Tawa win final rematch and hit Swindale Shield lead as Petone move into second

Tawa flanker Luke Bidois looks to power through the Eagles defence in their sixth round Swindale Shield match and replay of last year’s Jubilee Cup final. Tawa won 36-22. 

By Steven White & Scott MacLean 

Tawa have hit the front in the Swindale Shield with a come-from-behind win over Hutt Old Boys Marist, with Petone right behind them with a big win over Northern United and Old Boys University losing to the Upper Hutt Rams to slip to third, after the sixth round on Saturday.

Tawa beat HOBM 36-32 in a thrilling, albeit ill-disciplined match the Hutt Rec on Old Timers’ Day, while Petone scorched to a 62-19 win over Northern United up on the top field at Porirua Park and the Upper Hutt Rams defeated Old Boys University 38-20 at Nairnville Park.

Other scores saw Marist St Pat’s bouncing back from recent defeats to beat the Wellington Axemen 39-8 at Evans Bay Park, Oriental-Rongotai continuing their resurgence in beating Wainuiomata 55-22 at the Polo Ground, Paremata-Plimmerton beating Pōneke 38-13 and Johnsonville burying winless Avalon 43-7 at Fraser Park.

With six rounds of 13 played, the unofficial points table reads: Tawa 25, Petone 24, OBU and HOBM 22, Paremata-Plimmerton* and Upper Hutt Rams 20, Ories 19, Wainuiomata and MSP 15, Wellington 13, Johnsonville 11, Pōneke 10, Norths 9, Avalon 1*

*Paremata-Plimmerton and Avalon have a game in hand and play their catch-up match this coming Wednesday.

The two Jacobs scored five of Johnsonville’s seven tries against the Wolves, with left wing Jacob Kennedy scoring a hat-trick and second-five Jacob Walmsey scoring a brace. Avalon’s sole try was scored by lock Sam Tonise.

Halfback Esi Komaisavai scored two tries and right wing Louis Northcott two in Paremata-Plimmerton’s six tries to two win over Pōneke at Kibirnie Park.

At the Polo Ground, Wainuiomata scored the game’s first try in the opening five minutes – but then the floodgates opened for Ories as they piled on the points and had racked up 40 of them by halftime to have the game won.

The second half was an even battle for both sides. Ories had two yellow cards in the second half  to loose forwards David Leota-Johnson and Dominic Ropeti which also stifled their momentum.

At Evans Bay Park, MSP beat the Wellington Axemen five tries to one, with five players scoring their tries, these being wing Max Reynolds, fullback Navrin Campbell, replacemenrt halfback Luke Donaldson, prop Ioane Aukusitino and captain and No. 8 James Zino. First-five Caleb Aiulu was the Axemen’s sole try scorer.

When Jake Lawson scored just after the hour to bring Old Boys University level (20-20) with Upper Hutt, it seemed a grandstand finish was on the cards at Nairnville Park.

Instead, the Rams finished in rampant style, winning 38-20 and joining four other clubs, including the students, with four wins. ​Ieti Campbell, both stout and speedy, made a big impact in midfield for Upper Hutt. His dynamic play made it hard to tell if he was in the forwards or the backs. Rams winger Shohn Hunt ran riot and scored three tries, and experienced flanker Murphy Taramai was as productive as ever, also getting a try.

Upper Hutt’s team is younger than in past years, but players like Senio Sanele, Blaine Knapman, and Liam Slight have refreshed the roster, helping the Rams earn one of their best wins in a long time after a sluggish first half from both clubs. The Billy Goats best was flanker Harry Irving, who’s bound for Otago on May 18.

There was already plenty at stake when HOBM hosted Tawa on their Old Timers’ Day, but add it being the Jubilee Cup rematch and overlay it with intensity and drama it might have been the game of the season so far. Ultimately, it was the visitors who extracted a measure of revenge with a come-from-behind 36-32 win.

In contrast to their game against OBU a fortnight ago and with the northerly breeze behind them, the Eagles made a fast start. An early penalty to Junior Leleisiuao was followed off the re-start by a remarkable individual effort from Caleb Robson, who took the ball from first phase, broke the line, and left Kirov-class battlecruiser George Risale grasping at air on his way to the line (see clip below).

