Petone outguns Poneke, while Kingsbeer scores six tries for MSP

Swindale Shield round 5 review: The Petone forward pack and the try-scoring feats of? Marist St. Pat's centre Mike Kingsbeer were the talking points of the fifth round set of Swindale Shield matches on ANZAC Day on Saturday, played in perfect autumn conditions across the six venues.

Petone are the new Swindale Shield leaders and remain the only unbeaten team after five weeks, after its pack, and in particular its scrum, crushed its Poneke counterparts to set the platform for a decisive 38-14 win over the previous frontrunners and also retain the Fred Tilyard Memorial Trophy.

Petone was well led by its powerful front row of hooker Eugene Smith and props Thomas ‘the Tank' Tupiavao and Adrian Barone and No. 8 Shaun Mahoney and lock Chris Molenaar. Together they out-muscled and out-passioned Poneke to go to the top of the table ahead of defending champions Marist St. Pat's, who have a new weapon in town in the form of six-try hero Mike Kingsbeer.

Former Hutt Old Boys Marist Jubilee Cup winner Kingsbeer is relishing regular game time with his new club who are teeming with quality midfield and outside backs. On Saturday he set pulses racing with his astounding six try haul in MSP's impressive 88-3 win against Wainuiomata at Evans Bay Park.

Kingsbeer's six tries re-wrote all known individual try scoring records in a Wellington Premier club rugby game - surpassing the five tries scored by his teammate Brendan Watt against Tawa two weeks ago and again by Oriental-Rongotai's Julian Savea against Old Boys-University last week.

Kingsbeer, who started the game at centre and then moved into his old position at HOBM of fullback in the fourth quarter, benefited from a slick, well-oiled backline around him that included the return of veteran second five-eighth Joe Wright off the bench, in-form winger Watt and first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili. Watt also scored two of MSP's 13 tries to lift his season tally to eight alongside Kingsbeer, while Fili found his radar with the boot in kicking 10 conversions and adding a penalty for 23 points.

Also leading the charge were Northern United, who cruised to a 51-18 win over Upper Hutt at home at Porirua Park to retain the Terry Farrow Memorial Trophy that they last relinquished in 2005. Norths pulled away from a slow start to lead 20-8 late in the first half before two tries to straight running left winger Alipati Leuia saw them pull clear to 32-11 early in the second half. Leuia almost had a hat trick soon after but passed to veteran Peato Lafaele to give Lafaele a try in his 100^th and final game for the Norths Premiers. Upper Hutt hit back with their third try to bridge the gap, before Norths captain Chris Middleton brought up his side's half century with a try towards the end.

Ories have leapt to fourth in the standings with a hard fought 34-28 win over the Wests Roosters at Ian Galloway Park and claim the Keith Mettrick Memorial Shield. As the narrow scoreline suggests, the Roosters were in this contest for long periods and showed their fighting qualities towards the end to keep in touch and collect their third bonus point in as many defeats for losing by seven points or fewer.

Ories scored two early tries to the new Rongotai Rocket, Julian Savea, and Mark Reddish before Wests came back with a converted try to No. 8 Sai Rokusalu from an Ories lineout error to trail just 12-10 at halftime. Both teams' kickers exchanged penalties after the break and Ories still led by just two points midway through the second half, before their hooker Matu Matu'u crossed for their third try to extend their advantage to 22-13. From there Ories kept the Roosters at bay to register their fourth win of the season.

In a major blow to the Roosters, in-form fullback Toby Robson was forced from the field in the second half with a serious knee injury. Robson, a veteran of Wests' 1998 Jubilee Cup winning team and one of the longest serving players in current Premier rugby will be sorely missed if he has played his last game.

Hutt Old Boys Marist bounced back from their defeat to Petone last week to account for Avalon 45-7 at the Hutt Recreation Ground. The Eagles cruised to a comfortable seven-try win after an even start in which they led by just 7-0 after 25 minutes. But five tries over the last 15 minutes of the first half propelled them to a 33-0 lead at the interval and set them up for an important bonus point win.

One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon was for Avalon's try to replacement hooker Tyler King, their second try of the season and first for three weeks.

At Lyndhurst Park, Tawa scored four tries to beat Old Boys-University 29-20 and move into eighth place ahead of Upper Hutt. In another close contest, Tawa overcame a 13-12 deficit at halftime to pull clear of the students late in the contest. Left wing Filipo Palepua crossed for his second try soon after the break to put his team in front 19-13 and from there they further out scored OBU two tries to one to take the victory.

