Jubilee and Hardham Cups to heat up despite wintry conditions

The worst conditions of the season last week created some of the most gripping rugby to date, with the bands of hardy spectators ringing the sidelines of all the Jubilee and Hardham Cup venues treated to a series of pressure-cooker contests and tight results in trying conditions.

The forecast may not be so frightful this Saturday but Wellington club rugby supporters can expect more of the same hard-nosed rugby this weekend as the round-robin phase reaches an important phase for all teams involved.

With just a month of regular season rugby to play after this Saturday, the unbeaten teams in both the top two grades- Marist St. Pat's in the Jubilee Cup and the Wests Roosters and Wainuiomata in the Hardham Cup - can't afford to rest on their laurels. At the same time, victory becomes vital for the four winless teams across both the competitions or their semi-final chances will quickly slip away.

In the Jubilee Cup several clubs will be on edge if they don't win this Saturday, but alarm bells will already be ringing for winless Upper Hutt's supporters ahead of their match at Maidstone Park against Hutt Old Boys Marist. The Jubilee Cup has traditionally been about momentum and, in the previous six years between 2004-2009 at least, no side has qualified for the semi-finals after losing their first two round-robin games.

In other third round Jubilee Cup matches, Poneke host Marist St. Pat's at Kilbirnie Park, Petone welcome Northern United on to the Petone Recreation Groundand Oriental-Rongotai entertain Old Boys-University at the Polo Ground.

Similarly, out of 24 semi-finalists in the previous six Hardham Cups between 2004-2009, just two (Johnsonville in 2006 and Wainuiomata in 2009) have lost or drawn both their first two round-robin matches and gone on to make the playoffs five weeks later. So winless Hutt Old Boys Marist B and Marist St. Pat's B and Premier hopefuls Avalon will need to pull out all stocks for victory in round three.

Two of the sides with outstanding track records when it comes to semi-finals and finals are Poneke and MSP and their local derby Jubilee Cup clash promises to be an epic struggle.

For Poneke this is the second of two consecutive home clashes before travelling to Miramar and Maidstone Park for mid-round fixtures against Ories and Upper Hutt. After losing to Petone 21-25 in the first round they became the first side to beat Norths last week, holding on stoically to win 17-15. Led by their talisman captain and No. 8 Misipaluani Moananu, the red and black pack ground out their opening victory of the second round. This week they welcome back New Zealand Maori players Dane Coles at hooker and Daniel Ramsay at lock and will present a tough challenge for MSP.

MSP come into this match with wins at home over Upper Hutt (49-0) and OBU (16-3) behind them, and will be angling for their eleventh win in a row after making a horror start to the season and dropping their opening three games. These losses included a 14-19 loss to Poneke in round two of the Swindale Shield, which was also for the Horan-Millar Trophy.

In two clashes last year, Poneke won 18-8 in the Swindale Shield and 22-13 in the Jubilee Cup - ending a 12-year period of MSP not losing to Poneke in both round-robin Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup matches in the same season. Poneke went on to be top qualifier before losing to Norths in their semi-final, while third placed MSP defeated second placed qualifier Petone before winning the final.

It'll be another big clash at the Petone Recreation ground, where the home side and visitors Norths will be eager to climb back on the winning wagon. Both suffered close losses last week, with Norths losing to Poneke and Petone missing out to Hutt Old Boys Marist 15-22 on the occasion of the Eagles' 100th birthday bash.

Like Poneke and MSP, both these sides have definite playoff expectations and anything less won't do. Petone are the most successful club of all in Wellington and Norths the current giant and club to beat. Despite losing to Norths 8-13 in the first round at Porirua Park, Petone will take heart from the narrow margin of that defeat which now sees Norths having won six, Petone four and with one draw from their last 11 matches. Last year Norths won this corresponding clash, but only 29-20.

The only team to beat Petone in six games at home this year is Oriental-Rongotai, who also lifted the Bill Brien Challenge Cup off them when they prevailed 29-19 in the last week of the Swindale Shield.

This week, Ories return home to the Polo Ground for the first time in a month to defend the Bill Brien Cup against Old Boys-University in what is also the first of just three home games for them in the second round.

With a loss to Norths (22-45) at Porirua and a win against Upper Hutt (11-17) at Maidstone Park, and just two matches at home to follow against neighbours Poneke in round four and MSP in the last round, Ories will be particularly eager to win this one against the students.

OBU won first up against HOBM (27-22), before losing to MSP (3-16) in the mud last week, which was their first defeat in a month. Ories won their round two Swindale Shield game 38-26 at the Polo Ground with a quickfire three-try burst just before and after halftime when they met previously this season in the early rounds. This rematch promises to be equally as explosive.

As suggested above, Upper Hutt realistically needs to win their match against Hutt Old Boys Marist at home if they are to continue carrying hopes of reaching the playoffs. After losing narrowly to OBU in their Jubilee Cup opener, HOBM were impressive in beating Petone at home last week, with lock Jeremy Thrush, No. 8 Matt Time, blindside Polonga Pedro and mobile loosehead prop Simon Malaeulu all having big games in their pack.

Upper Hutt is a proven dangerous side though and can run in tries from anywhere given the opportunity. Constantly battling injuries to their leading players, halfback Alby Mathewson's return would be a welcome inclusion. New Zealand U20 players Kayne Hammington and Jason Woodward, along with MSP's Jeff Allen and Poneke's Charlie Ngatai, remain in cotton wool for another week however. HOBM won 34-26 in a thriller when these two teams met in week one of the Swindale Shield.

In the Hardham Cup, both the Wests Roosters and Wainuiomata can clear out from the rest of the field if they take their third straight wins of the second round in a big round for several of the other contenders.

This week's third round action sees all four matches played between current Premier Swindale Sides against Harper Lock Shield opposition teams.

Early leaders the Wests Roosters play MSP B at Ian Galloway Park, Wainuiomata host HOBM B at William Jones Park, Johnsonville welcome Norths B on to Helston Park and Avalon meet Tawa at Fraser Park. All Hardham Cup games are at 3pm.

For Avalon, their match with Tawa shapes as a hugely important one for their promotion chances at the end of the season. If they lose they will have a difficult time climbing above any of the other four Premier teams, pending their results over the next couple of rounds.

They face a Tawa team equally determined to win and maintain their position inside the top half of the points table, especially after their 25-25 draw with HOBM B in their Hardham Cup opener.

All three of the B sides have been competitive so far, with HOBM having already drawn with Tawa and nearly beaten Johnsonville, MSP having pushed both Wainuiomata and Tawa close and Harper Lock Shield champions Norths beaten Avalon. If these teams can upset any of the standalone club sides this weekend then it could be all on in the Hardham Cup.

In other grades, there's an early round top of the table clash at Kilbirnie Park in the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup between Poneke and Paremata-Plimmerton, while other unbeaten Senior 1 teams Ories and Stokes Valley play OBU and Rimutaka respectively.

Unbeaten HOBM and MSP take centre stage at the Hutt Rec in the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup, while other unbeten Senior 2 teams Upper and Wellington play Wainuiomata and Petone respectively.

In Premier Women's rugby, unbeaten Northern United play third placed Stokes Valley, second placed Eketahuna meet bottom placed Wainuiomata and midtable OBU and Petone meet. MSP has the bye this week.