Tawa Stay Clear Of Hardham Cup Logjam

Tawa kept their unbeaten run in this year's Hardham Cup intact and maintained their icy grip on the top of the points table by defeating the Wests Roosters 24-3 at Lyndhurst Park in the fourth round on Saturday.

Tawa's three tries to nil victory over an increasingly disappointing Wests Roosters side gives them a comfortable five-point buffer at the top of the standings, ahead of the Marist St. Pat's B team and Avalon who share second place with three rounds to play.

In other?results, Avalon pipped Rimutaka 23-18 at Fraser Park, Wainuiomata accounted for Johnsonville 26-3 at William Jones Park and MSP won the battle of the B teams in defeating their Northern United counterparts 24-10 at Porirua Park.

These results have set up a tense final three weeks in which five teams are realistically chasing the remaining three playoff spots to join Tawa, who are now just one win away from earning a home semi-final. Wainuiomata and Norths are a further three points adrift of MSP and Avalon in fourth equal, while the Roosters are still in the hunt if they quickly reverse their fortunes.

Rimutaka emerged as the unlucky team of the round, going down to Avalon in a thriller in their match. Rimutaka led for much of the game, holding an 11-9 lead at halftime which they extended to 18-9 with a converted try after the break. But Swindale Shield side Avalon came back with converted tries to captain and prop Errol Weston and first five-eighth Aaron Turley, who finished with 18 points.

Wainuiomata were the only bonus point winners of the round, crossing for four unconverted tries to keep Johnsonville winless and probably end their chances of promotion to the Swindale Shield next year, pending the fortunes of neighbours Wests after long serving first five-eighth Toby Robson landed a sweetly struck penalty for their only points against Tawa. This penalty was also the first scoring play of the game, ahead of a penalty try to Tawa to close the first half out and tries after the break to openside Matt Tamalii and second five-eighth Shaun Treeby.

The early game of the round at the top field on?Porirua Park ran along similar lines to the main Jubilee game that followed down below, with poor discipline and concentration costing Norths any real chance of victory of victory against a well-drilled MSP team.

Norths let in three soft tries from broken play, with all three scored from a long way out and all three should have been stopped a long way before the try line was reached. In contrast, MSP's commitment on defence as well as their enterprising attacking play won them the match in the second half at just 17-10 up with Norths hammering away at their line.

MSP held firm and added the finishing touch to their win and deny Norths a bonus point when fullback Anthony Bradshaw accepted a Norths knock-on on halfway and scampered through to score untouched.

Earlier, the try line had opened up in similar circumstances for right wing Nick Brougham after MSP had previously failed to capitalise on a strong start in which they dominated play but could only land a penalty for their efforts. Halfback Sean Hay converted Brougham's try to make it 10-0 after 20 minutes.

Norths then struck back through right wing Alipate Vuatalevu, but MSP increased their lead to 17-5 when replacement midfielder Mark Lee slipped out of and through some weak tackling on a 60-metre run to the line that was all started from a turnover.

Norths replied through Vuatalevu who grabbed his double in the right hand corner, but any thoughts of a comeback win receded as the clock wound down.

Meanwhile, wet weather on Friday forced the cancellation of all the lower grades, but the final round of the Premier Women's grade went ahead as planned. Northern United beat Petone 29-0 and Old Boys-University defeated Stokes Valley 18-5, giving OBU the final playoff spot ahead of Petone to play top qualifiers Johnsonville. Norths and Stokes Valley will meet in the other semi-final.

Petone and Old Boys-University continue to jointly lead the Senior One Ed Chaney Cup, while Tawa has grabbed the lead in the Senior Two HD Morgan Memorial Trophy after previous leaders Paremata-Plimmerton were held to a 0-all draw by OBU in their match