Tawa needed a response and got it. With Hemi Fermanis – a late addition to the lineup –  leading the way they got across, but soon thereafter lost prop Evan Bishop to the bin, the first of several cards dished out across the day by referee Ethan Jefferson as both sides failed to adapt to his standard on high tackles. Leleisiuao knocked the penalty over, and when Phelan Rona pilfered an intercept and dashed away Tawa’s woes deepened. And they only got worse when Leleisiuao cut through off phase ball.

The turning point came on the half hour, when Kapu Broughton-Winterburn needlessly slapped the ball away and prevented Tawa from taking a quick tap and saw yellow. Tawa profited with two tries into the wind in that period, both to the Fermanis brothers, and what should have been a comfortable half-time lead was whittled down to 27-19.

Now with the breeze at their backs, Tawa dominated territory in the second half. It eventually paid off when midfielder Luke Cummings crossed, at a time when they had been reduced by a second yellow card. Solomon Uelese put them in front for the first time with a penalty after Eagles replacement prop Jason Hoffman saw yellow, and he soon had company on the dead-ball line when veteran Filo Paulo joined him. A converted try to Luke Bidois pushed the margin to nine, but the drama wasn’t done when Tawa replacement Weston Sao (TBC) saw red for an ugly high-hit.

Now with the man advantage HOBM upped their efforts. A long passage of broken play came to an end when Rupeni Raviyawa crossed, and debutant Riley Browne was desperately unlucky to be caught in space. HOBM’s final effort saw the ball knocked-on into touch, and Tawa were able to clear from the resulting scrum to secure victory.

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Petone were far too slick for an error-ridden Northern United up on Porirua No 2, running out 62-19 winners in their annual Murray Henderson Trophy match.

Petone won 10 tries to three after leading 17-7 at halftime.

Norths came back into the game over the initial stages of the second half and at one point trailed 36-19 following a try off a lineout to prop Bradley Crichton. But that was as close as they would come, Petone pouncing on a number of mistakes and missed tackles to run in a further four unanswered tries.

Petone’s backline and first phase attack was a telling factor, exactly half their tries being scored directly from scrums and lineouts where the home side’s big forwards were kept at bay and nine of their 10 tries were scored by backs. Right wing Tom Carter scored a hat-trick.

Petone’s first try in the fifth minute came by way of a blindside scrum movement close to the line. Their second soon after was from a scrum in centre field 40 metres out and the backs ripping it wide for fullback Jermaine Pepe to cross in the far right corner.

Pepe soon had two tries and Petone went 17-0 up from a try from another scrum, which in turn followed a horror mistake by Norths who failed to exit a kick-and-chase and the ball was turned over to Petone.

There was joy for Norths before halftime when their second five James Pese cut through with a 20 metre run to close Petone’s lead to 10 points by the break.

Early in the second half, Petone went wide from a lineout and fullback Pepe delivered the final pass on the far side of the field to right wing and try-scorer Tom Carter.  Petone then scored their fifth try after another Norths mistake from a kick-and-chase by first five Jacob Waikari-Jones and the supporting player rushed through to score

There was some respite for Norths when captain Waylon Baker surged forward from the next restart, setting up Norths’ second try. But once again, Petone hit back with another try in broken play, ahead of Crichton’s third try for Norths and then Petone’s flourish in the last quarter.

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Premier 2

Results went largely to form in the Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield. Petone and HOBM maintained their joint-lead with contrasting wins. Petone were 48-0 winners over Norths, while HOBM had to work hard to subdue Tawa 36-29.

Upper Hutt were comfortable 55-12 winners over OBU, MSP beat Wellington 43-28, Avalon ran out 47-0 winners over Johnsonville, and Ories defeated Wainuiomata 46-17. The seventh match of the day was a rollicking contest at Kilbirnie Park with Pare-Plim beating Poneke 43-34.

In the Porirua Park 2 curtain raiser, visitors Petone ran out a comfortable win over an under-manned Norths who had just a couple of players on their bench which showed in the second half when Petone did most of their damage.

The first half an hour of the match had gone scoreless, after Petone had dominated possession and territory in the first 20 minutes but failed to score. Norths pushed on to attack but they also missed several chances inside the 22. The first try came when Petone fullback Max Hosking took a tap penalty and ran the best part of 90 metres to score under the posts.

Petone scored again in a more conventional method near the line which was converted from the sideline to put them ahead 14-0 at halftime.

It didn’t take long for Petone to pull clear in the second half, with fullback Hosking scoring twice more to complete his hat-trick.

