Important weekend for winless teams in Swindale Shield

Photo with this story courtesy of Dave Lintott. The 2010 Wellington club rugby season is just two weeks old and there’s no mud to be seen, but the pressure is already on the teams who have yet to win to register their first victories.

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Winless teams Marist St. Pat’s, Upper Hutt, Johnsonville, Old Boys-University and Petone will all be hoping to kick-start their seasons in this Saturday’s third round set of Swindale Shield matches or their first round title aspirations could be quickly over.

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It’s been a tough start to the season for Marist St. Pat’s, who last August won the Jubilee Cup for the 13^th time in the clubs' 39-year history. But with early frontrunners Northern United and Hutt Old Boys Marist both favoured to win this weekend, they find themselves in a must-win situation against Oriental-Rongotai at the Polo Ground.

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With defeats against fellow big guns Northern United (26-54) and Poneke? (14-19 ), MSP enter this week’s third round against Ories in a similar situation to Norths last year who dropped their first two matches but went on to co-win the first round title with Petone.

They will also draw motivation from their first five-eighth Fa’atonu Fili playing his 100^th match for the club in this match.

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Their opponents Ories will be equally eager for victory to earn their second consecutive win of the season, after losing their season opener to Poneke (18-20) and then beating OBU (38-26) courtesy of a withering three try burst either side of halftime.

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After several seasons of underperformance, the Miramar-based club has been playing much more consistent rugby over the previous couple of years and has made the Jubilee Cup round twice in a row. The home of current All Black Ma’a Nonu, the club has also recently set up the Oriental Rongotai Rugby Club Academy (ORRCA) to capture and develop new talent so are primed to keep improving.

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MSP are ahead of Ories three-one on their head-to-head ledger spanning their last four encounters in 2008 and 2009, with Fili a key figure in all these four games - ?having scored 66 points including 20 points the last time they met in last season’s Jubilee Cup. Last year, Ories won this corresponding first round clash 30-24 and MSP won 30-13 when they met in the Jubilee Cup round-robin.

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Like MSP, 2005 Swindale Shield champions Upper Hutt will be desperate to get their 2010 season underway when they travel to Kilbirnie Park take on Poneke.

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Their first two defeats have been against the two early frontrunners Norths (16-82) and HOBM (26-34) and in Poneke they face the third side to have won their first two encounters, Poneke having defeated neighbours Ories and MSP.

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This match is also for the Alby Makeham Memorial Trophy after the legendary 1950s halfback. Alby “Kick it again” Makeham was the halfback for Poneke between 1951-59, was a Wellington representative between 1954-59 and a New Zealand trialist in 1958. He played for Upper Hutt between1960-62

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After his playing days he mentored young Poneke halfbacks, including future All Black, Ofisa Tonu’u and when he died both clubs set up a trophy in his honour. His mother “Ma” Makeham was a passionate Poneke follower and was a life member between 1975-96. Poneke are the current holders, having won this corresponding clash last year 34-22.

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Johnsonville have made a competitive start to their first season back up in the Premier grade, having battled the Wests Roosters all the way in week one before losing 12-19 and put their noses ahead of Wainuiomata midway through the second half last week before being overrun at the end.

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If Johnsonville are to earn their opening win of the season this Saturday and their first in Swindale Shield rugby since their 20-17 win over Ories in round three in 2006 then they’ll need to overcome Petone.

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Petone will see this match at Helston Park as a must-win, following their two unprecedented draws to start the season against Old Boys-University (20-20) and Tawa (33-33) and given what’s ahead of them over the next three weeks after this. If Petone can get past Johnsonville this week they then have Hutt Old Boys Marist at home for the McBain Shield, Norths away at Porirua Park and then Poneke at home on their 125^th anniversary weekend.

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Petone beat Johnsonville 49-22 the last time they met at this level in round six in 2006, also at Helston Park.

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Defending Hardham Cup champions Old Boys-University meet Tawa at Lyndhurst Park, a game both sides will target as a key encounter for their first round title chances.

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OBU and Tawa have one thing in common so far this season – both have drawn with Petone. These matches are invariably always close, with the results of their previous five Swindale Shield meetings being two wins each and a draw (27-27 in 2006) and an average score across these four games of 27-25 to OBU.

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Going on form over the opening fortnight, competition leaders Norths and Hutt Old Boys Marist will both fancy their chances of seeing off their round three challengers Wests and Wainuiomata respectively.

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The Wests Roosters will have a hard time fending off a Norths unit at Porirua Park that has scored 19 tries in their opening two matches and has generally created carnage against them in recent meetings. To prevail, the Roosters will need to break a seven-match Norths losing streak over them and disregard their previous three clashes that saw Norths win comfortably on each occasion.

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Fresh from earning their first bonus point win of the season against Johnsonville, Wainuimoata head over the hill to the Hutt Recreation Ground to meet the HOBM Eagles, who are coming off successive bonus point wins against Upper Hutt (34-26) and Wests (37-26).

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Wainuiomata will also be searching for their first victory over HOBM since earning promotion to the Premier grade in 2006. In three encounters to date, HOBM have prevailed 45-6 in 2007, 22-3 in 2008 and 24-10 in 2009. If HOBM win again it will also be the third consecutive season and fourth in the past five years that they have won their first three matches of the year. In this time the consistent Hutt club has finished second in the first round once (in 2006), fifth twice (2007, 2008) and sixth once (2009).

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In this week’s Harper Lock Shield, early pacesetters Avalon will be out to grab their third consecutive bonus point win of the new season when they take on Norths at Porirua Park at 1.15pm.

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Unbeaten Tawa will also be hoping to continue their solid start to the year in the Senior One competition against Old Boys-University, who have won one from two.

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At the other end of the points table, it’s the battle of two of the three winless sides at Ngatitoa Domain between Petone and Paremata-Plimmerton at 3pm, while Poneke meet the Rimutaka Rams at Kilbirnie Park at 1.15pm.

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Elsewhere, Stokes Valley and Hutt Old Boys Marist meet at the Hutt Recration Ground at 1.15pm for the Patterson Memorial Trophy.

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In the Senior Two National Mutual Cup, Old Boys-University and Hutt Old Boys Marist will be playing for their third consecutive wins and for an early jump on the rest of the field when they clash at the Hutt Recreation Ground at 1.15pm (number two field).

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Upper Hutt, who are also unbeaten after two rounds, meet Poneke at Kilbirnie Park at 1.15pm. The Wellington Axemen, with one win from two, clash with MSP, winless after the opening two rounds, at Hataitai Park at 3.00pm.

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In the Fleurs Trophy first round Women’s grade, unbeaten Norths and Petone square off at Porirua Park at 11.30am, Stokes Valley travel to play Eketahuna at 11.30am and OBU and MSP do battle at Nairnville Park at 11.30am. Wainuiomata has the bye.

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This weekend also sees all grades in action for the first time in 2010 in their various competitions, grading games and capacities.

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