MSP, Tawa score decisive wins in round three

Marist St. Pat's and Tawa scored decisive victories and Hutt Old Boys Marist and Oriental-Rongotai won big in the third round of Wellington Premier Swindale Shield matches on Saturday.

MSP got up late to grab an exciting 35-27 win over defending first round champions Northern United away at Porirua Park and Tawa earned their opening win of the year with an emphatic bonus point 35-12 victory over Old Boys University at Lyndhurst Park.

HOBM flew past the Wests Roosters 66-7 at Ian Galloway Park and Ories out played minnows Rimutaka 56-5 at Maoribank Park.

In another big result of the afternoon, Wainuiomata held on to beat Poneke 12-5 at William Jones Park, Poneke only scoring their try at the end.

Petone came back to grab a 22-22 draw with Upper Hutt at the Petone Recreation Ground.?

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Tawa v Old Boys University

In a replay of last year's Hardham Cup final at Lyndhurst Park, the home team Tawa steamrolled Old Boys University in the second half to register their first win of the season.

Tawa's physical forwards got on top of their opposites and helped lay on four consecutive tries to carry them to a match winning 35-7 lead after about 70 minutes.

In an entertaining second half for home fans, captain and hooker Matt Treeby crossed twice as Tawa scored three of their four second half tries directly off set-piece turnovers.

The first half had been anything but exiting. In a scrappy opening spell dominated by mistakes from both sides and the whistle of visiting referee Max O'Leary, OBU led 7-6 after about 25 minutes. Electric wing Luke Fiso scored from a kick and chase that sat up for lock Tim Fergusson to regather and he offloaded to Fiso in support.

OBU's problems began just before halftime, when they should have scored a second converted try and taken a a 13-6 lead into the break. With Tawa lock Kyle Coulter having ?just been sent to the sin-bin, the students coughed up the ball on the line.

Instead, Tawa worked their way upfield and kicked a third penalty, taking them to a 9-7 halftime lead.

Five minutes into the second half, and restored to 15 players, Tawa scored their first try off a defensive lineout error by OBU. Blindside Brian Burridge got up to pinch possession and Treeby crashed over in the corner. The conversion was good and Tawa now led 14-7.

The try was set up in part by one of several punishing breaks by centre Jeff Makapelu, who, unfortunately for Tawa, was red carded towards fulltime for a regrettable incident and he will miss at least their next match against Norths as part of a mandatory suspension.

Ten minutes later, another ?Makapelu run up towards the tryline pushed Tawa close, but after several pick and drives the forwards knocked on and OBU won a defensive scrum. Their reprieve was short lived though. From the set-piece, Tawa's loose forwards turned the ball over and Tawa attacked once more. Stretching OBU, all-action tighthead prop Taniela Buakula spiralled the final pass across the posts to unmarked right ring Tito Ioane and he flew in to score to push Tawa out to 21-7.

Tawa's third try with 10 minutes remaining put the game out of reach of the students, Tawa winning another turnover from a scrum inside OBU's 22, the forwards pouring through and hooker Treeby scoring his second converted try.

Veteran replacement first five-eighth Willie Lafaele sealed Tawa's dominance soon after by scoring their fourth try.

OBU hit back at the end with a smartly taken try to fullback James Shaw after a counterattack started on their own side of halfway, but it was too late. OBU went into the match missing some key players, including three in the New Zealand Universities XV, but on the evidence of this loss will need to fire up quickly.

Norths v MSP

MSP won their first Premier match over Norths in six attempts with a big win at Porirua. This was MSP's second win from three matches and defending first round champions Norths' second loss.

In the end, MSP's dominance up front paid off after Norths had pulled clear to take a 27-13 lead just after halftime and had threatened to do what they are synonymous with and pull away through sheer X-factor.

With scores locked up at 13-13 at halftime,? Norths pounced with two converted tries after the break to No. 8 Mana Faraimo and second five-eighth Perry Hayman.

But MSP, who had had the better of the tight forwards exchanges and had dominated territory and possession in the first half, hit back with two unconverted tries out wide to close to 27-23 and it was game on.

Norths' discipline waivered and they conceded another try to MSP in the corner to blindside flanker Lua Lokotui, set up by fullback Andrew Wells. MSP now led 28-27, with Norths down to 14 players having a player sent to the bin.

Replacement back JP Tocker then sealed the win for MSP towards the end, also denying Norths a second bonus point from the match.

Earlier Norths had taken an 8-3 lead when wing AJ Va'alepu scored against the run of play, following a missed opportunity for a try by MSP at the other end that could have proved costly. ?But MSP eventually did hit back, through fullback Wells, and the teams went into the break all square.

Petone v Upper Hutt

Petone grabbed what could be a hugely important draw in the context of their Swindale Shield season against Upper Hutt in a match where a loss could have spelt serious trouble to their season.

