Spotlight on Petone this weekend

The Petone Recreation Ground is the centre of attention in Wellington club rugby this weekend as the home side celebrates its 125th Anniversary.

Petone's anniversary celebrations are spread over three days from Friday to Sunday and include a Meet and Greet club day on Friday with a social match in the afternoon, a full day's club rugby of home matches for Petone's Senior teams and dinner on Saturday and a BBQ lunch and Ken Gray Academy XV v Colts XV game on Sunday.

This year Petone becomes the third Wellington club to reach the 125-year milestone after Wellington and Poneke and second in three years after Poneke who hosted Petone teams on their 125th?? celebratory weekend in 2008. The Poneke RFC was founded in 1883 by Sid Nicholls, who helped establish the Petone RFC two years later in 1885. All three of Sid's sons, Mark, HE 'Ginger' and HG 'Doc' were Petone All Blacks in the 1920s.

The Poneke and Petone clubs have been great adversaries over the years, with many titanic battles fought out between them and fittingly Petone teams, where applicable, have been drawn to play Poneke sides on Saturday. Culminating in the round six Swindale Shield Premier match at 3pm, the two clubs' Senior One, Senior Two, and U21 sides will meet, while Petone's U19, Women's and Presidents sides are also playing their matches against other clubs at the Petone Recreation Ground or across the road at North Park.

The Premier Swindale Shield fixture is also for both the Tilyard Memorial Shield and the Bill Brien Cup, which Petone will be defending for the third time. The Tilyard Shield was first played for between Petone and Poneke in 1958. The Tilyards were a famous Poneke family. There were four brothers. Fred and Jimmy were All Blacks while the other two, Harry and Brun, played for Wellington. Fred played for four club championship winning teams, was a Wellington Representative for seven years, was an All Black in 1923 and was a club administrator for 20 years.

In recent years their head to head battles at Premier level have typically reflected this long-standing rivalry between the two clubs. In 12 Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup clashes over the past six seasons, Petone have won seven and Poneke five. Last year's two results saw Petone win their Swindale Shield and Tilyard Shield encounter 38-14 and then Poneke come back later in the season and win their Jubilee Cup clash 13-10.

This promises to be no different with both teams showing some great form already this season. Poneke won their first four games straight, including wins over Marist St. Pat's and Oriental-Rongotai, before losing in round five to a resurgent Wainuiomata. Petone are also coming off a loss, 8-13 to competition favourites Northern United, but prior to that they enjoyed solid consecutive victories over Johnsonville and Hutt Old Boys Marist.

Meanwhile in other games, the juggernaut that is Norths will be hoping for a quick return to winning ways when they travel into town for the first time this year to meet Old Boys-University on the students' Old Timers' Day at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve.

It's also Old Timers' Day at Maidstone and Hataitai Parks and the Polo Grounds for Upper Hutt, Wellington and Oriental-Rongotai.

Upper Hutt will be hopeful of celebrating their first victory of the season over the Wests Roosters after pushing Ories all the way last week in their two-point loss. With a seven point gap between ninth placed Marist St. Pat's and Wests, this could also be a season defining match for the Roosters who defeated Johnsonville in the first week but have since lost five straight. To finish inside the top eight and make the Jubilee Cup round these teams will likely need a minimum of four wins in the Swindale Shield.

Ories, who already have four wins from their opening five matches, can consolidate their position near the top of the table with victory over Johnsonville who like Upper Hutt and Wests realistically must win this match or they can start planning their Hardham Cup season.

Having kick-started their season over the past fortnight with consecutive bonus point wins over Upper Hutt and the Roosters, Marist St. Pat's are on the move up the points table. However their opponent this week Wainuiomata have won two of their past three matches, against Hutt Old Boys Marist and Poneke, and went down fighting against Norths. If Wainui can upstage MSP they will safely move into the top eight ahead of their next two matches against Upper Hutt and Wests.

The Tawa versus Hutt Old Boys Marist fixture at Lyndhurst is also an important clash for both sides. For fifth placed HOBM, a bonus point win this week would guarantee to lift them up at least another spot on the ladder, ahead of either Poneke or Petone. Victory for eighth placed Tawa would serve to keep the pressure right on MSP should MSP defeat Wainuiomata.

In the Harper Lock Shield, new leaders Hutt Old Boys Marist can stretch their advantage with a win over eighth placed Tawa at Lyndhurst Park at 1.15pm.

The clash of the round in the Senior 1 competition sees second place Norths take on fourth placed Old Boys-University at Nairnville Park at 1pm. After losing in week two to Rimutaka, Norths have comfortably won three in a row, while OBU have won three from five and are coming off a narrow loss to HOBM.

Third placed Ories are also staking their case for Hardham Cup inclusion in the second half of the season and will be confident of earning their fourth win against tenth placed Paremata-Plimmerton at home at the Polo Ground at 1.15pm.

Likewise defending Harper Lock Shield champions Marist St. Pat's will be hoping to improve on their current sixth placed position when they take on struggling Stokes Valley at Delaney Park at 3pm. MSP are coming off consecutive wins over Rimutaka and Avalon, while Stokes Valley earned their only win so far against Paremata-Plimmerton in week two.

In the round's other two matches, Petone hosts Poneke and Rimutaka hosts Avalon at Maoribank Park at 3pm. Avalon won this clash 11-5 the last time these teams met at Fraser Park in last year's Hardham Cup round-robin.

The clash of the round in the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup sees frontrunners Northern United and Old Boys-University meet at Nairnville Park at 3pm. Leaders Norths (on 20 points) and second placed OBU (19 points) have both won four from five. Norths are coming off a 58-5 victory over winless Petone and OBU's sole defeat was last week against Avalon, 26-27.

Avalon's one-point win over the students last week lifted them up a spot from fourth to third ahead of another big clash for them in this round against fifth placed Hutt Old Boys Marist at the Hutt Rec at 1.15pm.

Fourth placed Wellington will be hoping to celebrate their Old Timers' Day with a win over tenth placed Paremata-Plimmerton at Hataitai Park at 3pm.

Both the Wests Roosters and Upper Hutt can move up from their mid-table positions when they clash at Maidstone Park at 1.15pm, while Marist St. Pat's and Petone will be desperate for wins against Wainuiomata at William Jones Park at 1.15pm and Poneke at the Petone Rec at 1.15pm respectively.

In the Fleurs Trophy Premier Women's first round, Northern United have the bye this weekend but will still lead with one week remaining after this.

With four bonus points wins, Norths have also yet to concede a point all season. But second placed Eketahuna can close to within a point of Norths on 19 if they beat OBU with a bonus point at Nairnville Park at 11.30am.

In other women's matches, third placed Petone will be out for their third win of the round against fifth placed Stokes Valley at 11.45am, and MSP and Wainui will be searching for their first wins of the season when they clash at Evans Bay Park at 11.30am.