Petone established an unassailable lead and the game petered out except in the dying moments when Petone had a player red carded, but Norths were still unable to crack their defence to the end.

Women’s

The leading trio march on in the Women’s Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy. Petone didn’t even leave home, defaulted to by Wellington yesterday.

Ories were 59-0 winners at Avalon, with Norths beating a plucky Poneke 51-22.

Wainuiomata pitched a 41-0 shutout over Stokes Valley, with OBU doing likewise 30-0 over Pare-Plimmerton.

Colts

No change at the head of the Colts Paris Memorial Trophy. Petone were 53-0 winners over Norths up on Porirua 3, while HOBM accounted for Tawa 55-19.at the southern end of the Hutt Rec.

The hosts were utterly dominant in the first 40, racing out to 31-0 in just 26 minutes and adding one more before the interval. Brandon Lo, Mako Blackman, and Kingston Wright were standout figures in that first half, and it was no surprise each of them were on the scoresheet. With the match effectively wrapped up, the hosts dropped their standards in the second half and that let Tawa in for three tries as the visitors “won” the second half with a much-improved effort

Defending grade champions Upper Hutt beat OBU 38-20, and Poneke beat Pare-Plim 36-12. MSP had the bye

U85kg

The Tawa Ducks beat the Paremata-Piranhas 36-5 in their match today, while the OBU Scallywags defeated Wellington 33-19, in two results posted this evening.

Pōneke and Eastbourne met in the third match of the day at H.W. Shortt Park, after HOBM defaulted to Johnsonville on Friday.

Reserve Grade

The Pōneke Ruffnuts beat the OBU Righteous Pink Ginners 43-21 in their fourth round Mike Copeland clash of the two unbeaten teams.

The Paremata-Plimmerton Punters joined the OBU team in second place with three wins from four after edging the Upper Hutt Thirsty Rams 32-24.  Wellingon are also on three wins and a point back after their 58-22 win over Wainuiomata.

College

Wairarapa College and Scots College booked their places in this year’s Premiership with their wins today. Wai Col prevailed in a 14-5 slugfest against St Bernard’s, while Scots were too good by 43-5 for Hutt Valley HS who were unable to back up their efforts from last week.

St Bernard’s and HVHS get another chance next week to fill one of the four remaining places. In the matches to set up next Saturday’s bracket Rongotai outclassed Newlands/Onslow 83-3, Aotea shutout neighbours Porirua 41-0, Mana edged out Kapiti 28-26, Paraparaumu beat Bishop Viard 24-17, Tawa were 31-12 winners over Taita, and Hutt International outran Naenae 64-22

Elsewhere, Wellington College missed out 32-26 to the visiting Chiefs Academy at home this afternoon, a fair result against the perennial Top 4 side.

Elsewhere

Over the Remutaka’s, the Greytown machine rolled on, munching Marist 57-17 on the backfields at Memorial Park. Elsewhere Martinborough kept Pioneer winless by 52-24, and East Coast celebrated their Old Timers Day by beating Masterton Red Star 39-15.

In Horowhenua-Kapiti Foxton marched on, beating Wanderers 53-22 on the Levin Domain. Down the road Rahui accounted for College Old Boys 34-18, and Waikanae got bragging rights over Paraparaumu with a narrow 24-22 win

Leaders Varsity are still there in the Manawatu after they beat Old Boys Marist 52-14 on the Arena backfields. Feilding Yellows were comfortable 45-0 winners away at Freyberg, Linton slapped strugglers Te Kawau 33-5, and College Old Boys beat out Feilding Old Boys-Oroua 38-34. Kia Toa had the bye.

A significant result in the first round of matches in Hawkes Bay’s championship Maddison Trophy as Nash Cup winners Napier OB Marist tasted defeat for the first time, beaten 28-19 at home by Sheridan Rangihuna’s Pirates. Defending champions Taradale also went down, 38-22 at the hands of Havelock North, while Hastings were 50-22 winners away at MAC. The fourth match was very predictable, with 100 points scored between Napier Tech and Bridge Pa; 93 of them by Tech.

Taranaki’s first round ended with the favoured sides all winning. Leaders Clifton raised the bat as they slaughtered Southern 102-12, while NPOB had a rather tougher time before beating Inglewood 19-11. Coastal won away 39-22 over Stratford-Eltham, and Tukapa won the local derby against United 35-22