Magic Anzac Day Rounds of the past 25 years

Above: Trytime for Ories in their one-point Anzac Day win over Pōneke in 2015. 

Saturday’s fourth round of the 2026 Swindale Shield will be the fifth time that club rugby has been played on Anzac Day since our records began in 2002 (Anzac Day also fell on a Saturday in 2001 but we don’t have these records, and it also did so in 2020 but we were in lockdown then so no rugby played that day).

All four previous Anzac Day rounds in this time have served up cinematic club rugby and some stirring matches. See below for a recap of some of these games.

2009: Petone on top and Kingsbeer scores six tries

The Petone forward pack and the try-scoring feats of Marist St. Pat’s centre Mike Kingsbeer were the talking points of this Anzac Day round, played in perfect Autumn conditions.

Petone became the new Swindale Shield leaders and remained the only unbeaten team after five weeks, after its pack, and in particular its scrum, overwhelmed its Poneke counterparts to set the platform for a decisive 38-14 win over the previous frontrunners and also retain the Fred Tilyard Memorial Trophy.

Petone was well led by its powerful front row, hooker Eugene Smith and props Thomas ‘the Tank’ Tupiavao and Adrian Barone,  No. 8 Shaun Mahoney and lock Chris Molenaar. Petone hit the lead ahead of defending champions Marist St. Pat’s, who now had a new weapon in town in the form of six-try hero Mike Kingsbeer.

Former Hutt Old Boys Marist Jubilee Cup winner Kingsbeer set pulses racing with his astounding six try haul in MSP’s 88-3 win against Wainuiomata at Evans Bay Park.

Kingsbeer’s six tries re-wrote all known individual try scoring records in a Wellington Premier club rugby game – surpassing the five tries scored by his teammate Brendan Watt against Tawa two weeks previously and again by Oriental-Rongotai’s Julian Savea against Old Boys-University the previous Saturday.

Petone went on to win the 2009 Swindale Shield, while MSP took the Jubilee Cup.

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2013: Tawa beat Norths by a point in spirited encounter

The power and passion of Tawa’s forwards eventually win over Norths at Lyndhurst Park, rumbling over for the winning try a couple of minutes from the end to win 28-27 and capture the Sammy Saili Memorial Shield.

At Lyndhurst Park, Norths’ supporters thought their team had done enough to win, when, several minutes from fulltime, they counterattacked from 70 metres out and broke up field into space. Left wing Nene Va’alepu split the defence up the middle and fired a lovely pass to the flying fullback Johnny Teleaga in support and the latter ran in to score a try to complete a 19-point turnaround and make it 27-21 to Norths.

But Tawa had one final assault on Norths’ line. It was repelled and Norths were awarded a defensive scrum. But from this Tawa won a turnover and their own put-in. They broke openside across their posts and blindside flanker Joketani Koroi crashed over. Fullback Randall Bishop added the extras and Tawa won by a point.

Tawa went on to win the Swindale Shield for the first time, and added the Jubilee Cup two months later in a memorable season.

Below: Joketani Koroi with the try at the end and Randall Bishop with the winning conversion for Tawa against Norths in 2013.

Elsewhere, Wainuiomata hold off a Petone comeback in the second half to win 36-29 at William Jones Park and retain the Darren Larsen Cup, while Oriental-Rongotai ruthlessly ended Poneke’s 13-game winning streak, thereby retaining the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield with a bonus-point 32-24 win at Kilbirnie Park

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2015: Four thrillers on one Anzac DAY

HOBM took home the Father Cleary Shield and also defended the Bill Brien Challenge Cup with a remarkable 54-49 victory over previously unbeaten Marist St Pat’s, Tawa defeated Johnsonville for the Carman Cup with a last-gasp penalty to win 18-15. Oriental-Rongotai and Wellington earned death-knock one-point victories in their matches, with Ories beating Poneke 28-27 with an injury time penalty and Wellington scoring a late converted try to sink Old Boys University 17-16.

At the Hutt Rec, MSP nearly pinched an improbable victory in a 15-try extravaganza. HOBM started strongly and scored the first two tries. MSP responded with 26 unanswered points to power ahead 29-10. This prompted the Eagles to go on a tear and lead 54-37 late in the match. With five minutes left though Marist rallied and scored two quick tries and nearly scored again at the end but wing Julian Tupai was bundled into touch.

James O’Reilly with a big try against MSP in their 54-49 win.

At Helston Park, scores were locked up at 15-15 late in the match when Johnsonville first five-eighth Deina Morete had made a clean break and appeared to be heading away for the winning try. But he was called back for obstruction and instead Tawa fullback James So’oialo stepped up and kicked a sensational long-range penalty that dropped just over the uprights on fulltime for victory.

At Kilbirnie Park, Oriental-Rongotai broke Poneke’s hearts, with first five-eighth Trevor Marama kicking an extra time penalty to give them a 28-27 Jimmy Grbich Shield win.

Last but not least, the OBU Goats had inched ahead to 16-10 in their Dean Gifford Memorial Cup match against the Wellington Axemen at Hataitai with a 55th minute penalty and then a try to openside flanker Liam Doherty.

But the Axemen went wide at the death and right wing Paddy Hughes crashed over to score in the tackle in the corner. Halfback Adam Deck stepped up and slotted the sideline conversion.

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2017: Deck does it again as Ories and Pōneke draw midweek game

Same day, different year and team – halfback Adam Deck played a key hand in another Anzac Day performance. Only this time it was a draw.

Ories and Pōneke finished their match for the Jimmy Grbich Shield locked up at 30-30. Trailing 25-30 with several minutes to play, Ories halfback Adam Deck ducked under a ruck and sliced through on a 20-metre run to score under the poles. But his conversion from in front was charged down by the Poneke players.

Pōneke swung on to attack and won a late penalty to the right of the uprights, but first five-eighth Hilton Gibbons pushed his attempt wide.

Both Pōneke and Ories scored some entertaining tries in the match, which saw Ories led 15-13 at halftime and then 18-13 just after the break following back-to-back Deck penalties. Poneke came back to take the lead after a big raid up the middle by flanker Greg Foe and a try from the subsequent 5-metre scrum. Poneke increased their lead to 30-18 when second five-eighth Ivan Vaisagote ran back a kick in play and kicked ahead for centre Levi Harmon to score. In reply, Ories centre Paulo Aukuso sliced through to set up a close finish in front a big crowd at the Polo Ground.

Like the Swindale Shield match that followed, the curtain-raiser at the Polo Ground also proved a thriller with Pōneke trailing 26-29 and hammering away late to score the match-winner on fulltime.

In another Derby Day and ANZAC Day thriller, Hutt Old Boys Marist held on to beat Marist St Pat’s 31-28 in their Father Cleary Shield encounter. It was a helter-skelter first half, with HOBM leading 25-23 at halftime, after coming back from 0-15 down following two tries to MSP fullback Andrew Wells. HOBM came back to score the next 17 points of the match to hit the front.

Fulltime in HOBM’s 31-28 win over MSP in 2017.