Round two preview: Old Boys University hoping for success in 2013

Above: Players from Petone and the Wests Roosters contest lineout possession in Monday's Swindale Shield season opener at the Petone Recreation Ground.

Will Old Boys-University push hard for some major Wellington club rugby title success this season? Their many supporters certainly hope so. But first they just want their team to finish inside the top eight of the Swindale Shield make the Jubilee Cup round.

Two consecutive ninth placed finishers in the first round consigned them to the Hardham Cup for the second half of the season in 2011 and 2012. In 2011 they lost several close first round contests, culminating in a crucial defeat to MSP at the end, while last year they were pipped into eighth by Petone on points differential. It was that close.

On Easter Monday OBU got their season off to a great start by toppling last year's Jubilee Cup champions Marist St. Pat's. Not only did they win the match but their bus departed Evans Bay clanging with two trophies - the OBU-MSP interclub Jack Lamason Memorial Cup and the Bill Brien Challenge Shield, which is the Ranfurly Shield of Wellington club rugby that is put up for defence in home matches.

Of course one big win early on is no guarantee of success - they also beat MSP in round one last year (19-15) and also won their opening match in 2011 (beating Tawa 23-21). But based on Monday's form, they should come away from their match against Rimutaka at Maoribank Park this Saturday with their second consecutive win. Rimutaka lost their season opener 7-50 to Oriental-Rongotai. Then looking ahead to round three, OBU host Wainuiomata in their first home match at Nairnville Park. Wainuiomata have all the makings of being a tough side again this year, but away from William Jones Park they are slightly less formidable.

It wasn't only OBU's Premier team on the victory dais on Monday, their Senior 1s (32-0 over MSP) and Senior 2s (41-10) both made winning starts as well. These teams want the Premiers to make the Jubilee Cup so they can take their places in higher grades in the second round. OBU's second XV finished second in the Harper Lock Shield last year but couldn't play in the Hardham Cup with their first XV also playing in the same competition.

Personnel-wise they've got a similar playing roster to last year. They've lost players such as Paula Kinikinilau, Josh Nicho and Eric Fry to overseas (the latter playing for London Scottish), but picked up ex-Otago ITM Cup loose forward Adam Hill, North Otago first five-eighth/fullback Hamish Buick and Wellington College school-leavers Luke Campbell and Zek Sopoaga (younger brother of Lima). Midfielder Luke Harvey has also returned to the club from Tawa.

Meanwhile, all eyes and ears (via Newstalk ZB's live coverage) will be on the Polo Ground where defending Swindale Shield champions Hutt Old Boys Marist tackle last year's beaten Jubilee Cup finalists Oriental-Rongotai in the latter's first match at home this year. Both were first round bonus point winners on Monday, HOBM beating Wainuiomata 38-31 at William Jones Park and Ories overcoming Rimutaka 50-7 at the Maidstone Artificial field.

HOBM's Polonga Pedro will be playing his 200th game for his club, so the Eagles will want to make this a memorable match for him, while this match is also significant as being for the second annual Bondy Memorial Cup.

The Bondy Memorial Trophy commemorates Don Bond who passed away in 2011, just a few weeks before Ories won the Jubilee Cup. Bond was the patron of Ories, being a former Ories player, Club Captain, WRFU delegate, Life Member, President and Chairman. He was also a Wellington Colts, B and A representative team Manager. HOBM are the defending champions, having come from behind to win this match 32-24 last year, while Ories won their return Jubilee Cup encounter at the Polo Ground 44-13. Ories have also won four of their last five clashes overall.

Wainuiomata will be keen to make it one from two at home to start the new season when they host first round bonus point winners Tawa for the Chris Stirling Cup. Wainuiomata pushed HOBM close on Monday and picked up two bonus points for their efforts. A feature of the Tawa side in last week's opener was their size. Fielding a physical pack, their inside and midfield backs that lined up against Upper Hutt, Willie Lafaele, Alfred Pelenise and Timoli Seruwalu, are all big units.

