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Above: Losi Filipo dives over to score one of two tries for Petone in their tight win over the Upper Hutt Rams. Photo: Andy McArthur.
- By Steven White, Scott MacLean & Adam Julian
An opening win of the competition for the Wellington Axemen against Pōneke and generally much closer matches than last week were two themes from the second round of the Swindale Shield played in summery conditions around the region today.
The Axemen beat Pōneke 50-31 at the Graveyard at Hataitai Park and won the interclub Spud Lindsay Memorial Trophy to kick-start their campaign in style.
For at least a couple of other teams that were on the wrong side of the scoreboard last week, they were able to turn their fortunes around and get their campaigns underway in the winners’ columns.
This included Northern United, who came back to beat Johnsonville 29-22 at Helston Park – more on that game below.
Similarly, Tawa pipped Paremata-Plimmerton 26-25 at home at Lyndhurst Park to announce their arrival into 2026 – more on that fixture below.
Four teams earned their second wins to start the season, Old Boys University, Marist St Pat’s, Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist.
Old Boys University made it two from two in beating Wainuiomata 19-10 for the Peter Dunford Cup at William Jones Park.
Marist St Pat’s also made it two from two in beating Oriental-Rongotai 39-33 at Evans Bay Park in the game for the inaugural Joe O’Brien Memorial Cup.
Petone were pushed close at North Park by the Upper Hutt Rams before prevailing 18-13 – more on this game below.
The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles flexed their wings in beating the Avalon Wolves 64-0 at Fraser Park.
Premier Swindale Shield points table:
Northern United achieved just their seventh Swindale Shield victory and their first win against a side other than Avalon or Wellington since 2022 with a gritty 29-22 come-from-behind win against Johnsonville at Helston Park for the Barlow Trophy.
A 79th-minute try to first-year lock Tanela Tuagalu broke a 22-22 stalemate. In the 76th minute, a centre field 40-metre penalty was slotted by former Norths first five-eighth Kayd Parata to draw the Hawks level.
From the kick-off, Johnsonville openside flanker Asafo Fa’a Mafu, who otherwise had an excellent match, threw a wayward pass inside his 22 that was knocked on.
Norths’ continuity was faultless as they muscled forward in close quarters, leaving open the possibility of a Luke Wamsley drop goal. Instead, with Johnsonville enveloped near the ruck, Walmsley suddenly called for the ball short and right. Tuagalu outstretched the defence on the wing. Walmsley converted from the sideline to cap an authoritative showing.
Earlier, Johnsonville galloped to a 19-0 lead with tries from lively centre Aukuso Tuitama, whippet winger Jacob Kennedy, and burly No.8 Regan Herbert. The trifecta of treats came from long-range specials, as Johnsonville ran the visitors ragged with its expansive approach.
Soon, however, Johnsonville was overplaying its hand, lost discipline, and collapsed at lineout time. Veteran Johnny Teleaga sparked Norths revival at the start of the second half with a grubber kick through to an unmarked Zion Fuiava.
Winger Cordeius Faraino-Selave is a new and beastly presence on the wing for Norths. He was set up by Fuiava and Walmsley as the gap closed to 19-12. Norths enjoyed far more impact from their bench, with no bigger presence than mophead, former Wellington Lions prop Bradley Crichton. Crichton made a huge tackle that led to a Johnsonville spillage. A short while later, he carried three Hawks over the tryline. Walmsley’s conversion made it 19-19.
With five minutes remaining and after a sustained attack, Walmsley chipped Norths ahead 22-19. North then conceded a penalty that allowed Parata to show his poise. But it was Norths that kept their cool to the end. Prop Jerome Vai threw the ball to the lineout while carrying and tackling with gusto. No.8 Olano Afutoto, halfback Paroa Drake, and second-five Luke McGill were other standouts. Johnsonville have been outscored 70-3 in the second half of matches in 2026.
