Wellington club rugby ANZAC Day thriller

Above: Tawa's Joketani Koroi scores the match winning try late in the match against Northern United, to the delight of his teammates and Tawa CCO Dion Waller in the background.

The fifth round of the Swindale Shield Wellington club rugby on ANZAC Day today proved a thriller, with a series of heartily contested matches that went down to the wire or ?resulted in upsets.

The Derby Day round of matches featured opening wins of the season for the Wests Roosters and Wainuiomata, a first-up defeat for the previous leaders Poneke and a match winning converted try at the end for Tawa.

The Wests Roosters and Wainuiomata both got their campaigns underway with bonus point wins at home.

Wests broke the shackles and overran Old Boys University 32-22 at Ian Galloway Park, to win back the Omar Cup and record their first victory over the students since 2005.

Wainuiomata held off a Petone comeback in the second half to win 36-29 at William Jones Park and retain the Darren Larsen Cup.

Oriental-Rongotai hit the front against Poneke midway through the second half to eventually prevail 32-24 at the Polo Grounds in their Jim Grbirch Memorial Shield match.

The power and passion of Tawa's forwards eventually won over Norths at Lyndhurst Park, rumbling over for the winning try a couple of minutes from the end to win 28-27 and capture the Sammy Saili Memorial Shield.

Hutt Old Boys Marist won the battle of the Marist clubs for the Father Cleary Shield, beating Marist St. Pat's 28-13 at the Hutt Recreation Ground.

Upper Hutt got up to beat Rimutaka 60-8 at Maoribank Park and retain the Darryl Amies Cup.

In the fifth round of the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield, Old Boys University won the battle of the previously unbeaten clubs, defeating Avalon 33-26 and shooting to the outright lead at the top of the standings.

The Wellington Axemen beat Poneke 25-3 and won the Spud Lindsay Memorial Trophy to move to second on the points table.

Johnsonville were the biggest winners of the day across all three grades, toppling winless Upper Hutt 72-5, while Tawa round out the top four after their 28-7 victory over Northern United.

Petone got up to beat Wainuiomata 31-12 and Paremata-Plimmerton enjoyed a bonus point 29-16 win over Marist St. Pat's.

In round five Senior 2 National Mutual Cup encounters, Avalon grabbed their fifth straight win of the season and consigned Stokes Valley to their fifth defeat by beating them 34-10. Avalon also won the interclub Roger Mildenhall Trophy in this match.

The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles' second XV overcame MSP's third XV 42-0 and they too are unbeaten after five rounds of the National Mutual Cup.

Old Boys University toppled the Wests Roosters 43-32 in a high scoring match, while Wainuiomata edged Petone 11-10 in the lowest scoring game of the 15 played today.

In the other Senior 2 encounters, Ories smoked Poneke 68-12 and Norths pulled clear of Johnsonville to win 27-17.

In some Swindale Shield highlights, the Wests Roosters finally clicked into gear by scoring four tries against an under manned OBU, missing several players to NZ Universities duty or injury.

The Roosters went to a 12-3 lead early after wing Tupeni Kamakorewa pounced from a knock-on and scored their second try. This was followed by a try scored through their midfield and the Roosters were ahead 19-3 at halftime.

Wests lost players to the sinbin and OBU came back into the game. Briefly though. Restored to their full complement Wests held on and grabbed a hugely important win.

Speedster Jason Love flew in for the first two tries to give Wainuiomata a 12-7 lead over Petone.? With halfback Frae Wilson back on deck and first five-eighth John Monu re-creating his dangerous form from last year, Wainuiomata held on and went to the break leading 24-10.

Petone came right back after the break with a try to wing Naph Sulusi. Wainuiomata hooker Dion Lealofi was sinbinned and the Villagers were awarded a penalty try shortly after.

But, like the Roosters, the green and blacks dug deep for their first victory of 2013. Right wing Teru Time scored the winning try late in the contest to keep alive their Jubilee Cup aspirations.

Upper Hutt's championship round hopes are also still alive after they registered their second successive win, running in nine tries against minnows Rimutaka. Wing Max Pearson scored a hat trick.

HOBM moved into outright third and pushed MSP back into the pack with their bonus point win in their first game at home this year. They set the tone early with young hooker James O'Reilly dashing 40 metres to score.

