MSP earn first win as Norths and Poneke march on in Swindale Shield

Defending Jubilee Cup champions Marist St. Pat's earned their first win of the season to lift themselves off the bottom of the table, while Northern United and Poneke marched on with their fourth consecutive wins in the latest round of the Swindale Shield on Saturday.

MSP turned around a one-point halftime deficit to score three second half tries and beat Upper Hutt 40-23, while Norths fell short of a half century of points for the first time this season but still won 43-22 win over Wainuiomata and Poneke overcame a plucky Wests Roosters 36-20.

In the big clash of the round, Petone piled on the points in the first half and held on to beat arch-rivals Hutt Old Boys Marist 41-22 to retain the McBain Shield in front of a large crowd at the Petone Recreation Ground.

In other results, Oriental-Rongotai spoiled Tawa's Old Timers' Day at Lyndhurst Park by beating the home team 54-5 while Old Boys-University battled to an unconvincing 24-10 victory over a tenacious Johnsonville at Nairnville Park.

It was a relieved set of MSP supporters who had made the trip out to Maidstone Park as their team had fought back strongly against home side Upper Hutt after trailing 3-11 midway through the first half and then 15-16 at halftime.

But on another calm, pleasant autumnal afternoon across the region, they roared into action in the second spell and added 25 points and three further tries to win well and consign Upper Hutt to their fourth straight loss of the season.

Tries for MSP to hooker-turned-blindside flanker Liu Taituave and debutant openside Tom Dawson followed first half tries to lock Nick Passi and Apoua Stewart, the latter scoring on the stroke of halftime. Earlier, hard running Upper Hutt No. 8 Jarred Beyer and right wing Ofa Pongi had burst through for tries for the home side as they piled on the early pressure.

Petone's forwards were dominant early against Hutt Old Boys Marist in their McBain Shield and Bill Brien Cup clash, helping lay the platform that saw them race to a 29-5 winning lead at halftime.

A Break by No. 8 Shaun Mahoney led to the first try being scored by fullback Fraser Middleton. This was quickly followed by tries to lock Chris Molenaar - also involving Mahoney in a quick lineout move with right wing Sam O'leary - in-form captain Eugene Smith off a lineout drive and first five-eighth Ben Aoina after a run by second five-eighth Michael Lealava'a.

HOBM came back in the second half, with tries to lock Polonga Pedro - a highlights package in one sweeping movement - and right wing Reuben Colquhoun closing the gap to 29-17 at one point. But Petone's other lock John Cleland scored the decisive try that ensured the winning of the game and Petone's fourth straight McBain Shield win over their riverbank neighbours and second successful defence of the Bill Brien Cup.

Also impressive in their win was Oriental-Rongotai, who piled on seven tries against Tawa. Ories also did the damage early, scoring five of their tries before halftime and leading comfortably 33-0 at the break.

Openside flanker Daniel Ioapu scored two tries, while five individual scorers added the rest. First five-eighth James Proctor added 19 points with his boot to become one of four players to surpass 50 points for the season after four rounds.

Wainuiomata played with much conviction in the second half to hold their visitors Norths after trailing 8-31 at the break. Instead of the procession of second half scoring that characterised Norths' first three easy wins of the year, Wainui more than held their own and were able to keep the scoreboard operators largely idle in the second half.

Centre Feterika Sage scored two tries after halftime, adding to an earlier score by flying winger Jason Love. For Norths, the usual protagonists were amongst their try scorers with centre Alaptai Leiua (2) and fullback Buxton Popoalii both finding the try line. It was Popoalii's ninth try of the season and Leiua's 27th and 28th tries in 20 Premier games in a season and a bit.

Norths, who retained the Alf Keating Memorial Cup with this win, have started the season with four consecutive bonus points to be on a maximum 20 on the points table, the first time in at least several seasons a team has started this well. Norths are being pushed hard by Poneke though, who also grabbed their fourth win of 2010 against the Wests Roosters and retained the Cederwall Memorial Cup, albeit less comfortably.

The Roosters led a tight game 10-8 not long after halftime when first five-eighth Chris Brown banged over a penalty after left wing Simo Afamasaga had scored a 60-metre runaway try and his opposite Evan Belforrd had replied in broken play.

A try early in the second half to new second five-eighth Jeremy Te Huia gave Poneke the edge. The red and blacks then won the game with a quickfire two-try burst midway through the half to openside flanker Masefau Leuluniu and Belford's replacement on the flanks Charlie Vaea. Both these tries were converted from out wide by experienced first five-eighth Sam Rasch and Poneke suddenly led 29-10.

The Roosters came back with a try to fullback Liam Townshend, running on to a Brown stab kick, but Poneke pulled clear again with their fifth try to Rasch and Wests could only add a consolation try to replacement lock Blake Irving on fulltime.

The win for Poneke means they now just need to beat Old Boys-University in a fortnight at Kilbirnie Park to claim the ‘City Slam' - wins over the other four city based clubs in the same Swindale Shield season. So far they have overcome Ories, MSP and Wests.