Petone regained the Ted Connolly Cup and kept their unbeaten start intact with an absorbing but grim 18-13 win over the Upper Hutt Rams on North Park.
The hosts made an ideal start with centre Losi Filipo barging over off an attacking scrum, and the Wellington rep was again involved to put first-year winger William Davis over in the left-hand corner. With a little more than 15 minutes on the clock it seemed a repeat of last weeks rout of Tawa was on, but the Rams got into their work and dominated field position as Petone found themselves on the wrong end of referee Matt Thomas, and inevitably hooker Latu Tupou got over on the back of a lineout maul.
That was the extent of the first-half scoring, and soon after the resumption the reliable left boot of Rory Woollett added a penalty to stretch the lead to 15-5. Rams skipper Murphy Taramai would reduce the deficit with a close-range try of his own before Woollett kicked a second penalty to take the margin to eight points with 10 minutes left. The Rams would break out in the final minute and eventually earn a penalty under Petone’s posts that also saw Cam Ferreira binned, and took the option of the three points to earn a bonus one that could prove useful in three months time.
What a difference a week makes. Well beaten by Petone last week, Tawa dug deep at home and held on to beat Paremata-Plimmerton 26-25 in a bruising, scrappy affair in sultry conditions.
With hearts in mouths, Tawa supporters watched on anxiously as Paremata-Plimmerton first five Mika Cooper-Finau pulled what would have been a winning penalty wide of the posts with a couple of minutes to play.
Previously, Tawa loose forward super-sub George Risale rumbled over the line under the posts to score the try that put Tawa ahead by a single point. It was Risale’s second try of the second half as Tawa came back from 15-12 at halftime.
In a game with plenty of stoppages and numerous penalties and free kicks off scrums, it was a typical gritty Tawa effort that saw them home.
The visitors also lost two forwards to injury in the half, while their veteran prop James Coburn spent 10 minutes in the sinbin.
Risale’s first try followed by a penalty to Paremata-Plimmerton’s Cooper-Finau had Tawa up 19-18 with about 20 minutes to play.
Visiting left wing Louis Northcott was in the game twice in five minutes. The first instance saw him tackled over his own try line after a kick ahead, which forced a Tawa 5-metre scrum in the clubrooms corner. From the scrum, Paremata-Plimmerton came up with a huge defensive penalty and soon got themselves down the other end.
From an attacking lineout, Tawa went wide to Northcott who scored in the corner at the far end. Halfback Zane Edwards kicked a sideline conversion to put Paremata-Plimmerton up 25-19, setting up a pulsating conclusion.
Earlier, a 48 minute first half culminated in an Edwards penalty on the stroke of halftime that broke a 12-12 deadlock and put the visitors ahead by three at the turnaround.
Both sides scored two tries in the first 40 minutes. A try in the fifth minute to Tawa right wing Hunter Sao was followed by a try in the 10th minute to Paremata-Plimmerton right wing Floyd Rose.
In the 15th minute Paremata-Plimmerton made inroads up the middle through No. 8 Jeremiah Avei-Collins, centre Esi Komaisavai and tighthead prop Ted Northcott who offloaded to brother Louis to flash over to score his first try in the corner and the Hammerheads led 12-5.
The home side spent a good 10 minutes attacking inside Paremata-Plimmerton’s 22, and finally second five Luke Cummings barged over the line to score under the posts to make it 12-12.
Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield
Round two of the Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield saw some teams start to pull away with four with two wins from two.
HOBM beat Avalon 38-26, Petone saw off Upper Hutt 66-19, MSP accounted for Ories 37-26, and Pare-Plim beat Tawa 33-24. In the other matches Johnsonville beat Norths 35-32 in a belter at Helston, and Wainuiomata bounced back to beat OBU 34-15. Poneke defaulted to Wellington yesterday.
