Poneke pip Tawa in thriller, while Upper Hutt topple OBU in hotly contested fourth round

Above: Petone's Hayden O'Toole (with ball) bursts forth against Rimutaka in their 91-5 win on Saturday.

Poneke held off wave after wave of Tawa jerseys close to their line late in the match to hold on and win their top of the table Swindale Shield match at Kilbirnie Park this afternoon.

In wet, difficult conditions for the first time this year and clinging to a 9-8 lead, Poneke repelled Tawa's late onslaught as the visitors threw everything at their try line to try and win the game.

But the red and blacks held on to the end and emerged as the sole leader of the Swindale Shield and the only team unbeaten after four rounds, with the fifth round set of matches on Anzac Day on Thursday.

At Nairnville Park, previously unbeaten Old Boys University were defeated 30-23 by a desperate Upper Hutt who got up to record their first win of the season.

Hutt Old Boys Marist were the third previously unbeaten side to taste defeat in round four, missing out to Northern United 23-20 at Porirua Park.

At William Jones Park, the home side Wainuiomata were unable to register their first win, going down 26-33 to Oriental-Rongotai in another tight match.

Marist St. Pat's earned their first bonus point of the season, beating a disappointing Wests Roosters four tries to one, 28-10. MSP also retained the Viv Haigh Memorial Cup.

At the Village, Petone bounced back from their loss to Tawa last week with a comfortable 91-5 victory over Rimutaka.

In fourth round matches of the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield competition, OBU and Avalon grabbed their fourth straight wins to lead the standings, while Paremata-Plimmerton beat Northern United to re-claim the interclub Ivan Hargreaves Trophy.

OBU's second XV had a 22-3 win over their Upper Hutt counterparts in the early game at Nairnville, while Avalon battled to a 17-9 win over MSP's second team in often steady rain in the curtain-raiser at Evans Bay Park. Avalon also won the Joe Aspell Cup off MSP in this match.

The Wellington Axemen sit a point back in third after defeating Wainuiomata 39-3 at William Jones Park.

Tawa and Johnsonville both got up to win their third games out of the first four to start their 2013 seasons. Tawa overcame Poneke 38-0 at Kilbirnie Park and Johnsonville edged Petone 20-14 at the Petone Recreation Ground.

In fourth round National Mutual Cup Senior 2 encounters, Avalon and Hutt Old Boys Marist are the two unbeaten sides after the fourth round of matches.

Avalon saw off Poneke's challenge 60-21, while HOBM edged out Norths 21-17.

OBU, Ories and Johnsonville are just a win further back in the chasing pack. OBU overcame Stokes Valley 34-5, Ories defeated Wainuiomata 25-14 and Johnsonville made it two from two over Petone teams, winning 15-3.

The Premier Women's Fleurs Trophy kicked off with the first round of three matches. Defending first round women's champions Norths opened their account with a 44-0 win over Old Boys University and Avalon beat the combined Poneke-MSP team 51-0.

The other match was much closer, Ories beating Wainuiomata 17-12.

In some highlights from the Swindale Shield, Petone scored 15 tries in their win over Rimutaka. Second five-eighth Nick Grigg scored a hat-trick of tries and he is now the leading try scorer after four rounds with seven. Halfback Jared Kahu, wing Sam O'Leary and fullback Andrew Quinlivan all scored two tries.

At Kilbirnie Park, Poneke reveled in the wet conditions and Tawa let their guard down by conceding two yellow cards. Loosehead prop Tolu Fahamokioa and first five-eighth Junior Togia were both shown yellow and this didn't help their cause in a tight match.

Both yellow cards came in the first half, while Tawa were also left ruing turning two penalty kicks down. Poneke led 6-3 at halftime, and their fullback Sosi Tuimavavae kicked his third penalty in the second spell to win the game.

Yellow cards also cost OBU dearly against Upper Hutt. Two of them. Both early in the second half. Upper Hutt first five-eighth Liam Berry had sliced through to score to give Upper Hutt a 20-15 lead at the break, before Upper Hutt went ahead 27-15 soon after the break and they held on for a hugely important win. Upper Hutt also won the Bill Brien Challenge Cup off OBU.?

Former Hurricanes lock Api Naikatini was again a dominant figure for Norths as they came back from 5-20 down to beat Hutt Old Boys Marist by three at Porirua Park.

After getting back to within four points of the Eagles in the second half, veteran Norths openside flanker Dean Brunsdon scored the match winner after taking a quick tap and surging to the line. The try was awarded after a long deliberation and Norths held on to register their second win of their campaign after dropping their first two matches.

Former Wellington Lions and Samoan first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili enjoyed a successful first outing for his new club Orienatal-Rongotai. After making the switch this season from MSP he had thus far been sidelined with injury.

Fili controlled the Ories backline, ?often put Wainuiomata on the back foot with his tactical kicking game and scored the match winning try himself.

With a try to lock Keith Ta'ala and three Fili penalties, Ories led 16-7 at halftime, but a fired up Wainuiomata quickly gained parity with two quickfire tries after the break that tied the match up at 19-19.

An undisciplined Wainuiomata lost centre Teru Time to the sin bin and in that time flanker Pau Halafihi and Fili scored tries and they pulled clear. Wainuiomata scored again towards the end to take two bonus points from the match, but time is running out for the green and blacks to mount their challenge for the top eight.

MSP halfback Peter Sciascia directed his young side to a four tries to one victory over the Wests Roosters, whose discipline also cost them big time.

MSP, with just about a complete new team from the one that won the Jubilee Cup final last August, put down the Roosters' challenge with a much more accurate, committed display. Wests had three players sent to the sin-bin during the course of the match and that was enough to give MSP the edge.

The scarlet contenders scored one try and led 11-3 at halftime, but opened up early in the second spell with two quick tries to take a match winning 23-10 lead into the final half hour of play.

In the curtain-raiser, Avalon outscored MSP two tries to one to win 17-9. With steady rain falling throughout most of the first half, MSP took a 6-0 lead into the first 35 minutes before Avalon scored a converted try to fullback Liddy Ah Wong and then kicked a penalty to lead 10-6 at halftime.

In a tough afternoon for both kickers, MSP's Ciaran O'Brien closed the deficit to 10-9 and then missed a penalty in front that would have given his team the lead.

Avalon weathered the early MSP attack and the rain stopped falling. They worked their way up field and their first five-eighth Luke Fainga-Thundercliff scored the match winning try with about 15 minutes to play.

Both Avalon's top two teams are unbeaten after their first four matches.

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To read comprehensive match reports from the six round four Swindale Shield matches click here