Full day of club and college rugby tomorrow as competitions intensify

Wainuiomata return home tomorrow to play Tawa for both the Chris Stirling Cup and Bill Brown Challenge Trophy, while Northern United meet the Upper Hutt Rams at Maidstone Park for the Terry Farrow Memorial Cup. 

• By Scott MacLean & Steven White

The rugby fields of Wellington will be in full swing tomorrow with a bumper slate of matches in all grades.

It is Old Timers’ Days at both the Upper Hutt Rams and Poneke clubs, while there are some traditional matchups being contested elsewhere.

Kick-off times vary tomorrow, owing to the Hurricanes fixture later in the afternoon so check guides for times. Men’s 10^th round Swindale Shield matches kick-off at either 2.15pm or 2.45pm, depending on the venue.

Tomorrow’s radio commentary match is coming from Hataitai Park in the battle between the Wellington Axemen and the Avalon Wolves. This can be heard on 1161am or by visiting teupoko.co.nz tuning into the live radio stream.

A major milestone in the women’s competition tomorrow too, with Poneke/OBU tighthead prop Maria Apera-Jones playing her 150^th match. In the men’s competition, Logan Henry (Petone) and Luca Rees (Norths) are playing their 100^th games for their clubs.

For draws & teamlists (as received) visit: https://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/games-results.php?competition=1&season=21&round=10

Premier Swindale Shield

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The attention this weekend falls on two games at very different ends of the table. Leaders Old Boys-University (41) take their six-point lead at the top of the standings with them out to Ngati Toa Domain and a clash with current Swindale holders Paremata-Plimmerton (33), who’s last gasp win against Johnsonville saw the climb into third on the ladder. The pair met in the final round last year, a win for the Hammerheads that saw them claim their maiden Premier honour and you can be certain that the Goats will want to repay that.

The Hammerheads have made several changes to their team from last week’s last-gasp win -mostly positional changes. In some of these, Esi Komaisavai drops from halfback to fullback, with Jake Tibbits at halfback, former OBU player Dale Sabbagh starts in the midfield for Matt Goosen, Leni Apisai starts at hooker for Tony Coburn, Zeke Fiso rerturns to lock for Junior Davey and Keepa Cherrington is listed at blindside for Tane McMillan-Parata.

OBU are strengthened by three of their NZ Universities players back for this match, including captain and hooker Louie Calvert and lock Jack Riley in the forwards and Ty Poe to the wing. A few other changes, including the return of Callum Harkin to first five, playing outside halfback Kyle Preston and inside second five Malo Manuo.

In the city at Hataitai Park is a match where pride is certainly at stake as winless pair Wellington and Avalon meet. The pair were both mathematically eliminated from Jubilee Cup contention last week, but each will see this as their best opportunity to nab a win this season and avoid the wooden spoon

Home team the Axemen continue to make changes to their line-up week-to-week. Tomorrow, they welcome back James Tuia to openside flanker after three weeks sidelined. There are four Tuias/Tuiatuas in their team tomorrow, with Ben at centre, Lucky at blindside and Tui on the bench. Other changes include a new first-five in Te Aranga Hakiwai and a new fullback in Heta Leopoamo.

Similarly, the Wolves have several changes from last week, some positional. In players coming in this week, Jack Ena starts at halfback, Ale Peni at second five, Toby Oliver at centre, Ezra Sione-Leota to the right wing and Asola Taape at openside. Their co-captains are loosehead prop Jacob Faifai ad fullback Jordan Aquila.

The busy part of town tomorrow is the Hutt Valley, where four of the five Premier clubs are at home. In terms of the standings the highest profile is on the south side of the river with old foes Petone (35) and Marist St Pat’s (30) meeting at the Petone Rec. The Villagers were relatively untroubled in seeing off Avalon, but tomorrow is the start of three tough matches in as many weeks with the McBain clash next week looming on the horizon. MSP did enough to beat Poneke last round and will be looking to move further into the top eight and will be looking to exploit any sign their opposition are thinking too far ahead.

