The Bounce of the Ball

Tawa defend their line to the end in their recent tight victory over Old Boys University at Lyndhurst Park. Photo: Andy McArthur.

• By Ash Hayward 

Premier club rugby in Wellington is in a good place right now. The fast quality of play, high levels of fitness and supreme skill sets make many matches must watch games for eager spectators.

Another big reason for the success is that there is more parity that ever. There are many teams that are capable of deep runs in both the Swindale Shield and the Jubilee Cup. There hasn’t been a repeat champion in the Swindale since Old Boys University in 2016-2017. The Jubilee hasn’t had a repeat winner since also OBU dating back to 2017-2018.

Many of the games come down to the final couple of minutes and sometimes the final play. To win these close games requires players to step up in crucial moments whether it’s a try saving tackle or sidestepping their opposite number to crack the defensive line to score. It also can require some good fortune.

Over the past couple of years, the Tawa club have enjoyed a mix of all the above. This season, Tawa currently sits atop the Swindale Shield with a 5-1 record. They could, however, quite easily be sitting 1-5.

After a crushing loss to Petone in the opening week, their next match against Paremata-Plimmerton delivered an absolute classic like many recent battles between the two clubs. Tawa held a one-point lead late in the piece when Para-Plim won a penalty kick from metres outside the 22. The kick however sailed wide from Cooper-Finau and Tawa were able to get the win 26-25. It was a touch of bad luck for Finau as he had made his previous kicks including one from the corner.

Only minutes earlier, No. 8 George Risale (#17) had crashed over to the score to put Tawa ahead by a point.

Just two weeks after this, Tawa found themselves in a hole against Poneke and were down 20-0 after twenty minutes and then 39-19 early in the second half before storming back to take a 40-39 lead. Poneke were rewarded a penalty in extra time as they attacked the Tawa line. Carlos Hihi’s kick also barely missed, and Tawa could breathe a sigh of relief yet again.

Tawa and Poneke collide in their recent match at Kilbirnie Park. Poneke missed a last-gasp penalty to win and only minutes earlier had come within a whisker of scoring a winning breakout try.

The next two matches against regular heavy weights OBU and Hutt Old Boys Marist provided enough excitement and drama to rival any super rugby game. Both encounters came down to the dying minutes in injury time. Old boys, after furiously attacking the Tawa line, knocked the ball on giving the win to Tawa. HOBM had a scrum deep inside the Tawa twenty-two and went blindside with a nice backline move but also lost the ball to see Tawa hold on. There’s no doubt both of those teams will be challenging for the Swindale and Jubilee, but these games went Tawa’s way.

Since the beginning of the 2024 season, Tawa has remarkably gone 14-2 in games decided by five points or less. This hasn’t resulted in silverware but with two Jubilee Cup finals in the past two years, the club will be hoping to take one step further this year.

Other reasons for the clutch wins have come down to things like the brilliance of veteran James So’oialo. In a 2025 semi-final showdown with neighbours Johnsonville and deep in extra time with the game tied, he kicked a drop goal to get Tawa through. You don’t see drop goals often in club rugby, so this was a unique way to seal the deal.

Just a few weeks prior in the last round of the Swindale and against Para-Plim, he delivered a chip kick from a scrum which landed just over the try line. Centre, Nigel Hunt won the race and landed on the ball to give Tawa the number two seed and home advantage for Jubilee games until the final.

Other exciting games occurred in the 2024 season. Tawa defeated a talented Ories team 26-24 in the semi-final with Ories losing the ball metres out from the try line to send the Tawa faithful into euphoric celebrations. At the Tawa Old Timers’ Day against Johnsonville in yet another classic, Rewiti-Katene Leat scored in the corner in front of the clubhouse to hand Tawa a 40-35 win.

Credit for these wins as well as the good fortune is down to the Tawa veterans whose many years of experience causes them not to panic and thrive in these moments. They include captain Hemi Fermanis with his defence, George Risale, the human freight train who has scored late game tries and Randall Bishop, the 200-game veteran who has seen and experienced every late game situation possible. The rugby gods have smiled down on the club in these classic encounters. Each game can simply be decided by the bounce of the ball and no doubt, there’ll be plenty more of these nailbiters to come as the season progresses.

Ash Hayward is a keen supporter of Wellington club rugby and of Tawa, where on game days at Lyndhurst Park he can be found in the scoreboard box adding commentary for Tawa TV’s live broadcasts.