Marist clubs on top, big guns Poneke and Norths in trouble

Above: Action from Saturday's Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield match between Tawa and Paremata-Plimmerton. For a photo gallery of this match, courtesy of Tawa rugby, click here

Wellington's Marist clubs, Hutt Old Boys Marist and Marist St Pat's both made further gains while big guns Northern United and Poneke could still miss out on the Jubilee Cup after another absorbing round of Swindale Shield Premier club rugby today.

Hutt Old Boys Marist maintained their grip at the top of the Swindale Shield standings with a gritty 18-15 win over Poneke on Poneke's Old Timers' Day on Kilbirnie Park. In a tight game, HOBM broke a 15-15 deadlock and won the match with a penalty from 40 metres out with a minute to play.? HOBM's seventh win sees them maintain their two-point buffer at the top of the table, while Poneke drop from ninth to tenth on the points table with three rounds to play.

MSP moved into outright second with their 21-16 win over Wainuiomata at William Jones Park, relegating the home team from second to fourth after Upper Hutt earned a 32-13 bonus point win over the Wests Roosters at home at Maidstone Park and moved into third.

MSP's second XV also won their top of the table clash with Wainuiomata in the Harper Lock Shield, keeping them in the outright lead of the Senior 1 competition.

Defending first round champions Northern United suffered their fifth defeat in eight matches, going down 22-16 to Oriental-Rongotai in their Jubilee Cup final rematch. The win for Ories sees them remain in fifth place, but nine points clear of seventh placed Norths who are hovering just inside the Jubilee Cup cut-off position.

At the Petone Recreation Ground, Petone and Old Boys University fought out an 18-18 draw, to keep both these clubs in mid-table positions hovering around Norths.

At Lyndhurst Park, Tawa's 56-0 bonus point win over Rimutaka lifted them from 11^th to ninth, now ahead of Poneke, the Wests Roosters and Rimutaka.

In the National Mutual Cup, Senior 2 leaders Wellington gave Stokes Valley the axe 55-8 to maintain their unbeaten lead at the top of the Senior 2 table.

Swindale Shield

As expected, another close round of results saw four of the six games being fiercely contested, with one draw and three results decided by a winning margin of seven points or fewer.

A fifth game, saw the visiting team the Wests Roosters only start playing rugby once they were 25-0 down after as many minutes, and from that point on they outscored Upper Hutt 13-7.

Ill-discipline was a also a common thread throughout Saturday's round of matches, with referees collectively dishing out about a dozen yellow cards across the six games.

At the Polo Ground, home side Ories won their third consecutive match against Norths, and won the To'omaga Alex Iona Memorial Cup for the first time courtesy of them outscoring Norths three tries to two in the second half. With Norths holding a 6-3 advantage at halftime, Ories fullback Simon Tevita broke open a scrappy game with two tries including what proved to be the match winner midway through the second spell.

Tevita's second try, hot on the heels of Hurricanes centre Alapati Leuia scorching away to score for Norths, extended Ories' lead at the time to 22-11. Norths wing Kose Tuimavave scored his side's second try but the home team held on to win.

At Kilbirnie Park, Hutt Old Boys Marist beat Poneke for the first time in nine matches and won back the Roy John Trophy. In a similarly tight affair, the Eagles scored both their tries into a stiff wind in the first half, Leka Tupuola finishing off a 75-metre try under the posts for his eighth try of the season and centre Taiso Silafai-Leaanaa scoring another long-range try right on halftime directly off a Poneke error inside their 22. These two tries put HOBM ahead 15-10 after Poneke halfback Brad Faulkner had crossed in the corner and first five-eighth Chris Thomson had nailed the conversion.

Poneke flanker Galu Taufale scored in the corner from a sustained build-up to make it 15-15, but HOBM had the final say when second five-eighth Brandyn Laursen stepped up from halfway and kicked what proved to be the match winner.

At the Petone Recreation Ground, the inaugural Marc Verhoeven Memorial Trophy was shared between Petone and OBU. Petone had first use of a strong wind and battled to a 13-8 lead at halftime. OBU came back and scored two tries, to wing Te Wehi Wright and fullback Beau Brown, but in the end nothing could separate the two sides.

Across the hill at William Jones Park, MSP took two trophies off Wainuiomata, the Bill Brien Challenge Cup and the Morrisey-Rona Cup. Wainuiomata had first use of the stiff southerly and scored the only try of the half to right wing Teru Time. They went desperately close to scoring at least once more, but superb MSP held them out and they went into halftime holding an 11-3 lead.

Wainuiomata stormed into the second half and lock Shahn Eru showed his athletism in sprinting clear for a try to extend their lead to 16-3. Wily MSP halfback Peter Sciascia, recently back from two years in Ireland, started the comeback when he took a quick tap free kick from the back of a scrum and threaded his way through traffic for a try. Fullback Andrew Wells added a penalty to close the gap further, before busy No. 8 Tevita Ah Wong scored off the back of a scrum to close Wainuiomata's lead to 16-15. MSP took the lead for the first time through a Sciascia dropped goal and Wells added another penalty to seal victory.