Visitors MSP are missing Lions No. 8 Keelan Whitman, so Chris Simone comes into the loose forward group. James Zino replaces Viliame Raresa at lock, while Charles Hankins starts at hooker for Gabe Meredith. Josh To’omaga looms as a key player off the bench.

For home side Petone, halfback Logan Henry captains the team in his 100^th Premier match for Petone. Losi Filipo comes back into centre and Villami Fine comes off the bench following his Moana Pasifika commitments. Another play on Petone’s bench and making his Premier debut is loose forward Ridge Studd who has come back to rugby after a much publicised incident against MSP’s 7s team four years ago.

Across the river is the clash between two side looking to get back in the winner’s column. Hutt Old Boys Marist (32) will have been frustrated to have let slip the chance to keep the pressure on OBU with their loss to Upper Hutt seeing them drop to fourth, but that will be nothing compared to the frustration in the Johnsonville (23) camp after losing in the 80^th minute for the third week in a row; surely there’s no more luckless side in the country at present.

The Eagles welcome back Keinan Higgins to centre after a few weeks off, and he partners the strapping Albert Polu in the midfield. Kobe Joe-Vulu moves to fullback for the injured Zane Ainslie. The forward pack is unchanged from last week.

The Hawks have made one change to their pack which missed out last Saturday, with Ofa Ueseli coming in at No. 8 for Sean Rankin. In the inside backs, Mark Sutton returns to start at halfback and Jack Taulapapa moves out one to first-five.

At the head of the valley the Upper Hutt Rams (30) are at Maidstone for another week and will look to follow up their minor upset victory over HOBM with another over strugglers Norths. The visitors have just a single win on the year – that coming over Wellington – and it would be a surprise to see them double that, but you can never count them completely out.

Home team the Rams have selected a new halfback-first-five combination for this contest, with Potene Rolls-Paewai at halfback and Tynan Barrett in the 10 jersey. Josh Hunt starts at centre for Dan Schrijvers , Josh Mallon starts for Pene To’o at No. 8, Vaini Halafihi for Jared Woodward at lock, Leon Tuiloma back in to the team at hooker for Eli Hunt and Cameron Dee for Senio Sanele at prop.

Visitors Norths have a third starting halfback in as many weeks, with Rodney Roebeck wearing the No. 9 jersey. A new midfield for this match, with La’i Masau at second five and last week’s halfback Jermaine Avei-Collins at centre.  Yannis Faletau comes on to the right wing. The Norths forward pack is unchanged from last Saturday, with loosehead prop Bradley Crichton, openside Jeremiah Avei-Collins and No. 8 Luca Rees playing his 100^th game for Norths amongst their key players.

The fourth match is over the Hill Road in Wainuiomata (23), where Tawa (27) make the journey from their Lyndhurst home. The visitors currently occupy that eighth-place courtesy of their win over Ories and are rounding into the sort of form we’ve become accustomed to in recent times and loom as a threat in the playoffs. The locals though will be tough opponents and a win here will be a massive boost to their own chances of cracking the top eight, as well as another successful defence of the Bill Brien Challenge Cup.

For Wainuiomata, Teru Time comes back into the starting team at blindside flanker, with Greg Lealofi at openside and Matt Jacobs to the bench. In the front town, Kade Tiatia is starting loosehead prop and Dion Lealofi starting hooker, in place of  Tui Yandall and Lorenzo Pili respectively.

Tawa have a few tweaks to their line-up from that which lined up at the start of the match last Saturday against Ories. Chris Middleton left injured and is out tomorrow, so Akira Ieremia lines up with Lipa Saveatama at lock and George Risale comes into blindside. Luke Walmsley starts at first five, while a changed midfield sees Sene Nofoaiga and Samanoa Euta replaced Kalim Kelemete and Connor Sharrock who is on the bench.

