Goat-tastic – Old Boys University win first round Premier and Premier 2 titles

The OBU Goats with the Swindale Shield this afternoon. Photo: Mike Lewis Pictures. 

• By Steven White, Scott MacLean & Adam Julian

Wellington Premier rugby Results & Scoring (as received): http://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/games-results.php?competition=1&season=21&round=13

Any thoughts of Old Boys University’s top two teams not being outright winners and lifting the top two first round men’s grade trophies in Wellington club rugby were dispelled early in both their matches this afternoon at Rugby League Park.

Both needed victories over Northern United opposition for the club to secure the Swindale Shield – Harper Lock Shield double – the first club to do this since themselves in 2017 and the third time by anyone this century.

Both wins were never in doubt.

In the Premier 2 curtain-raiser, OBU beat Norths 76-7 after leading 50-7 at halftime, while the Premiers went better, beating Norths 95-0 after leading 38-0 at halftime. More on the Premiers match below.

Meanwhile the Tawa Ducks completed their perfect first round JC bowl campaign with another big win, beating Wellington 75-5 at Redwood Park.

The HOBM Green Colts continued their dominance of the Colts competition, cruising to their 12^th straight win by beating Oriental-Rongotai’s Colts 48-7 at the Polo Ground.

HOBM will be presented with the first round Paris Memorial Trophy after their final round match next week.

The winners confirmed, all eyes were also on the finishing order of the other competitions and the seedings for the championship rounds in the Premier, Premier 2 and U85kg competitions.

In next week’s first round of the Jubilee Cup, top seed Old Boys University (1) hosts Tawa (4) and Petone (2) entertains Hutt Old Boys Marist (3).

In the 5-8 Jubilee Cup matches next week, where the losers head to the Hardham Cup the following week, the Upper Hutt Rams (5) host Marist St Pat’s (8) and Oriental-Rongotai (6) play Paremata-Plimmerton (7).

The final 2024 Swindale Shield top 8 points table was: OBU 59, Petone 55, HOBM 48, UH Rams and Tawa 47, Ories 44, Paremata-Plimmerton 42 and MSP 38.

There were two tiebreakers required – both on the ‘who beat who’ countback – Tawa finished ahead of the Rams and Paremata-Plimmerton headed MSP.

The finishing order and points of those teams 9^th-14^th was: Wainuiomata 31, Johnsonville 30, Poneke 26, Norths 13, Wellington 5 and Avalon 4.

Next weekend’s opening Premier tier 2 Hardham Cup games are between Wainuiomata (9) and Avalon (14), Johnsonville (10) and Wellington (13) and Poneke (11) and Norths (12).

Updated: In other results today, Johnsonville were surprisingly comfortable 43-17 winners over MSP at Helston Park on their Old Timers’ Day. MSP had led 12-0 early but the Hawks came back to lead 17-12. MSP scored their third try and it was all square at 17-17. The second half was all Johnsonville, the previously misfiring Hawks finding their form and scoring four more unanswered tries to win well. For Johnsonville,  wing Jacob Walmsley scored five tries – the most by any player this year in the Swindale Shield.

The Upper Hutt Rams joined the high scoring party by beating Avalon 71-12 for the Harper Vine Trophy. This was a steady procession of scoring for the Rams, who were celebrating fullback Todd Svenson’s 100^th match. They scored their bonus point try by halftime and pulled away in the second half. For the Rams, all their tries were scored by the backs, with first five Tynan Barrett scoring a hat-trick and scoring 31 points, and brothers Todd and Scott Svenson and fullback Salesi Rayasi scoring two each.

Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Wainuiomata 22-19 for the Smith & Wilson Cup at William Jones Park.

Hutt Old Boys Marist beat Ories 39-33 for the Bondy Memorial Cup, in a fixture that was close throughout and in which the lead changed hands five times as HOBM reeled in a 17-18 deficit early in the second half with two consecutive tries and a penalty to move ahead 32-18. Ories came back but couldn’t close the gap enough.

Ories scored four tries in the match, through Alex Ropeti, Dom Ropeti, Sione Halalilo, and Skivi Va’a.

Below: Two tries from the Ories v HOBM match at the Polo Ground. PHOTOS: Andy McArthur. 

Petone overcame Poneke 35-13 for the Fred Tilyard Shield at Kilbirnie Park, in a win that flattered the visitors. Petone needed a bonus point win to give themselves a chance of sharing the Swindale Shield with OBU, but they needed most of the match to do this.