At Maidstone Park, a healthy crowd had barely settled in when Upper Hutt poured through to regain possession from the opening kick-off and centre George Faingaa scored the opening try. First five-eighth Jason Woodward, taking over at pivot from a concussed Ben Aoina, slotted the conversion and Upper Hutt led 7-0 early.

Perhaps rocked by their Senior 2 side conceding a ton against Upper Hutt in the National Mutual Cup curtain-raiser, the Roosters took a long time to settle. By the time they did Upper Hutt had added a penalty and two more tries - all off Wests mistakes or ill-discipline. Their second try saw a dropped ball by the Wests backs from a scrum in midfield and their Upper Hutt counterparts accepted their kind invitation with Faingaa picking up the ball and setting up a try on debut for right wing Nick Pearson.

Wests No. 8 Nemani Waka was then sent to in the sin bin, Upper Hutt kicked for the corner and hooker Anaru Rangi scored off the ensuing lineout drive.

Upper Hutt second five-eighth Ciaran Driscoll intercepted a short pass and almost ran 40 metres to score another try that would have turned out the Roosters' lights.

Instead, Wests regrouped and started to compete. Goal kicking prop Andrew Newson pegged back three points and they trailed 25-3 at halftime. Now it was Upper Hutt's turn to make several costly errors and Wests hit back with a second penalty with Rangi in the sin bin - and lucky to be handed a yellow not a red card for a spear tackle - and a converted try under the bar to wing Isireli Baleitavuki.

But with halfback Kayne Hammington directing traffic well and Upper Hutt getting good value out of their replacements, Upper Hutt eventually scored an elusive fourth try to clinch their bonus point. It was Hammington who took a quick tap and ran to the line and passed back to No.8 Chris Gorrie in support who scored.

At Lyndhurst Park, it was one-way traffic for Tawa against the competition minnows Rimutaka. With the wind behind them, Tawa scored four converted tries in the first half to take a 28-0 lead into the interval. As they have done in previous matches, Rimutaka competed well for a time before the floodgates opened again and Tawa scored four more tries. Halfback Steven So'oialo scored a hat trick and fullback Randall Bishop kicked all eight conversions.

Harper Lock Shield

The top of the table round eight Senior 1 clash at William Jones Park proved to be largely a one-way affair and it wasn't the home side making the running. Playing with the aid of a strong wind, MSP ran in three tries and kicked the penalties that were offered up to them by an ill-disciplined Wainuiomata side and cruised to a 28-0 lead late in the first half.

Wainuiomata grabbed a try back right on halftime, to close the gap to 28-7 and a second half fightback with the wind in their favour was in the offering. But there was to be no comeback, a much more accurate MSP holding them out throughout the entire half and the halftime score turned into the final score.

Up the road at Fraser Park on Avalon's Old Timers' Day, visiting team Johnsonville got their season back on track with a timely bonus point 32-18 win over Avalon. After a series of close results, Johnsonville finally broke the shackles against an Avalon side that needed to win as much as they did. This result now pushes Johnsonville up to fifth in the standings, just a point outside the top four where they need to be in three weeks. Avalon have slipped back to sixth equal.

OBU have leapfrogged Wainuiomata into second courtesy of their bonus point 41-17 win over strugglers Petone, while Norths remain steady in fourth despite being shocked by Harper Lock Shield minnows Ories 22-26 who grabbed their first win of the season.

Tawa also earned their first win of the season in beating Paremata-Plimmerton 15-5 at Lyndhurst Park and thus ending the latter's hopes for making the Hardham Cup in the second round. In the round's other match, Poneke beat HOBM 25-7 to keep their Hardham Cup hopes alive.

National Mutual Cup

The Wellington Axemen continue to set a cracking pace in the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup and grabbed their eighth straight win on Saturday, this time beating Stokes Valley 55-8 at home at Hataitai Park.

Hot on their heels in second is Upper Hutt who ousted the previous mid-table Wests Roosters 124-0 in the early game at Maidstone Park.

The top teams from this grade get promoted to the Senior 1 division in the second round. With a 10-point lead to third placed Poneke, it would seem that leaders Wellington are already there with three matches to play.

Poneke maintained third but only just - beating HOBM 30-27, Norths joined OBU in fourth equal with a 27-19 win over Ories, while OBU battled to a 9-5 win over winless Petone and MSP beat Avalon 20-15.

?Williment Trophy

Wellington College warmed up for next week's Premier college first XV opener with a 52-8 win over Rongotai College and St Pat's Silverstream beat St Pat's Town 20-12 in the other contest.

These four schools are joined by the four qualifiers from recent grading grades in the eight-team Premier competition from next week.

Women's Premier

In two first round Victoria Tavern Women's Premier contests to hand, Norths beat OBU 43-12 and defending second round champions Eketahuna defeated Stokes Valley 17-5.

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