And finally it’s back into the city, and another one of those clashes that gets circled on the calendar when the draw comes out. For the second week in succession Poneke (21) hosts one of their eastern suburbs brethren; this time its Oriental-Rongotai (31) in the feature match of Old Timers Day at Kilbirnie Park. There’s more than just bragging rights and the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield in play, with valuable competition points at stake and both coming off losses last week.

A few changes for Poneke this week, who were injury hit last Saturday. In some of these, halfback Jimmy-Lee Hongara pays his ninth game of the year but makes his first start at halfback, with Devon Sopoaga on the bench. Mitchell Gough is at hooker and Pasia Asiata at blindside after playing on the wing last week. In the backs, Isaiah Opai moves from wing to centre for Wilf Batham-Read, while Isaac Moe Jenkins comes back on to the right wing.

Ories have also made a clutch of changes from their flat loss to Tawa last week. Lions flanker Sione Halalilo returns to the line-up to play his 50^th game. Three other players to come into the run-on pack are props Connor Lemon and Christian Semu and blindside Malachi Tia. In the backs, Alex Ropeti comes back and starts at second five, while Daniel Tafili is named at fullback in place of Tuga Mativa.

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There are four interclub trophies in play tomorrow:

• As noted above, Poneke and Ories contest their Jim Grbich Memorial Shield. Grbich joined Poneke in 1950 and quickly became a star and formed a deadly combination with Moray Bevan in midfield that they carried through to the Wellington representative side and New Zealand Maori. Later moving into the forwards, he was said to have been “at the peak of his powers” when he died in a late-night car accident near the Tawa interchange in 1962, aged 31. First played for two years later, the shield is held by Ories from their 49-7 win late last season.
• Petone and MSP play for the Bill Elvy Memorial Shield. Originally from Canterbury, Elvy was an All Black in the mid-1920s and played for Petone after arriving in Wellington. The MSP connection comes from his son Norm, who played for both the Marist and St Pat’s Old Boys clubs and grandson Martin who turned out for MSP. MSP hold it from their 23-20 win last year, but Petone won the more recent meeting between the two – the Hardham Cup Final.
• The Terry Farrow Memorial Cup is the prize for Upper Hutt and Norths. Farrow was a Life Member of Norths, and amongst those instrumental in the club’s creation from the merger of Porirua and Titahi Bay. His father George had previously received the same honour at Upper Hutt. First played for in 2000, it is held by the Rams from their 56-29 win last year.
• Two trophies are on the line when Wainuiomata and Tawa meet. Chris Stirling played over 200 times for Tawa and served as the club coaching coordinator for both clubs before embarking on a lengthy coaching career here and in the UK and is currently the General Manager High Performance for the Hurricanes. The cup in his name was donated by Wainuiomata in appreciation of his work and held by Tawa from their comprehensive 76-3 win early last year. The other in play is the Bill Brien Challenge Cup currently held by Wainuiomata.

There’s a mix of kick-off times this week; the matches at Maidstone, Hataitai, and Kilbirnie are at the regular 2.45pm, with the other four all pushed up to 2.15pm starts.

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Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield

With four rounds left there’s a clear “Top Six/Bottom 8” divide with ten points separating Pare-Plim (32) and Ories (22). The former hosts the only match amongst the top sides when they host leaders OBU (40) at Ngati Toa, while chasers Petone and HOBM (both 38) are both at home against MSP (12) and Johnsonville (16) respectively.

Tawa (37) haven’t given up their chase of a fourth-straight title and they’re away at William Jones against Wainuiomata (13), with Poneke (35) at home against the aforementioned Ories. Eighth and ninth meet at Maidstone with the Upper Hutt Rams (19) taking on Norths (18), with Wellington (16) hosting bottom-side Avalon (7) at Hataitai.

Times are mixed, this week, so check the draws and results page.

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Women’s Tia Paasi Memorial and Izzy Ford Cups

Tomorrow sees the final round of matches in each before next week’s playoff fixtures. In the Tia Paasi Memorial Petone travel into the city to face Oriental Rongotai at the Polo Ground, while Wainuiomata were at home on William Jones for the visit of Norths but have defaulted owing a high injury toll and too few fit players at present.

