Exciting rugby Anzac Day round around Wellington

The Swindale Shield just got a whole lot more exciting.

The Anzac Day round on Wednesday saw two of seven  Swindale Shield matches decided on the last play, a Harper Lock Shield draw and several more action-packed encounters that went down to the wire on a glorious autumn afternoon.

In two wins that were sealed on the last play of the game, Tawa beat Old Boys University 42-38 at Nairnville Park to lift the Bill Brien Challenge Shield and the Upper Hutt Rams beat Oriental-Rongotai 36-34 at Maidstone Park for a popular Old Timers’ Day win.

Tawa centre Ryan Preston scored a converted try with the game’s last play at Nairnville Park, while Upper Hutt Rams second five-eighth Tyler Tane kicked a death-knock penalty to put give his side the win over Ories.

In the Harper Lock Shield, the Wellington Axemen and the Avalon Wolves drew 31-31, while in the early game at Nairnville, Old Boys University beat Tawa 25-24.

Marist St Pat’s emerged as the day’s big winners in the Swindale Shield, breaking open their game at the Petone Recreation Ground for the Bill Elvy Memorial Trophy in the second half and winning 50-22.

Up the road at the Hutt Recreation Ground, the HOBM Eagles overcame Poneke in the final 15 minutes to win their match for the Roy John Trophy 29-22.

At William Jones Park, Wainuiomata trailed Paremata-Plimmerton by a point at halftime and then came back to win 41-27.

In the one Swindale Shield match in the city, the Wellington Axemen beat the Avalon Wolves 28-19 at Hataitai Park, while at Helston Park, Northern United kept the Johnsonville Hawks winless with a 36-12 for the Barlow Trophy.

These results leave the HOBM Eagles out in front on 34 points on the Swindale Shield table and having seemingly now qualified for the second round Jubilee Cup with six weeks to play in the first round.

Despite losing their latest match to Tawa, OBU are second on 28 points and they lead a group of six teams separated by seven points back to Tawa on 21.

Wainuiomata head the second half of the points table on 19 points on the outside of the Jubilee Cup qualification zone looking in, with Ories on 18 and the Upper Hutt Rams on 16 shaping as their keenest rivals to challenge for the ‘top 7’ for this year’s championship round.

In the Harper Lock Shield, Northern United and Marist St Pat’s kept their respective unbeaten records alive on Wednesday.

Norths secured their seventh straight bonus point win by toppling Johnsonville 50-0 and MSP beat Petone 37-22.

In three close contests, Wellington and Avalon drew 31-31 at Hataitai Park, Old Boys University pipped Tawa’s second XV 25-24, while Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Wainuiomata 33-27 to register their first victory of their campaign.

Poneke are third after beating HOBM 32-7, while Ories defeated the Upper Hutt Rams 45-14 in a mid-table match.

In the main match at Maidstone Park, the Upper Hutt Rams flew to a 14-0 lead over Ories, scoring two tries that were started from lineouts. Ories came back with two tries of their own to draw level at 14-14, before recent All Black Sevens representative flanker Dan Schrijvers  drove through from another lineout to score to put the Rams ahead 19-14 at the break.

Ories drew level again at 19-19 with a try from a scrum 60 metres out to centre Malachai Unasa and they then went ahead 26-19 when right wing Andrew Ellis scored.  The Rams struck back when centre Grimes reeled in a cross kick on the fly and offloaded to flying wing Todd Svenson on his inside to go through to make it 26-26.

Tyler Tane regathered his own grubber to put the Rams up 33-26. Ories No. 8 Luca Rees made a strong run up the far touchline and scored his second try of the afternoon. First five-eighth Trent Renata’s conversion hit the post and the Rams held on 33-31. Renata then kicked a penalty to put them ahead 34-33.

With fulltime rapidly approaching, the Rams attacked inside the 22 with vigour and were awarded a penalty, which Tane kicked to give them a win and the Bob Lendrum Cup that was also on the line.

In the Premier Reserve curtain-raiser, Ories outscored the Upper Hutt Rams two tries to one to lead 10-7 at the end of 40 minutes, but Ories scored five converted tries in the second half to win comfortably in the end.

The MSP-Petone clash was an arm-wrestle for the first 30 minutes. MSP scored the first try of the contest just before the interval to take a 10-0 lead.

MSP then pounced to score two consecutive tries early in the second spell, second five-eighth Isaiah Petelo racing clear and hooker Joe Walding-Karaitiana scoring to put them ahead 24-0.  

Petone came back to score their first try, but MSP scored twice more and at 38-7 up it was game over at that point.

In the early game, Petone led MSP 15-7 at halftime and then 22-7 early in the second half. The floodgates opened in the second spell and MSP scored six unconverted tries to sail right past them.

Hutt Old Boys Marist preserved their unbeaten record toppling Poneke 29-22 – with the the turning point coming with about 15 minutes remaining.

Poneke seized a 22-17 lead when fullback Michael Sage dashed 40-metres untouched.

Poneke regained the kickoff, but a charge down by evergreen Eagles halfback Nick Risdon sparked a HOBM attack which resulted in a converted try to flanker Tamatasi Fidow. HOBM didn’t lose the lead thereafter, adding a fourth try when reserve wing Jack Talapa capitalised on an overlap.

The halftime score was 14-12 in favour of HOBM. Glen Walters and Fereti Soloa crossed the chalk for the hosts and Ivan Vaisagote and Daly Meikeljohn responded for the visitors.

 Poneke hammered the Eagles goal line for a sustained period in the second-half, but only Sage from thrilling counter attack found the try line. HOBM lost two front rowers reducing the scrums to “golden oldies,” but found a way to win their third consecutive game by within the margin of a converted try.