Leading a scrappy match 21-13 with six minutes to play against an improved Poneke side, Swindale runners-up Petone went close to conceding a try to Poneke fullback Nick Robertson after a tap penalty back near halfway. Robertson was dragged down just short and if Poneke had scored then it might have been all on. As it was, Poneke had a 5-metre scrum from the next play, but an intercept by Petone wing Max Hosking saw him race 90 metres for the match-winner.

Petone then scored again on fulltime to replacement Taylor Henry to give them what looks on the results sheet like a wide margin of victory.

Poneke had opened the scoring in the 21^st minute first through a Carlos Hihi penalty but Petone scored the game’s first try through centre Belgium Tuatagaloa after an attacking scrum. Poneke hooker Mitchell Gough replied and they led 8-7. On the stroke of halftime, Petone scored their second through blindside Jarrod Hrstich to go into the break ahead 14-8. Replacement halfback Logan Henry scored next in the 51^st minute for Petone, but Poneke closed to within 8 points when fullback Nick Robertson ran off a pass from centre Tauvaga Siolo.

Old Boys University won their fourth Swindale Shield since 2016, and a first since 2021, with an emphatic win over Northern United at Rugby League Park to confirm first round honours.

The Billygoats haven’t lost since they blew a 24-0 lead against a Hurricanes-stacked Petone in Round 3 and will be serious contenders to win the Jubilee Cup especially considering they summoned Wellington Lions halfback Kyle Preston from the bench today. Preston scored two tries in a typically sharp and vibrant display.

Norths were competitive for ten minutes and then wilted in their largest loss of a forgettable season. The BillyGoats had ten individual try scorers in a 15-try display with nippy centre Elijah Maene-Lokeni also nabbing a double.

Loose forwards Harry Irving and Tana Maene-Lokeni scored tries and were at the heartbeat of their relentless dominance. Former Billy Wallace Best and Fairest winner Callum Harkin scored 17 points in a week, where at last, he was acknowledged with Wellington Lions selection.

The Goats had their four-try bonus point after little more than 20 minutes and led 38-0 at halftime. They scored another nine tries in the second half.

At Lyndhurst Park on Friday, Tawa won the Murray & Alan Mexted Cup and locked away the Bill Brien Challenge Cup for the year with a crushing 94-0 win over the Wellington Axemen.

When you can bring four Super Rugby players on after halftime, it’s a tough ask for any opposition. When that side is already down 47-0 at halftime the challenge increases.

One of those four players, Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, scored within a minute of the resumption to raise Tawa’s half century. Another, prop PJ Sheck, scored two minutes later and it was a case of how much of the bleeding the Axemen could stem.

Another try quickly followed, to make it 68-0 after 47 minutes. But the Axemen then enjoyed their best period of the fixture. They rallied for almost 15 minutes and deserved a try but a lack of strikepower meant they couldn’t cross the whitewash. Repeated infringing from Tawa also saw one of their number sin-binned during this period.

The try-scoring resumed in the 61^st with a breakout involving their third Super Rugby sub, Pepesana Patafilo, with fullback Jacob Denyer crossing off his pass to score his hat-trick after scoring twice in the first half.

The fourth Super sub was Hugo Plummer and the lock was the next to cross, making it 82-0. Three more tries followed, and perhaps the most popular try of the match was the last one, which saw replacement first five Luke Walmsley put in a cross kick out to prop PJ Sheck on the wing, who tapped the ball back to a support player on his inside and then linked up with that player to score in the corner in front of the clubrooms.

The Tawa team had also won the Premier 2 curtain-raiser 83-12, so the two Tawa teams combined beat their Wellington Axemen counterparts 177-12.

Premier 2

OBU ensured the first of two prizes were headed to the Cambridge as they claimed the Harper Lock Shield at Rugby League Park.

The Goats knew what they needed to do beforehand after Tawa won yesterday and did so in beating Norths 76-7.

Tawa finished second with their 83-12 win over Wellington, and HOBM third after seeing off Ories 43-19 at Polo. Petone complete the top four despite losing 29-33 to Poneke who claimed fifth.

Further down, Pare-Plim beat Wainuiomata 36-22, MSP beat Johnsonville 31-21, and Avalon produced their best result of the season winning 38-15 over Upper Hutt.

Subject to confirmation the first round of playoffs next week will see:

Ed Chaney Cup: Top Four OBU v Petone and Tawa v HOBM. Elimination games (Next Four) Poneke v Upper Hutt Rams and Pare-Plimmerton v Ories.

