Interest high for second round competitions

Above: Unfamiliar territory. Northern United will join Rimutaka in the Hardham Cup starting Saturday, along with Upper Hutt and the Wests Roosters and the three Senior 1 teams from the first round who are hoping to win promotion for next year.

Interest is high ahead of the start of the second round club rugby competitions in Wellington this Saturday.

After a hotly contested first round that resulted in Tawa winning its maiden Premier club rugby title, the Swindale Shield, the season moves into championship mode this weekend.

The headline act over the next two months is the 85th running of the Premier Jubilee Cup, played between the leading eight finishers of the just completed 12-team Swindale Shield.

The bottom four Swindale Shield teams are joined by the top four of the first round Senior 1 division to contest the Premier 2 Hardham Cup, while the second round Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup, Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup, Premier Women's Victoria Tavern Trophy and U21 second round John E Kelly Cup all gets under way this weekend.

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Jubilee Cup

In the Jubilee Cup, all eyes will be on Tawa to see if they can maintain their momentum and capture the coveted Swindale Shield-Jubilee Cup double this year.

The rest of the field will be trying their upmost to prevent that happening. The Jubilee Cup is traditionally when some of Wellington's leading clubs spring into life, none more so than defending champions Marist St Pat's and Petone.

MSP played positive rugby in holding Tawa to a draw last Saturday. Understrength, with several injuries, MSP can only get better and they are sure to be in the mix when the business end of the season comes around.

Petone, who are also steeped in Jubilee Cup tradition, have seen their impressive form of earlier in the season wane in recent weeks following their round nine 37-24 win over MSP. The Villagers have let in a combined 108 points in their most recent two games, against OBU and Ories.

2011 champions and beaten 2012 finalists Ories appear in ominous form. In the last three weeks they've beaten Norths at home 50-19, the Wests Roosters away 65-12 and Petone at home 45-15. During the win against Norths it was noted the number of high quality Ories players who were not playing. Hurricanes players acting as water boys (Motu Matu'u) and taking their dogs for a walk (Mark Reddish) and injured halfback Sean Hay (broken arm) aside, there were several players chomping at the bit for a return to action. These included prop Whetu Henry, wing Ambrose Plaister and lock Dan Reddish. It's hard not to see Ories making the semi-finals.

With wins over MSP, Poneke and Wests and a 27-27 draw against OBU, Ories also took out the unofficial City Slam competition as the club with the best record in matches played amongst the five Wellington city Premier clubs.

Wainuiomata were the big movers and shakers of the Swindale Shield. Last year's beaten semi-finalists lost their first four games straight and looked disjointed early on. But they recovered to win six of their next seven games to? finish fourth in the Swindale Shield, one better than last year.

With a core group of experienced players in their ranks - some of whom who have been in their team since they first joined the Premier division in 2006/2007, such as joint leading try scorer Jason Love (10 tries), lock Glen Angus and Genesis and Tau Mamea - they will be especially dangerous at home in at William Jones Park.

Hutt Old Boys Marist were the best attacking team in the Swindale Shield, scoring 427 points in their 11 games. This was boosted of course by their 127-0 win over Rimutaka, but every other club knows that they like to move the ball and play a fast paced game.

When they do they are great to watch. Last year the Eagles won the Swindale Shield but then faded to finish well out of the running for Jubilee Cup contention, so the Eagles faithful will be hoping for a return to the winner's podium after beating MSP 18-10 in the 2007 final.

Another club that comes to life in the second half of the season is Poneke, who will be relishing the prospect of playing hide the ball in the gloomy conditions of the next few weeks.

Poneke scraped into the Jubilee Cup round by beating OBU 24-15 in a must-win encounter last week. They had an up and down Swindale Shield campaign but beat three out of the top four finishing sides, including taking a 9-8 victory over Tawa in round four.

A big blow for them is the loss of their inspirational captain Misipalauni Moananu, who broke his arm in warm-ups last week. Struggling for depth this season, they can't afford any more injuries to key players.

Old Boys University are probably the most dangerous side in this year's Jubilee Cup. The Billy Goats have also been up and down, not helped by losing several players for a few rounds midseason to the NZ Universities team and to injury. But they've also showed that when they're on their game they're smoking hot. They proved this just a fortnight ago when they defeated Petone 63-28.

All teams will want to hit the ground running in this week's first round Jubilee Cup matches.

