths forwards and in particular Koliavu, Perenise and another standout player in lock Chris Middleton.

Treeby's try followed after the break, before Norths answered through To'omaga who showed tremendous tenacity and strength to crash through two tackles after a Norths lineout drive.

?