The sole match in the Izzy Ford Cup has the Poneke-OBU combined side starting the day off at Kilbirnie Park when they host Avalon. Paremata-Plimmerton has the bye.

Poneke/OBU tighthead prop Maria Apera-Jones is playing her 150^th match on Poneke Old Timers’ Day at Kilbirnie Park.

The match at William Jones is an 11am start with the other two at 11.30am.

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Colts Paris Memorial Trophy

After having the long weekend off, the Colts grade returns to action. Leaders HOBM (40) seem unlikely to be troubled when they host bottom-side Johnsonville (4) at the Hutt Rec, but on the other side of the river their two main chasers, Petone (33) and MSP (32) clash on the Village Green. Upper Hutt (31) host Norths (26) at Maidstone, and Ories (30) head past the airport to face Poneke (18) at Kilbirnie. OBU (25) are at Ngati Toa to take on Pare-Plim (9), Tawa (24) head over the Hill to face Wainuiomata (5) at Mary Crowther, and Wellington (7) host Avalon (12) in the Ian Galloway cage.

Check the draws and results page for kickoff times, as these are mixed as well.

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Under 85kg JC Bowl

Also back after a week off at the lightweights for their eighth round in this part of the season. Leaders Tawa (35) take their show to the seaside as they head to HW Shortt and a meeting with Eastbourne (6), with the OBU Scallywags (30) at Nairnville and a clash with Pare-Plim (16). Poneke (20) are at home against Petone (9) and HOBM (14) hosts Johnsonville (10) at the Hutt Rec. All four of these matches are at 2.45pm.

The fifth match starts the round tonight, with Wellington (13) and Avalon (18) meeting under the lights at Hataitai Park from 7.30pm. Bottom-side MSP (2) have an extended break with the bye.

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College

The first match of round three in the Premiership has already happened, with Wellington College accounting for Rongotai 47-13 in their Traditional clash on Wednesday. Tomorrow’s matches are mostly 1.00pm contests with a pair of local derbies; in the city Scots host St Pats Town while in the Hutt St Bernard’s are at home against Silverstream. Wairarapa College make the long haul around and out to Paraparaumu looking to flip the result between the pair during grading, while it’s a 1.30pm start for Tawa College in their first home game when they host Hutt International.

The following round starts next Wednesday, with the titanic clash between Silverstream and Wellington College.

In Premier 2 all the matches tomorrow are also most 1pm kickoffs. Through two rounds the leaders are Hutt Valley High, and their assignment tomorrow takes them to the south coast and a meeting with the Rongotai 2nds. The Silverstream and Wellington College 2nds are also unbeaten after their draw last Saturday, and they are at home to Naenae (11am kickoff) and away at Bishop Viard respectively. The other matches see Porirua College take on the Town 2nds on the back field at Porirua Park, and Taita at home against Aotea.

The man who the Premier 2 trophy is named after, Murray Jensen, passed away last weekend. Teams in this grade will hold a moment of silence before their game to honour Murray and his love for Wellington Secondary School Rugby.

Elsewhere

Tomorrow’s matches in the Manawatu Senior 1 have unbeaten Kia Toa at home against Massey and Feilding Yellows host Old Boys Marist in the ‘Top 5’ section with College Old Boys having the bye. The ‘Bottom 4’ matches have Freyberg hosting Te Kawau, and Linton Army at home against fellow strugglers Feilding Old Boys-Oroua.

Runaway Horowhenua-Kapiti leaders Rahui are back in action tomorrow as they welcome Shannon to the Otaki Domain. Levin College Old Boys have the Levin Domain for their clash with Foxton, with Waikanae at home against Levin Wanderers. Paraparaumu extend their break with the bye.

And in Wairarapa-Bush the only unbeaten side through two rounds in the Moose Kapene Cup is Marist, and they head south to meet winless Greytown. Carterton are at home against Eketahuna, Pioneer and Red Star meet in a Masterton derby, and Martinborough make the trek out to Whareama to face East Coast

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