HD Morgan first round: MSP v Wainuiomata, Norths v Wellington and Johnsonville v Avalon

The Goats led Norths 19-0 early, and then moved to a 50-7 halftime lead. Scoring slowed in the second spell and the final score was 76-7.

At Kilbirnie Park, Poneke beat Petone 33-29 with a try in fulltime to WRFU employee and first five Max Rodgers.

After a long build-up with time up on the scoreboard, Poneke attacked with purpose but Petone had turned the ball over and looked to be clinging to a 29-26 win. But Poneke regained possession and Rodgers ghosted through a gap to score out wide. He converted his own try to give them victory and then headed back to the office to complete the results for the day.

Poneke skipped to a 19-0 lead by late in the first spell, but Petone crossed just before haltime to close the gap to 19-14. Poneke went close to scoring their bonus point try on the buzzer but couldn’t execute their final transfer. Petone struck back early in the second half to take the lead 21-19, Poneke scored next to put them up 26-21 and Petone replied with a try and a penalty to lead by three until the last play of the game.

Colts

Still one round to go in the Colts Paris Memorial Trophy, but winners-elect HOBM kept their quest for a perfect first round record intact with a 48-7 over Ories.

Petone remain second after a narrow 31-29 win over Poneke, scoring the winning try in the corner at the end, and the Upper Hutt Rams are third following their 24-0 win over Avalon.

MSP are fourth after beating Johnsonville 31-25 while Norths kept their hopes alive with a 38-24 win over OBU. Pare-Plim beat Wainuiomata 33-24 in the days other match, with Tawa edging out Wellington 14-10 yesterday.

U85kg

As noted above, the Tawa Ducks were emphatic first round JC Bowl winners, winning their 10^th straight match with a bonus point in taking down Wellington today.

Last years winners the OBU Scallywags were a clear second, despite their ninth win today being close run, beating HOBM 16-15.

Avalon were third, having their bye today, while in other matches, there was a default in the Poneke-MSP fixture, Johnsonville beat Poneke 66-0 and Paremata-Plimmerton beat Eastbourne 33-17.

The second round starts next weekend – we await the draw for this from the WRFU.

College

Just two matches in the sixth round of the First XV Premiership today.

Scots College defeated Rongotai College 50-14 in an eastern suburbs derby and St Pat’s Town beat St Bernard’s College 64-28.

On Friday, St Pat’s Silverstream beat Hutt International Boys’ School by default.

The Paraparaumu College v Tawa College and Wellington College v Wairarapa College games have been deferred.

Hutt Valley High School lead the Premier 2 Murray Jensen Cup, beating Bishop Viard College 32-5. The Silverstream and Wellington College second XVs are joint second, Silverstream beating the Rongotai seconds 29-5 and Wellington College with the bye.

Other Premier 2 games today saw Aotea College beat the St Pat’s Town seconds 27-17 and Porirua College beat Taita College 59-14.

Elsewhere

Feilding Yellows might not be in next weekend’s Manawatu Senior 1 semi-finals but signed off in style, beating Massey 38-19 in today’s only top division match. By our reckoning next week’s championship playoffs will see unbeaten Kia Toa host Old Boys Marist and Massey up against College Old Boys. The “Bottom Four” matches would pit Freyberg against Feilding Old Boys-Oroua, and Linton Army against Te Kawau.

Matching scorelines in the two Horowhenua-Kapiti matches today. The relentless Rahui machine rolled on, thumping Levin College Old Boys 61-7, while the was the same score as Foxton marched over Paraparaumu.

The playoff picture in Wairarapa-Bush is much clearer after the weekend’s round. Marist will host a semi-final after an “ugly” 22-12 win over Eketahuna yesterday, with Carterton and Pioneer to fight over the other; Carterton crushed Greytown 72-7 with Pioneer beating East Coast (score to be confirmed). Martinborough moved into fourth in beating Masterton Red Star 62-22, and host Eketahuna next week for the last place.

Those watching in wine country were treated to 13 tries as home side Martinborough used a torrid third-quarter to put away a plucky Masterton Red Star team. The opening 10 minutes saw three tries, two to the home side and one in between to the visitors, in a pattern that was repeated across the balance of the half as the visitors were forced to live on crumbs of possession and territory. But a penalty on the break saw them only seven behind as the teams turned and well in the contest.

That was swiftly snuffed out though as Martinborough scored twice in the first five minutes of the second stanza. The Rams responded with their third try, but that was their last shot as the hosts kicked away with the last four tries as the game got ragged and wide open.