Ories host Petone at the Polo Ground? - back to back after playing them there and winning 45-15 just last week.

Similarly, Poneke host OBU at Killbirnie Park - back to back after playing them at Nairnville Park and winning 24-15 last week.

Hutt Old Boys Marist host MSP at the Hutt Recreation Ground and Tawa and Wainuiomata square off at Lyndhurst Park.

In first round results, HOBM beat MSP 28-13 on Anzac Day and Tawa toppled Wainuiomata at William Jones Park back in week two.

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Hardham Cup

Is there a significant gap in the standard between Premier Swindale Shield and Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield level?

On face value it's hard to see Rimutaka returning to play in the Swindale Shield next year. After all they've just conceded a known record amount of points of any team ever in 11 rounds of first round Premier rugby, letting in 896 points. They've also only scored seven tries and 47 points.

Similarly, the Wests Roosters, who finished one spot above Rimutaka, but at least managed two wins - including a 50-point win over Rimutaka - appear vulnerable to the drop and it would only take a loss to one of the three Premier hopefuls or even to the eighth side OBU B and they could be treading water.

But recent history shows that the three Premier hopefuls - first round Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield winners Johnsonville, runners-up the Wellington Axemen and Avalon - will all have their work cut out for them to re-earn their Premier status for next year.

A combination of these teams playing lower ranked opposition week in and week out, the sheer desperation of the Premier incumbents and the winter rugby conditions will all work against Johnsonville, Wellington and Avalon.

The likes of Rimutaka and Wests will naturally lift knowing they have to win for their club's survival and playing against easier opposition who are not going to trample all over them like Tawa or cut them up out wide like Ories or HOBM.

To earn promotion to next year's Swindale Shield, one or more of Johnsonville, Wellington and Avalon have to finish higher than one or more of the four current Swindale Shield clubs - Rimutaka, Wests, Northern United and Upper Hutt.

Of the Premier hopefuls, the Wellington Axemen have been in the Senior 1 and Senior 2 wilderness for a decade now, a 0-25 loss to then Senior 1 club HOBM in the 2002 Hardham halting their association with the top echelon of Wellington club rugby. Wellington's oldest club have an extremely tough home ground to play on and win at in Hataitai Park.

They've now won 28 straight games there. In terms of personnel, they have several top players, headlined by Wellington Lions trialist and Wellington U20 No.8/lock Vaea Fifita and prop Eti Sului who was in the NZ Secondary Schools team last year out of Wellington College. Other players include one of the best defensive midfielders in Wellington club rugby in former Ories and Wests second five-eighth Ahtun Masun.

In recent years both Johnsonville and Avalon have found it too tough to earn re-promotion after impressing in the first round of the Senior 1 competition. One, two or a combination of all factors above have come into play and they have lost vital matches.

In terms of the draw, Avalon play all four current? Premier clubs at home at Fraser Park, hosting Norths there in round two, Wests in round three, Upper Hutt in round five and Rimutaka in round six.

Johnsonville will need to get off to a good start. They play their first three matches against the three promoted teams, against Avalon (home), OBU B (home) and Wellington (away). They then play the four current Premier clubs consecutively between rounds four and seven, including dates with Upper Hutt and Norths in the final two round-robin weeks of the season.

On Swindale Shield form, Upper Hutt and Northern United are heavily favoured to be the two teams to chase as far as winning the Hardham Cup goes.

Both should win their first three matches before meeting at Porirua Park in round four to probably decide which of the two qualifies first for the semi-finals at the end of July.

Norths find themselves in the unfamiliar position of playing in the Hardham Cup, for the first time since the mid-1990s.? Their basic problem this year against the top teams has been a lack of firepower in the forwards. Through a combination of injuries and retirements, their pack has been gutted in the last season or two and they are rebuilding.

They've also recently lost two of their best players to international commitments, former Hurricane and lock Api Naikatini and former Wellington Lion and halfback Tomasi Palu currently involved with the respective Fijian and Tongan squads.

Their backs are as slick as ever though, with former local rugby league star Johnny Teleaga at fullback, the Va'alepu brothers, Nene and AJ and oodles of experience in the midfield to call on in Siaosi Anamani and Peato Lafaele they'll be too good for most Hardham Cup teams. First five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop has a wonderful passing game that could set up their outside backs to do plenty of damage in the next several weeks.

