Swindale Shield goes down to the wire on Good Friday

Above: Ories and the Upper Hutt Rams pack down for a scrum at Maidstone Park on Friday. The Rams come into town on Monday to play the Wellington Axemen in the fifth round Club Rugby: Extra Time highlights match.

It was a Good Friday for Wellington club followers today following a pulsating set of matches that had fans wanting much more. That's okay, as the next round of matches is on Monday when the 12 Premier teams do it all again in this weekend's second leg of Easter rugby.

Following last night's blockbuster 30-30 draw between Wainuiomata and Marist St Pat's, four of today's five games went down to the wire and three of them were decided in the shadows of fulltime and could have gone either way.

At Maidstone Park, the Upper Hutt Rams came back from 6-22 down at halftime to score five second half tries and pip Ories 39-29. At Porirua Park, Northern United's Perry Hayman scored his second try at the end to give Norths a 21-18 win over Petone. At Helston Park, Johnsonville pushed HOBM close in going down 23-28 and at Kilbirnie Park, OBU crossed for a death-knock try to beat Poneke 24-21. Poneke then threw everything at the Billy Goats in the dying seconds but came up short. At fortress Lyndhurst Park, Tawa beat Wellington 45-22 after it was 14-14 at halftime.

The ramifications of these fourth round results mean defending champions Tawa are out in front all alone at the top of the standings with a perfect record of four bonus point wins and fast closing in on 200 points, with MSP second on 17, the Upper Hutt Rams 13 and a blanket over the chasing pack with six teams all within a win of each other.

Easter Monday's rugby looms large for several sides who could either sink or swim in the fifth round set of clashes.

Club Rugby was on hand at a balmy Kilbirnie Park today where the rugby was sweltering at times as both sides, Poneke and OBU, bombed numerous chances only for OBU to take the win in the closing stages when livewire centre James Waddell sprinted away to score a converted try under the bar to put OBU ahead 24-21.

Poneke were presented with the opportunity to draw level but chose to go for the try instead of a penalty and they couldn't crack the Goats' defence.

Earlier, Poneke had scored two tries in the first half to lead 18-10 at halftime. Former Norths and Greytown No. 8 Nathan Iro crossing in the corner after his opposite Teariki Ben-Nicholas conceded a turnover for Poneke flanker Galu Taufale to snaffle and set up Iro, and left wing James Solomon intercepting an OBU pass and galloping away to score under the bar. OBU replied with a try to Ben-Nicholas after a shortside dart by halfback Tomasi Palu.

Poneke pulled ahead 21-10 just after halftime, but OBU crossed through replacement flanker Tom Lawday and then Waddell at the end.

The match at Maidstone Park was pure rugby theatre.

Ories scorched to a seemingly comfortable 22-6 lead at halftime, on the back of a penalty try and tries to centre Paulo Aukoso and left wing Tuga Mativa.

But the Rams breathed fire at halftime and they rocked Ories with three converted tries in 10 minutes, to Player of the Match hooker Anaru Rangi, midfielder Jason Henry and Mathew Lumanau, to take a 25-22 lead after 50 minutes. ?

The Rams then crossed for their bonus point try to lead 32-22, before Aukoso crossed for his brace to close it up to 32-29.

Ories then missed a late chance to tie the scores up and escape with a draw, but the Rams broke out and wing Max Pearson scored a last-gasp converted try to give them a 10-point win.

At Helston Park, home side Johnsonville once again played with tremendous spirit and commitment in running HOBM close and picking up their fourth consecutive bonus point loss for finishing within 7 points.

Johnsonville rocked HOBM early with a try to loose forward Louis Karl, converted by Japanese second five-eighth Hiro Nakata. Nakata kicked a penalty and Johnsonville led 10-0.

HOBM came back to score two converted tries and lead 14-13 at halftime, before scoring twice more to take a 28-13 advantage in the back end of the game. But the dogged Hawks kept in touch with the Eagles and closed to within five points at the end.

The Wellington Axemen were blown away by Tawa 22-45 in the second half - after drawing level at 14-14 on the stroke of halftime with a try in the corner by first five-eighth Hilton Mexted. Wellington had been rewarded for a strong start with an early converted try to flanker Vaea Fifita.

HOBM scored first after halftime with Alfred Pelenise going over, this igniting the powerful Tawa pack and they pulled away over the final half hour. For Tawa, seven individuals scored their tries.

