Key Jubilee Cup Weekend For Winless Trio

The playoffs are a month away, but the Jubilee Cup dreams of defending champions Hutt Old Boys Marist, Old Boys-University and Oriental-Rongotai will effectively be over if they lose this weekend.

These three teams are winless after two rounds, and with Northern United, Marist St. Pat's and Poneke sitting on two wins from two rounds, they realistically need to win this week to remain in contention for the playoffs. The Jubilee Cup has traditionally been about momentum and, in the last five years at least, no side has qualified for the semi-finals after losing their first two round-robin encounters, a cycle that HOBM, OBU and Ories now need to break.

Probably the closest in recent seasons that one team has come to stumbling early in the Jubilee Cup season and then recovering to make the playoffs is Norths in 2004 - and they went all the way to win the title after a shaky start. In the first round in 2004 the Club Weekly reported its closest game to date when Norths pipped Poneke 6-3. They then lost to MSP 20-27 the following week, edged out Tawa 11-9 in round three with much help from Jerry Collins, before going on to win their next six games including the final for their first Jubilee Cup.

Of the winless trio, OBU and HOBM play each other this weekend at the Basin Reserve, and Ories host Petone at the Polo Ground, making for plenty of drama and intensity in this weekend's Jubilee Cup action. OBU and HOBM met in round seven of the Swindale Shield with OBU winning 24-15, while Ories defeated Petone 32-26 when they last met in round four of the first round, the start of a four-game winning streak that ensured their place in the top eight.

Of the three winless teams, Ories fans will see their team as having the easier draw throughout July if they can recreate their Swindale Shield win over Petone, having also played MSP and Norths in the first two rounds. In contrast, OBU meet Norths, MSP and Petone in that order in the final three rounds, which turns up the spotlight on their clash with HOBM at home this week.

The other two Jubilee games this week are no less significant, with a huge clash between MSP and Poneke at Evans Bay Park, where MSP will be trying for their 13th consecutive win against their neighbours from across the road who have had convincing wins in the first two weeks over OBU and HOBM. Upper Hutt are playing well, narrowly losing to Petone and then accounting for OBU, making their clash with Norths at Porirua Park another much anticipated battle.

Meanwhile, the big third round clash in the Hardham Cup is between Avalon and Wainuiomata at Fraser Park, early competition leaders Tawa play Johnsonville at Lyndhurst Park, MSP host Rimutaka at Evans Bay Park and Norths travel to the Cage at Ian Galloway Park to try and topple the Wests Roosters.

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