An error-ridden first half saw Upper Hutt control the ball better, dominate territory and take a 12-3 lead to the break. Both tries were well-constructed efforts, involving long build ups by a busy pack and the skill of faster outside backs.

In the second half, No. 8 Luca Rees scored a 20 metre runaway try, bringing Petone back into the game. Despite George?Faingaa's brilliant try off a 50-metre burst by fullback Jason Woodward for Upper Hutt, Petone mauled strongly, tackled aggressively and kicked accurately to complete a fight back that earned them their first championship points. ???

After setting up Faingaa's try, ?Woodward dropped a clearance by Petone, on halfway, after the villagers were under extreme pressure on their own goal line. The next play saw Petone score a try to tie the scores for the first time at 19-19.

Upper Hutt kicked a penalty to regain the lead, but Petone replied to even the ledger back up to 22-22. In a frenetic finish, the last play of the game carried for a good five minutes as both sides turned over the ball and kept it alive in their bid to set up a winning score.

?In drawing with Petone, Upper Hutt retained the Connelly Cup.

Wests v HOBM

HOBM fullback Glen Walters was the outstanding individual in his side's commanding 61-7* win over the Wests Roosters at Ian Galloway Park.

Walter scored two tries and kicked 21 points for a personal haul of 31 as the Eagles took control of the home team early.

After scoring an early try from a charge down, The big HOBM side was all over Wests, and they raced to a 39-0 lead at halftime. This was extended past 50 points by the three-quarter mark and they sailed home to win comfortably.

As well as Walters, strapping right wing Tupeni Kamakorewa scored two tries, as did second five-eighth Ope Peleseumae.

* The score for this match was given as 66-7, but scorers only add up to 61 for now.

Rimutaka v Ories

For the second week in succession, newcomers Rimutaka found the going tough in the Swindale Shield, conceding a half century of points to defending Jubilee Cup champions Ories.

Ories were fast out of the blocks, scoring their first three tries and racing to a 17-0 lead inside the opening quarter. Rimutaka pulled a try back through their right wing Claude Collier but Ories scored their bonus point try before halftime and led 29-5 at the break.

Rimutaka's forwards fought hard over the middle stages of the contest, but Ories withstood their challenge and scored four more tries in the second half to cross for nine in total. Wing Tony Smith scored a brace.

Wainuiomata v Poneke

Wainuiomata won the Hakaraia Trophy with an extremely hard fought 12-5 victory over Poneke at home at William Jones Park.

In a tense and willing first half, scores remained locked up at 0-0 until late in the first half. Both kickers, Ben Huntley for Poneke and Piri Weepu for Wainuiomata, missed with chances but the new electronic scoreboard remained unused.

That all changed just before and just after halftime when the home team scored what transpired to be the match winning tries. Replacement blindside Glen Angus crashed over on the halftime hooter to put the green and blacks ahead 5-0, followed by former Newcastle Knight and second five-eighth Marvin Kawarana crossing two minutes into the second spell. Weepu's conversion pushed the margin out to 12-0.

The contest went back into lockdown before Poneke replacement Kelvin Harper scored late, giving Poneke a bonus point.

Harper Lock Shield

Early frontrunners MSP and Poneke both lost their third round matches on Saturday in the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield competition, leaving no unbeaten teams and six of the 12 sides sitting on two wins and one loss.

In the closest result of the round, MSP went down 20-25 to Norths, while Poneke missed out to Wainuiomata 13-29.

In two comprehensive wins, Avalon defeated Petone 41-8 and Old Boys University presented too much danger for Tawa winning 37-5.

Paremata-Plimmerton beat Ories 24-12 to register their first win of the season, leaving Ories and Tawa as the two sides yet to win after three rounds.

Johnsonville suffered their first setback after drawing with Petone last week, losing to HOBM 20-31 in the other match.

National Mutual Cup

There are still three unbeaten teams in the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup competition after three rounds.

Upper Hutt, Wellington and Poneke all grabbed their third wins on the trot to start the new season.

Upper Hutt earned their third consecutive bonus point win victory, beating Petone 59-16, Wellington defeated Old Boys University 66-7 and Poneke edged out Avalon 15-13.

Previously unbeaten Wests were felled 44-12 by HOBM who grabbed their first win.

At the other end of the table, Norths beat MSP 25-20 - the same scoreline as their Senior 1 clash - to register their first win, while Ories also registered their first win by defeating Stokes Valley 21-12.

Fleurs Trophy

Norths grabbed their second successive bonus point win to start the Premier Women's competition, beating OBU 59-0.

Wainuiomata made it two from two, defeating Ories 19-12 and Eketahuna opened their account for 2012 by beating Stokes Valley at home 34-5.

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