In the early game at North Park Petone were comfortable winners 66-19 over a shorthanded Upper Hutt Rams side. The visitors had only the bare minimum of 15 at the start and were reduced to 13 by injuries at the break, but all things considered gave a great account of themselves to score three tries of their own – two through bits of magic by veteran Konelio Feaunati and captain Jimmy Morgan – and the score only blew out in the last 10 minutes when the Villagers ran in three tries.
Premier Women Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy
The highlight match of the opening round of the Women’s Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy lived up to expectations as defending champions Petone came from behind to beat Ories 19-17 at the Polo Ground.
Elsewhere Norths eased into their work with an 88-0 win over OBU, Wainuiomata beat Pare-Plim 39-5, Poneke accounted for Avalon 62-7, and Wellington beat Stokes Valley 59-22.
Colts Paris Memorial
Some comfortable results in the opening round of the Colts Paris Memorial Trophy.
Tawa staked their intentions with a routing of Paremata-Plimmerton, MSP took down OBU 40-0, and Petone beat defending champions Upper Hutt 40-22. The closest margin was at Porirua Park where Poneke beat Norths 31-24. HOBM had the bye.
Tawa scored seven tries in a little over half an hour to demolish Paremata-Plimmerton 76-12.
Second-five Cliff Hunt Jr snored a second half hat-trick and lock Hermet Lenate scored a spectacular runaway try that wasn’t (knocking on over the line) as they pulled clear from 28-12 at halftime.
It was an even battle throughout much of the first half as Tawa led 21-12 after about 30 minutes.
A late first half yellow card to a pp player led to Tawa scoring their bonus point try just before the interval, before the boys in black wilted badly in the second spell.
For Tawa, halfback Carter Stefanidis scored the game’s first two tries and kicked all the points for some 31 from the match.
Under 85kg JC Bowl
An eight-team JC Bowl round kicked off today with defending champions the Tawa Ducks edging the OBU Scallywags at Nairnville Park.
National runners-up Poneke marked their return to the local competition by beating last year’s Division 2 winners the Paremata-Plimmerton Piranhas 40-23.
The Johnsonville Terrahawks beat Wellington 41-10 and the HOBM Howlers won beside the seaside at HW Shortt Park with a 58-0 scoreline.
College
The big college result from today was visiting NSW school Barker College defeating Wellington 43-36 at NZCIS, following their narrow win over St Pat’s Silverstream midweek.
Barker College meet Scots College on Tuesday in their third tour fixture, whilst St Pat’s Town hosts Brisbane State High School on Thursday.
Elsewhere
Greytown underlined their class in today’s Premier matches in Wairarapa-Bush as they outclassed Masterton Red Star 76-0. It was much closer elsewhere in town as Carterton edged Marist 36-34 and East Coast beat Pioneer 37-29.
Perhaps something of an upset in Horowhenua-Kapiti as Waikanae went up to Otaki and beat Rahui 30-24. Elsewhere the form guide held with champions Foxton beating Wanderers 38-17, and in a close one at the Domain College Old Boys beat Paraparaumu 34-29.
In Manawatu Feilding Yellows made it 3-from-3 as they accounted for Old Boys Marist 38-7, while up the road in Kimbolton there was a cracker as Freyberg got up over Feilding Old Boys-Oroua 44-36. Linton was surprisingly big winners in the city 38-12 over College Old Boys, while poor Te Kawau got smashed again this time 89-5 by Kia Toa. Varsity had the bye
Napier Old Boys Marist are the only unbeaten left in Hawke’s Bay. While they were expected to account for strugglers Bridge Pa and duly did by raising the bat in a 118-5 win, the story was Taradale crashing to defeat at home at the hands of Napier Pirates by 36-19. Elsewhere Havelock North were 55-17 over MAC, and Hastings beat Napier Tech 42-36 in a ding-dong encounter
And finally, Whanganui’s season got underway with at least two close matches. Border beat Marist 29-28 at Spriggens Park, while Taihape upset Counties’ debut winning 22-19. The result between Ratana and Kaierau remains pending, and Ruapehu had the bye.
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