Like the Bondy Memorial Cup, the Chris Stirling Cup is a recent addition to the many interclub trophies that are contested between the clubs. Former long-serving Tawa player Chris Stirling was Club Coaching Co-ordinator at Wainuiomata from 2005 to 2007 and at Tawa from 2008 to May 2009. It's also a hotly contested trophy, with Wainuiomata winning 35-32 last year, Tawa winning 39-23 in 2011 and a 20-20 draw in 2010. Their round two Jubilee Cup match William Jones Park last year, won 10-5 by Wainuiomata was one of the more absorbing contests of the season.

The Wests Roosters and Poneke clubs meet for the Cederwall Memorial Cup on Saturday. Poneke are the current holders of this Cup that is decided by the results across the top three grades that these clubs play in. The Cederwall Cup is in honour of the Cederwall sporting family of dad Don (Harry) and three sons Brian, Grant and Don (deceased), all Wellington representative or Wellington B players as well as Wellington cricket representatives, who played their rugby for Poneke and Athletic from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

The Wests Roosters are also holding an Onslow Rugby Retro Day at their former home ground Nairnville Park where this match is being played. As a mark to the former Onslow club, that merged with Athletic in 1983 to become Wests, the Roosters will be wearing the old Onslow red and green strip.

Poneke and Wests made contrasting starts to their 2013 Swindale Shield campaigns, Poneke overcoming Northern United 22-17 at Ian Galloway Park and Wests going down 20-58 at the Petone Rec. Both are desperate to make the Jubilee Cup round this year.

At Maidstone Park, Upper Hutt will have to overcome a dreadful recent record against Marist St. Pat's. To beat MSP, Upper Hutt must break an 11-season long 18-game losing streak against them. Upper Hutt have not beaten MSP in Swindale Shield or Jubilee Cup matches since May 2002 when they won 29-19 at Maidstone Park. Last year MSP won this corresponding encounter 26-6 and then won again 38-0 in the Jubilee Cup round.

After a slow start to the match, MSP grew into their first round contest against Old Boys University, while Upper Hutt were left ruing missed tackles and ill-discipline in their loss to Tawa. They should, however, take inspiration from the busy work of their Wellington Lions halfback Kayne Hammington and openside flanker Hayden Schrijvers (until he was sinbinned) - two of the smaller players on the field.

Northern United travel to play convincing first round winners Petone and are looking to get their campaign on track. The last time Norths lost their opening two matches of the season was in 2009 when they went down to Poneke and then Petone. However in 2009 they went on to win their next nine games straight and jointly won the Swindale Shield with Petone. The Villagers hit the ground running in their first match against the Roosters, running in eight tries and winning surprisingly comfortably.

In the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield, at least four teams could get an early jump on the field if they win this Saturday.

The feature clash of the second round is at Helston park at 2.15 pm between first round winners Johnsonville and Old Boys-University, in a key early season fixture that will likely have a bearing on the make-up of the second round Premier 2 and Senior 1 competitions later in the season. On Monday Johnsonville battled to a 5-3 win over the Wellington Axemen while OBU ran out convincing 32-0 winners over MSP at Te Whaea.

First round winners Tawa and Wainuiomata meet in the 12.30 pm game at William Jones Park, first round winners Avalon open their season at home at Fraser Park against first-up losers Poneke at 2.15 pm, Norths are gunning for two wins in succession away at Petone at 12.30 pm, while the Axemen and Paremata-Plimmerton are hunting their opening victories of 2013 at Ngatitoa Domain at 2.15 pm.

Five teams grabbed bonus point wins in the first round of the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup on Monday, but just three will remain unbeaten after this weekend with all six clashing with each other.HOBM and Ories, the two biggest winners of Monday's games in terms of points scored, clash in the 12.30 pm game at the Polo Ground. Avalon entertains OBU at Fraser Park at 12.30 pm, while, after being defaulted to by Poneke first-up, Norths will get their first run of the season, against Petone at the Petone Rec at 12.30 pm.

The other three Senior 2 round games see Johnsonville and Stokes Valley meeting at Helston Park at 12.30 pm, Wests and Poneke scheduled to play at Ian Galloway Park at 12.30 pm and Wainuiomata and MSP meeting at Mary Crowther Park at 12.30 pm.

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