Up the road at the Roosters' former home ground Nairnville Park, the home team Old Boys-University were almost left to rue a bundle of first half mistakes and handling errors that prevented them from converting early pressure into points against Johnsonville. Instead it took them 75 minutes to cross the tryline and make sure of victory.

The students started off with a hiss and a roar, dominating Johnsonville in all aspects in the opening 25 minutes but also blowing at least four clear tries with a case of the droppsies. After losing centre Matt Gordon early through injury, the backs looked disjointed and undid much of the early pressure the forwards laid on for them. All they could manage for their efforts was a penalty to halfback Sam Hall.

A plucky Johnsonville held on and almost broke through with practically their first foray into OBU territory, left wing Sam Toala beating his marker on the outside up the touchline. They then stunned OBU on the half hour mark by scoring an intercept try to midfielder Dane Robertson and took a 7-3 lead. Now with their tails up, Johnsonville's forwards got stuck into their driving play and halfback Denis Sim added to the score with a penalty to make it 10-3 to the team from other end of Burma Road.

OBU's openside flanker James Roach was sinbinned for collapsing a maul and they went into halftime down by seven on the scoreboard and down to 14 men on the field.

Johnsonville continued to play well after halftime, locks Campbell and Rob Tait winning a steady supply of lineout ball, blindside flanker Tavita Ah Wong firing up and Sim and veteran first five-eighth Corey Burt running strongly to the advantage line.

OBU weathered the offensive and halfback Hall kicked consecutive penalties in the 46th and 50th minutes to close the gap to 9-10. A third Hall penalty of the half 10 minutes later put OBU into the lead for the first time at 12-10.

Johnsonville's Sim missed two chances to try and re-take the lead, and OBU held on to their two-point lead with referee Bowden's clock winding down.

Then suddenly, with barely five minutes remaining, OBU No. 8 TJ Ioane chased through and regathered a Lima Sopoaga kick and chase behind Johnsonville's first line of defence and ran away to score a try.

To the disappointment of Johnsonville, the ball sat up fortuitously for Ioane to collect, swerve past the fullback and race 30 metres to the line. First five-eighth Sopoaga added the extras to deny Johnsonville a deserved bonus point and OBU had the match won.

Sopoaga scored a second try for OBU in the corner right at the end from a midfield scrum. He couldn't convert but the final score of 24-10 still flattered the students.

Harper Lock Shield

If the early signs in the Swindale Shield point to a possible two-horse race between Norths and Poneke, a much tighter Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield first round is on the cards after a fourth round of unbridled action.

In a mostly high scoring set of Harper Lock Shield matches, Ories' 46-41 win over Tawa was particularly exciting, Ories' win carrying them to a one-point lead at the top of the table to OBU who are part of a group of five teams with three wins from four.

OBU attained the highest score of the day with their 57-16 win at Nairnville Park over winless Paremata-Plimmerton, while Hutt Old Boys Marist bounced back from their narrow defeat to OBU last week with a 42-34 win over Petone at the Petone Recreation Ground.

Norths beat Stokes Valley 33-6 at Delaney Park, while Avalon earned a potentially crucial 25-22 win over Poneke at home at Fraser Park.

Marist St. Pat's spoiled Rimutaka's Old Timers' Day at Maoribank Park with a 36-3 win in the other game, the defending champion grabbing their second win in four games.

National Mutual Cup

Old Boys-University beat Paremata-Plimmerton 36-18 to maintain their unbeaten record at the head of the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup after four rounds.

OBU remain the only unbeaten team in this grade after four weeks, two points clear of second placed Norths who romped to their third win of the year, over Wainuiomata 58-7.

Upper Hutt, who defaulted last week to Poneke, earned their third comfortable win in beating Marist St. Pat's 38-0.

Avalon were the big movers on the points table in week four, beating winless Petone 34-7 and climbing from ninth to fourth, one point clear of a group of three teams on fifth - Hutt Old Boys Marist, Wellington and Poneke.

Wellington beat HOBM 18-5, while Poneke lost to the Wests Roosters 12-20 in the round's other match.

Fleurs Trophy

Results forthcoming

Age grade rugby

Hutt Old Boys Marist and OBU 1 are the two unbeaten teams after the first two rounds of the U19 James Gilbert Memorial Trophy.

In week two matches, OBU 1 beat Upper Hutt 38-19 and HOBM defeated Petone 34-12.

OBU 2 beat Paraparaumu 27-12 in their first game after having the opening round bye last week, while Johnsonville had the bye in this round.

The first round of the U21 Divison 1 Paris Memorial Trophy on Saturday saw bonus point wins for Upper Hutt, Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist.

These three Hutt Valley teams all beat sides from Wellington - Upper Hutt beating Poneke 41-12, Petone slipping past OBU 49-3 and HOBM pipping Ories 25-21.

Elsehwhere, Norths and MSP drew 20-20.

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