Weepu stars for Wainui as Ories down MSP

The ace goal kicking of Hurricanes and All Blacks halfback Piri Weepu and a third straight loss for defending Jubilee Cup champions Marist St. Pat's were two of the talking points of a compelling third round set of Swindale Shield matches played across Wellington on Saturday.

Wainuomata first five-eighth Weepu kicked seven penalties to guide his side to a gripping 26-22 win and hand Hutt Old Boys Marist their first loss of the year, while MSP failed to make their first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili's 100^th match for the club a memorable one, going down 32-33 to?Oriental-Rongotai?at the Polo Ground.

Other Swindale Shield results on another fine and sunny day included impressive away bonus point wins for Petone over Johnsonville 53-14 and Old Boys-University over Tawa 38-18 and comfortable home victories for Northern United over the Wests Roosters 72-6 and Poneke over Upper Hutt 40-26.

At the Hutt Recreation Ground, Weepu's seven penalties and a try to speedster Jason Love were enough to give Wainuiomata their second successive win and their first over HOBM?in Premier rugby in four attempts since reinstatement in 2006.

Loyal club man Weepu, who missed the Hurricanes' fighting win over the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday night following the passing of his grandfather, was a key figure in Wainui's upset win over the Eagles.

His boot and experience kept the green and blacks in touch, kicking four first half penalties to see his side trail 17-12. They then hit the lead towards the end and held off a fast finishing Eagles who finished the game attacking their line with the last pass of the match to double try-scorer Michael Kingsbeer missing its target and sailing out in touch near the corner flag.

The win for Wainuiomata had echoes of their famous early season one-point win over Northern United in their first season back in the Swindale Shield in 2007, and they are now comfortably sitting mid-table after three rounds.

MSP's early 2010 season woes continued at the Polo Ground, beaten by a confident Oriental-Rongotai to find themselves in an unfamiliar position near the foot of the ladder.

MSP's chances of adding more booty to their trophy cabinet are now seemingly over after a tough start to the year that has seen them miss out to fired up Norths, Poneke and Ories sides.

In a Miramar thriller, MSP grabbed an early 8-0 lead through a try to former Ories winger Julian Tupai and a penalty to Fili. Ories came back, with former MSP Senior 1 halfback Sean Hay grabbing one of their tries, but MSP pulled clear to lead 26-20 at the end of the first half.

Goalkicking was vital, and the match came down to Fili missing a long-range penalty attempt with the final scoring opportunity of the game and Ories hung on for a thrilling win.

With easier opposition to come over the following few rounds, MSP fans can still hope for a top finish to the first round for their side, although the only team to drop their opening three matches and finish any higher than fifth in the Swindale Shield in the last five years was Old Boys-University in 2006 when they turned their early season misfortunes around and finished third.

OBU, who went on finish third again in 2007, fourth in 2008 and eleventh last year before sauntering to the Hardham Cup title, won't have to make any such run at the Swindale Shield this year after an impressive 20-point win over Tawa at Lyndurst Park.

The students outscored Tawa five tries to three, with former New Zealand U20 player Joe Hill scoring a hat trick from fullback, and WRFU Acadamy winger Hanipale Galo and new second five-eighth Luke Harvey both crossing for tries.

Hill scored his first try to give OBU an early 7-0 lead.? Tawa hit back with a try to hooker Juice Finau and a penalty to fullback Shaun Treeby to lead 8-7. But OBU then scored two further converted tries before halftime to Hill and Galo to take a 21-7 advantage to the turnaround.

Tawa came back again after halftime, but OBU pulled clear for their bonus point win with a further two converted tries, including Hill's hat trick at the end.

Petone's supporters were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief after their side had comfortably beaten Johnsonville at Helston Park and bagged the five points on offer.

Petone led from start from finish, scoring three tries early and racing to a 22-0 lead before fullback Fraser Middleton dotted down under the posts for their bonus point try before the end of the first half. New outside backs Martyn Henderson and Logan Luke scored tries, while hooker Eugene Smith scored his third and fourth tries of the season and centre Cam Incledon added to his double against Tawa the previous week.

Hutt Old Boys Marist's loss to Wainuiomata has left Norths and Poneke as the two unbeaten teams after three weeks, who both cruised to wins.

At Porirua Park, the Norths juggernaut rolled on with its third big win of the season and third straight bonus point victory to be two points clear at the top of Poneke.

After scoring their first four tries to lead 25-6 at halftime, Norths tormented the Roosters with a barrage of tries in the second 40 minutes with the wind at their backs.

Fullback Buxton Popoalii continued his terrific start to the year with his second hat trick in three games, while Alapati Leiua continued his outstanding Wellington club rugby try-scoring hit rate with another double to take his tally to five in three games in 2010 and 26 in 19 games since the start of last season.