A report of the Wainuiomata - MSP game is below.

In the Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield, Avalon and the Upper Hutt Rams remain the two unbeaten teams after the opening four rounds.

Avalon overcame previously unbeaten Tawa's challenge 23-19, while the Rams defeated Ories 27-13.

OBU beat Paremata-Plimmerton 32-29 in the closest Senior 1 contest of the day, while Petone beat Norths 46-3, HOBM defeated the Wests Roosters 48-17 and MSP blanked Wainuiomata 27-0 last night at Porirua Park.

In the Senior 2 National Mutual Cup, Wellington and Poneke continue to set the pace after each recording contrasting wins today.

Wellington battled to a 15-3 win over MSP, while Poneke defeated OBU 37-12 after leading 18-7 at halftime.

Avalon are in third after beating the Upper Hutt Rams 29-14 and HOBM beat Johnsonville 34-5 and the Wests Roosters versus Stokes Valley encounter was postponed. Details pending.

The second round of Fleurs Trophy women's matches is tomorrow.

Wainuiomata 30 - MSP 30

By Scott MacLean

Night rugby can be a bit hit-and-miss, but those who made the trip to Porirua Park for Wainuiomata's rescheduled and relocated home game against Marist St Pats were given an early Easter treat as the two sides produced an entertaining and captivating 30-all draw.

The game may not have started worse for Wainuiomata, losing prop David Va'a to injury in the first few minutes and then conceding the opening try when Isiah Petelo was first to a Fa'atonu Fili grubber kick that he had toed through in the back of the large in-goal area, with Fili adding the extras. Things could have gotten worse for the green and blacks when fullback Josh Robertson-Weepu lost possession after cleaning up another grubber, but Ivan Vaisagote lost the ball with the line at his mercy.

Wainui regrouped and after John Monu missed a penalty, further sustained pressure saw lock Shahn Eru barged his way with the try awarded after discussion between referee Tim Baker and his assistant. The two sides then traded penalties before Baker tired of MSP infringements at the breakdown and yellow carded lock Nick Harrison. Wainuiomata made the man advantage count, with No8 Ben Tupuola going over. Monu missed the conversion and Wainui took a 13-10 lead into halftime.

The second half may be one of the best periods of 40 minutes you'll see in club rugby this year. MSP flew out of the blocks, with Petelo breaking the line after some Fili magic, and after quick phase ball the old master found a hard-running Andrew Wells who went over. Then soon after the restart a Wainui clearing kick found Wells on his 22 who then, as he always seems too, threaded his way through a number of players before being tackled at midfield. The ball was spun wide left to winger Ryan Setefano who beat one players at the line, stepped infield to beat another, shrugged off Wainui's Corey Draper before going in with defenders in his wake. It was a piece of individual brilliance that, once Fili converted, seemed to have blown the game open.

Wainui however were not broken. One foray into MSP's 22 saw them rewarded with a penalty that Monu kicked, before their two stars of the night Tupuola and Eru combined to find space down the right. Three phases later and from left of the posts Eru crashed over for his second and with Monu converting this one they took the lead 23-22. By this stage the game had been reduced to uncontested scrums with the departure of Wainui's second starting prop Attila Va'a, but its a credit that it did nothing to detract from the game.

MSP retook the lead through Fili's second penalty of the night when Michael Lealava'a was yellow carded for an early tackle on Peter Sciascia, but Wainui remained resolute and looked like that they may have sewn the game up when Eru flew down the left wing like a winger to complete his hat-trick and the first in the Swindale Shield this year and Monu added the extras to make it 30-25.

However MSP's Isaac O'Connor secured possession from the restart and MSP drove their way to the goalline. Their first attempts to cross were turned back, butSciascia found O'Connor who managed to get the ball down in the corner. Fili's sideline conversion drifted across the face and although MSP made it back to Wainuiomata's goalline following the kickoff they were turned over possession at a ruck and the game ended 30-all.

Wainuiomata's second draw gave them vital competition points, while MSP will see it as two points dropped as they try to remain in touch with leaders Tawa.

While Shahn Eru will rightly get plenty of plaudits for his three tries the best on the park was No8 Ben Tupuola, who was his sides major source of go forward and never seemed to be stopped short of the gain line.

?