Big weekend of club rugby despite stars missing

Wellington club rugby will be without many of its stars over the next fortnight of Jubilee and Hardham Cup play, with the selection of the competition's frontline players to the Vodafone Wellington Lions team for the opening two Ranfurly Shield defences of? the year against Wairarapa-Bush and Wanganui?tipped to test the depth and combinations?of several teams.

Most of the 22 players selected for Vodafone Wellington Lions duty have been both regular and integral contributors to their clubs all season and their likely absence for this weekend's fourth round set of matches and for round five next week is expected to add extra spice into an already superheated season of close results.

The breakdown of these 22 players who met Wairarapa-Bush on Thursday by club is: Northern United five, Tawa, Marist St. Pats, ?Poneke and Petone three, Oriental Rongotai and Upper Hutt two, and the Wests Roosters one. Many of these players have been key cogs in their team's fortunes in 2009, such as locks Mark Reddish (Ories) and Chris Middleton (Norths), prop Adrian Barone (Petone) first five-eighth eighth Fa'atonu Fili (MSP), second five-eighth Charlie Ngatai (Poneke) ?and centre Alipati Leuia (Norths) and No. 8 Matt Luamanu (Upper Hutt) who have scored 29 tries between them so far in 2009.

Also thrown into the mix of absentees are eight players involved with the Junior All Blacks - ?whose successful Pacific Nations Cup campaign winds up this week in Tonga - as well as the All Blacks whose availability is subject to NZRU clearance.

A feature clash in this week's fourth round Jubilee Cup play is between early frontrunners? Norths and Ories at Porirua Park. Although both teams are likely to be below strength to varying capacities, neither are undercooked having each come off big bonus point wins last week, Ories roasting Tawa 52-7 at Lyndhurst Park and Norths overcoming Upper Hutt 38-18 at Maidstone Park. Both these sides have won two from three in the second round and the winner of this match will likely become the first team of the eight to qualify for the playoffs with just three weeks remaining after this until the semi-finals. Norths beat Ories 24-16 at the Polo Ground when they last met at the start of the season in the Swindale Shield, while Norths, who are missing up to nine frontliners to Lions and Junior All Blacks duty, could be boosted by the return of Buxton Popoali', Serge Lilo (injuries) as well as Anare Koliavu who returns from a week in the sun in Australia.

Popoali'i, who proved an excitement machine from fullback in 2008 and subsequently played on the wing in the Lions' Ranfurly Shield win over Auckland in September, was originally selected for this year's New Zealand U20 squad but had to withdraw due to a knee injury that has so far in 2009 restrained him from the club fields of Wellington.

The heat is on both Marist St. Pat's and Upper Hutt when they meet at Evans Bay Park. Both MSP and Upper Hutt are coming off defeats last week and with each on one win from three will be desperate for victory in round four. Both are likely missing key players, with Luamanu and livewire fullback Jason Woodwood both involved with the Lions and Alby Mathewson with the Junior All Blacks. MSP have up to five Lions players out for this weekend, including key playmaker Fili, outside back Apoua Stewart and hooker Ged Robinson, while Victor Vito has been with the Junior All Blacks. MSP overcame a 28-14 deficit in the first half to eventually win 51-28 when these two teams met in the first round in April. Update Thursday: Cory Jane is one of one 13 All Blacks released today to play club rugby this week and will be available to line up at fullback for Upper Hutt.

Both Poneke and Petone will each be steering courses toward the semi-finals if they secure their third Jubilee Cup wins in round four, Poneke meeting Hutt Old Boys Marist at the Hutt Recreation Ground and Petone hosting Tawa at the Petone Recreation Ground.

Poneke, who beat MSP 22-13 last week will have to overcome Hutt Old Boys Marist without ?midfielder Charlie Ngatai, flanker Mase Leuluniu and winger Marika Kau who are all with the Lions, and hooker Dane Coles (ankle) and lock Daniel Ramsay (fractured hand) who are injured. The Eagles, coming off a tough 9-21 loss to Petone, aren't missing any players to the Lions - although captain Nick Risdon played on the other side for Wairarapa-Bush on Thursday. The 2007 champions will be eager to reverse their 9-19 loss to Poneke at Kilbirnie Park in the first round.

Petone have pivot Kirkpatrick and prop Barone and hooker Eugene Smith in the Lions on Thursday, while Tawa provided the services of wing/fullback David Smith, flanker Kaipati Gaualofa and New Zealand U20 midfielder Shaun Treeby. Petone beat Tawa 16-7 when they met in the Swindale Shield round, a result pointless Tawa effectively have to reverse if they are to avoid becoming the first team to drop out of the semi-final race after this week.

A crucial set of games looms in the Hardham Cup this weekend, with current Premier teams Avalon, Wainuiomata and Wests and 2010 Swindale Shield hopefuls Rimutaka all especially eager to win their second games of the round this weekend to avoid a desperate scramble for promotion-relegation at the business end of the season.

At the other end of the scale, there is also a top of the table clash on Saturday at the Basin Reserve between Old Boys-University and Johnsonville, this match the feature clash of the fourth round. Both OBU and Johnsonville are unbeaten after three rounds and the winner will book their semi-final spot, while for Johnsonville it will also signal the return for them to the Swindale Shield after being relegated in 2006.

Both are coming off key wins last week, OBU beating the Wests Roosters 20-5 and Johnsonville defeating Rimutaka 26-12. Neither are missing any players to representative duty, while OBU beat Johnsonville 52-7 when they last met in the 2006 Swindale Shield round.

It's a hugely important weekend for Rimutaka who will be targeting their match with an understrength Marist St. Pat's at Maoribank Park. Win this and they will remain firmly in touch for the semi-finals and the Swindale Shield next year, but lose and they could struggle to win at least two of their last three remaining matches against Poneke, Avalon and Wests. MSP beat Rimutaka 22-8 when they met earlier in the year in the Harper Lock Shield.

Both Wests and Avalon have won win each and will likewise be desperate to beat each other in their clash at Ian Galloway Park. Both sides have been wildly inconsistent all season and are each capable of playing good attacking rugby on their day. Wests' sole win in the Hardham Cup to date was a 20-13 victory against Wainuiomata two weeks ago, while Avalon's was a narrow 22-20 one over Poneke in the first round. These two teams met previously in round 11 of the Swindale Shield, Wests winning 54-22.

In the final Hardham Cup encounter of the fourth round, Wainuiomata will be targeting their match against Poneke at William Jones Park as a must-win, again having won just one from three and in danger of slipping into trouble if they meet defeat to the red and blacks. For their part, Poneke let slip their first two games at the death against Avalon and Johnsonville and lost out to MSP last week.

The absence of the top players in the fourth and fifth rounds of the Jubilee and Hardham Cups will also have a trickle down effect to many of the teams below them in the grades below, which could make things interesting in these competitions.

In other grades this week, unbeaten Petone play Norths at Porirua in the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup, while second placed Ories meet third placed Stokes Valley at the Polo Ground and fourth and fifth placed Tawa and Hutt Old Boys Marist also clash at the Hutt Recreation Ground.

Wainuiomata and Paremata-Plimmerton are the two unbeaten teams in the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Trophy, Wainuiomata meeting fourth placed Poneke at Kilbirnie and Pare-Plimmerton playing seventh placed Wests at Ngatitoa Domain in the 10-team competition.

It's a top of the table clash in the Victoria Tavern Women's Premier second round competition, with Norths travelling to Eketahuna to meet the home team. Closer to home, third placed Stokes Valley and fourth placed Johhsonville meet at Helston Park and OBU and Ories meet in a must-win clash at Miramar.

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