Meanwhile at the Village, Petone's dominance over Poneke started and finished with their scrum, which led directly to three of their own five tries and was a major source of Poneke's? struggles all afternoon.

Compounding Poneke's woes was the early loss of openside flanker Justin Purdie to a broken arm, which led to his replacement Darren West playing out the remainder of the first half after playing a full game in the Senior One curtain raiser and a still injured Cam Garvie stripping and playing the second half.

Between getting pummeled at scrum time and beaten at the breakdown, Poneke struggled to contain Petone, who were also a much more focused and organised side to the one that beat HOBM in their McBain Shield scrapfest the previous week.

Following a moving ANZAC Day ceremony before kick-off, Petone's forwards were quickly into their work, No. 8 Mahoney slicing up the blindside from a scum to set up field possession for the opening try to Michael Schmidt-Lealava'a who broke through after more concerted pressure.

Poneke centre Charlie Ngatai put his side on the board with the first of three penalties, before the red and blacks sensationally grabbed the lead against the run of play from the ensuing kickoff.

Petone did well to win ball back from the re-start, but then threw an intercept pass straight into the waiting clutches of left wing Ambrose Plaister who set sail on a 60-metre breakout that involved a chip and chase, regather, recycle and finally a try on the right wing to wide-ranging lock Daniel Ramsey. Ngatai was unable to convert, but Poneke now led 8-5.

Their lead was short-lived though, electric Petone fullback Fraser Middleton? running back a Poneke clearing kick and linking up with Mahoney and right wing Farand Turner to score their second try. First five-eighth Jared Kahu converted from under the sticks and the home side were back in front 12-8 after 30 minutes.

Poneke kept in touch through the boot of Ngatai who kicked his second penalty to close the gap to 12-11 at halftime.

Petone's scrum dissected Poneke's once more just after the interval, forcing a turnover at the set-piece and an attacking scrum 5-metres from the tryline. Mahoney made no mistake in scoring a resulting pushover try, Kahu converted and the Villagers were in front 19-11.

Poneke remained in the hunt when Ngatai kicked his third penalty to close the gap to 19-14, and then spent their best period of the game hot on attack inside Petone's 22 and would have scored if not for Petone's scrambling, swarming? defence at the ruck.

A pivotal moment for Poneke supporters came when Petone fullback Middleton made a rare mistake in dropping the ball behind his goal line, forcing a 5-metre scrum to Poneke. But unlike Petone, they weren't able to capialise and their best chance of mounting a comeback was gone.

Instead Petone soaked up this pressure and turned an anxious few minutes of desperate defence into sublime attack over the last several minutes.

First, centre Cam Incledon broke the shackles by running in a scorching try from a midfield injection from an attacking scrum near Poneke's 22.

Then Middleton and Kahu sealed their victory with two lightning tries at the end from sweeping attacking movements, the first being the bonus point try and the second the icing on the cake. Kahu converted the second try for the final score of 38-14 as his side now turns to face MSP in round six in another massive clash.

Meanwhile, in Harper Lock Shield Senior One action, MSP continue to set a cracking pace after claiming their fifth straight bonus point win in round five. In so doing they defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 70-7, who had two wins from four going into this encounter.

MSP head a group of four teams sitting on three wins from five, including Hardham Cup hopeful Rimutaka who skipped to a 54-5 win over Hutt Old Boys Marist and a resurgent Ories who overcame Stokes Valley 29-17. This group also includes Norths who beat Upper Hutt 41-5 and have now won in a three in a row after a slow start to the season, and Poneke who edged out Petone 29-21.

There's a two-way tie at the top of the National Mutual Cup Senior Two competition between Tawa and Hutt Old Boys Marist, ?after previous leaders HOBM were upset 26-19 by Avalon and Tawa earned a 36-28 bonus point win over OBU. At the other end of the table the Wellington Axemen opened their 2009 season account by beating the Wests Roosters 21-12 and Johnsonville beat OBU 15-14 for their first win as well.

In the Fleurs Trophy Women's Premier Grade, Norths and Johnsonville are neck and neck on a maximum 25 points each from their five games played

Norths have their bye in this grade this coming week and Johnsonville have theirs in round eight. The two teams then meet each other in round nine of the 11-team Fleurs Trophy in the match that could decide the Women's first round winner.

In latest matches, Norths beat Stokes Valley 24-7 and Johnsonville defeated Eketahuna 31-14. There were a couple more lopsided results, but In the closest match of the round Petone beat Ories 15-0.

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