Upper Hutt enter the Hardham Cup with confidence. They've won their last three games, including beating HOBM 38-35, after leading 35-14 at one point. Playing at home at Maidstone Park especially they'll be dangerous and they should win all three of their round-robin matches there, against Rimutaka, OBU B and Johnsonville.

Upper Hutt had injury woes throughout the Swindale Shield, particularly in their forwards, but with the likes of up and coming first five-eighth/fullback Liam Berry, Wellington Lions halfback Kayne Hammington and long-serving utility back Ben Aoina they've no shortage of strikepower.

The eighth team lining up in this year's Hardham Cup is OBU B and their role is as spoilers. If they can knock off one or two of the other clubs then they could cause havoc on the points table and with the best laid plans of the three Premier hopefuls.

‘B' teams can and regularly do cause upsets. MSP B made the Hardham Cup semi-finals last year ahead of Rimutaka and Johnsonville.

This is the first Hardham Cup season in many years with just one B team. There's been between two and three B teams in the Hardham Cup every year since 2002.

As part of this week's first round Hardham Cup matches, Rimutaka host the Wellington Axemen at Maidstone Park at 3.00 pm in a massive first-up match of both clubs. This game could well end up determining each other's fates for 2014.

Similarly, the first round encounter at Helston Park at 3.00 pm between Johnsonville and Avalon promises to be hugely important for the fates of both clubs. These two teams met just a fortnight ago, with Johnsonville winning 17-16.

Wests will hope to reverse their 30-34 Swindale Shield loss to Upper Hutt from three weeks ago when they meet at Ian Galloway Park at 3.00 pm, while Norths should overcome OBU B at Porirua Park at 3.00 pm without too many problems.

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Other Grades

The second round Premier women's Victoria Tavern Trophy gets underway this Saturday, with first round Fleurs Trophy team Norths the team to beat.

Norths racked up 248 points and conceded just 13 in winning the first round title. They play defending second round champions Wainuiomata at Porirua Park at 11.30 am in their competition opener.

The other two matches are between MSP-Poneke and Old Boys University at Kilbirnie Park at 11.30 am and Ories and Avalon at the Polo Ground at 11.30 am.

The opening weekend of second round Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup sees the highest qualifier from the first round, Petone, play promoted Ories at the Polo Gound at 1.15 pm in the Jubilee Cup curtain-raiser.

In the Jubilee Cup curtain-raiser at the Hutt Rec at 1.15 pm, first round Senior 2 winners and unbeaten HOBM take on MSP who finished eighth in the first round Senior 1 competition.

Tawa and Wainuiomata meet in the early match on Lyndhurst Park at 1.15 pm, Norths and Paremata-Plimmerton meet in the Hardham Cup curtain-raiser at Porirua Park at 1.15 pm and Poneke and Upper clash in the main game at Kilbirnie Park at 3.00 pm.

In Senior 2 rugby, Stokes Valley celebrate their Old Timers' Day by hosting MSP at Delaney Park at 3.00 pm.

The highest ranked team from the first round, OBU, travel to Kilbirne Park at 1.15 pm to play the lowest finisher, Poneke. In other matches, the second XVs of Johnsonville and Avalon meet in the early match at Helston Park at 1.15 pm, the Wests Roosters host Petone at Ian Galloway Park at 1.15 pm and Norths and Wainuiomata play on the top field at Porirua Park at 1.15 pm.

In first round John E Kelly Cup U21 rugby, first round winners OBU Green play Johnsonville, runners-up HOBM Green play Petone Blue, Norths and Wellington and Poneke and Ories clash in their other two games.

It's the eighth and penultimate weekend of matches of the first round U85 kg Restricted Division 1 JC Bowl.

The MSP Blues (on 35 points) and the Tawa Titans (34)? are both unbeaten after seven rounds and well clear of the rest of the field. The MSP Blues play the sixth placed Wellington at Hataitai Park at 3.00 pm and the Tawa Titans play the eighth placed Petone Vipers at the Petone Rec at 1.15 pm.

Eastbourne (23) can maintain third if they beat winless Poneke Cav's at H.W Shortt Park at 3.00 pm, while the fourth placed MSP Reds (17) host the seventh placed Onslow OBU Bunnies at Martin Luckie Park at 1.15 pm and the fifth placed Upper Hutt Stallions and ninth placed HOBM play on the Hutt Rec 2 at 3.00 pm.