This was followed by the first of two tries to wing Elisala Soloa and the first of two penalties to flyhalf ?Brandyn Laursen, and the Eagles led 13-3.

This became 16-3 early in the second half and then 16-6, ahead of Soloa's second try which put the game out of reach of MSP.

Ories won a highly entertaining match over Poneke. They scored the game's first two tries, to flanker Tutasi Masoe and to first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili, to lead 12-6.

Poneke fullback Tausasosi Tuimavavae kicked his third penalty to close the margin to three points, before Fili was sin binned late in the first half and Poneke responded with a try to wing Faresa Tasele. Poneke led 16-12 at the oranges.

The second half remained tight, Ories hitting the front and taking a 25-24 lead into the final 10 minutes, before centre Paulo Aukuso scored the match winner at the end. Fullback Oliver Best converted Aukuso's try and Ories took all the points on offer from the match.

At Lyndhurst Park, Norths' supporters thought their team had done enough to win, when, several minutes from fulltime, they counterattacked from 70 metres out and broke up field into space.

Left wing Nene Va'alepu, playing in his first match of the season, split the defence up the middle and fired a lovely pass to the flying fullback Johnny Teleaga in support and the latter ran in to score a try that was reminiscent of Norths of recent seasons.

This made it 27-21 to Norths, who had come back into the game from being 8-21 down late in the first half and had now piled on 19 unanswered points.

Tawa were all over Norths early on. Their pack attacked their set-pieces and bulldozed their way straight up the middle.

Norths' reply was to score three consecutive tries, including a decisive try on the stroke of halftime that closed the deficit to 15-21 at the interval.

Norths played a fast-paced game using width, and in the second half ?mounted an aerial bombardment.

Halfback Tomasi Palu with his cool head and direction and young gun first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop with his execution and lovely skip-out passing game were key men for Norths. Openside flanker Dean Brunsdon, supported by hooker Aiden Cains and No. 8 Anthony Masina also had big games.

Norths' first comeback try came from a turnover at the back of a defensive Tawa scrum on their own 22. Norths fired the ball out to Nene Va'alepu who raced through to score in the corner. Garden-Bachop kicked the sideline conversion to Va'alepu's try, his second of the game.

The second half remained tight and tense, before Norths' kicking and chasing tactics finally paid dividends, setting up field position. Winning quick ball off an attacking lineout in front of the clubrooms through former Hurricanes lock Api Naikatini, Garden-Bachop rifled the ball across Tawa's posts to replacement centre Siaosi Anamani and he sliced through to score. Garden-Bachop's conversion put Norths in front for the first time at 22-21.

Then came fullback Teleaga's try and Norths thought they'd won. But Tawa had one final assault on Norths' line. It was repelled and Norths were awarded a defensive scrum. But from this Tawa won a turnover and their own put-in. They broke openside across their posts and blindside flanker Joketani Koroi crashed over. Fullback Randall Bishop added the extras and Tawa won by a point.

Earlier in the match, Tawa had stunned Norths with a penalty and a converted try to first five-eighth Junior Togia, a late replacement at pivot for injured Willie Lafaele, to make it 10-0.

Norths replied through Va'alepu's first try and a penalty, closing the gap to 10-8, before Tawa captain and lock Filisione Koloamatangi scored off a well-executed lineout drive and fullback Randall Bishop kicked a pair of penalties to increase the margin to 21-8.

In the curtain-raiser at Lyndhurst Park, Tawa beat Northern United 28-7, but it wasn't pretty. Several cards were dished out, including two reds which marred the four tries to one bonus point win to Tawa.

Tawa scored two unanswered tries and led 15-0 at halftime, a lead that could have been greater if not for a knock-on over the line just prior to the turnaround.

It didn't matter though, as Tawa's right wing plucked a high kick out of the air and, fortuitously, scampered away to extend the lead to 20-0. Their fourth try in the corner five minutes later extended the lead to 25-0 and sealed the result.

With over 20 minutes still to play, Norths came back with a try, converted from the sideline by veteran Peato Lafaele, but the damage had been done earlier and the home side kept their cool to win.

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For comprehensive Swindale Shield match reports from the Dominion Post click here

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