Norths also brought up their 200^th point of the season towards the finish and ended the game having scored 297 points in their last four matches against Wests.

At Kilbirnie Park, Poneke were convincing for about half an hour in the first half against Upper Hutt, in which time they laid on five tries and leapt to a match winning 33-14 lead by the halftime interval.

But overall it was far from vintage rugby from Poneke over an under strength and injury hit Upper Hutt who handed them three of their five first half tries and outscored them two tries to one in the second half.

Playing into the wind, Poneke's dominant forwards scored the first try through prop Judd Baker after a lineout drive and series of pick and goes close to the line.

They then scored two further tries in quick succession to clear out to a 19-3 lead after 20 minutes and from there the result and the retention of the Alby Makeham Memorial Shield was never really in doubt despite a brief comeback later in the half.

They scored their second try to veteran winger Evan Belford after the re-start from Baker's try failed to go the 10 metres and referee Smith played the advantage for Poneke. Upper Hutt scrambled but by then it was too late when Belford, with work to do, beat his marker on the outside and chopped back in field between two defenders to score.

Two minutes later and on attack again, first five-eighth Sam Rasch punched through a hole and offloaded to second five-eighth Charlie Ngatai for an all too easy try.

Kick-offs have been diabolical so far this year, and Upper Hutt's next re-start led to them scoring their first try in reply. Pouring through on the proverbial fumble, Upper Hutt No. 8 Jarrad Beyer surged to the line, and from the next play first five-eighth Aaron Pennell crossed the line.

Poneke's discipline and accuracy was generally poor throughout and Upper Hutt fullback Jason Woodward added to two penalties to close the gap to 19-14.

But Poneke pulled clear again with two more tries before halftime, reclaiming possession after another messy kick-off and Ngatai eventually skipping through more weak defence ?to score his brace. Lock Daniel Ramsay spun over the chalk line for the fifth on halftime following a lineout drive from a penalty and a 5-metre scrum.

Turning with the wind at their backs, Poneke were only able to add one further try, to halfback Ruki Tipuna from the base of a dominant scrum. Poneke also met a much more committed Upper Hutt side, who tightened up their defence and scored two great tries, both involving Woodward.

Woodward scored their second try soon after halftime with a powerful run to the line from broken play after Upper Hutt had punched through from near halfway. Safe on defence, he then set up right wing Ofa Pongi near the end with another great run up the eastern touchline and draw and pass.

Upper Hutt, whose previously unbeaten Senior 2 side defaulted their third round match due to a propping injury and absentia crisis, played well in parts and should still make the top eight, while Poneke will have to be more ruthless if they are to compete with the likes of Norths later in the season.

Harper Lock Shield

Oriental-Rongotai hold a one-point lead at the top of the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield points table after Avalon and Tawa both suffered their first losses on Saturday.

Avalon were defeated 34-17 by Northern United at Porirua Park, while Tawa were well beaten on home soil by Old Boys-University 41-10.

In what's shaping up as a cracker of a competition, there are no unbeaten teams left unbeaten in the Harper Lock Shield and the pressure is already on recent Hardham Cup sides, defending champions Marist St. Pat's, Poneke and Rimutaka, to rise to the top.

Of these teams, MSP were defeated 34-16 by Ories at the Polo Ground, their second loss in three games, and Poneke grabbed their first win in overcoming Rimutaka 21-5 on their number 2 ground at Kilbirnie Park.

Third placed Hutt Old Boys Marist emerged as the big winners of the day, beating Stokes Valley 57-3 at the Hutt Recreation Ground and winning the Patterson Memorial Trophy.

At Ngatitoa Domain, Petone earned their first win of the season with a narrow 22-19 win over home side Paremata-Plimmerton who remain the winless side after three weeks.

National Mutual Cup

The Old Boys-University Senior 3 team completed a great weekend for the club for its top three teams with a 14-12 victory over Hutt Old Boys Marist at the Hutt Recreation Ground in their round three top of the table clash in the National Mutual Cup.

OBU are now the only unbeaten side in this grade, after Upper Hutt forfeited their match against Poneke due to a lack of front rowers for this weekend.

OBU's win over HOBM gives them an early season three-point buffer on the table to the Eagles and Northern United, who beat the Wests Roosters 24-10 at Porirua.

Paremata-Plimmerton rose from ninth to sixth with a 13-10 win over Petone, who are the only team yet to register a win.

Marist St. Pat's overcame the Wellington Axemen 22-20 at Hataitai Park, while Avalon beat Wainuiomata 19-15 at Fraser Park.

?Fleurs Trophy??

Old Boys-University beat Marist St. Pat's 20-10 in their third round Fleurs Trophy first round women's competition, while Norths defeated Petone by an unknown margin and Eketahuna overcame Stokes Valley by default. Wainuiomata had the bye.

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