MSP beat frontrunners HOBM as Wainuiomata snatches late draw
Marist St Pat's became the first team all year to lower Hutt Old Boys Marist's mast in the Swindale Shield while Wainuiomata scored with the last play of the game to draw with Petone in two tightly contested Derby Day Premier competition matches on Saturday.
MSP beat HOBM 28-26 on their Old Timers' Day at Evans Bay Park and Wainuiomata and Petone drew 26-26 at the Petone Rec in two of seven Derby Day matches around the region that pitted neighbouring clubs against each other.
Poneke beat Oriental-Rongotai 28-25 at Kilbirnie Park for the Jimmy Grbich Memorial Shield in another tense encounter.
The Upper Hutt Rams came back in the second half to beat the Avalon Wolves 31-26 at Fraser Park to retain the Harper Vine Trophy.
Old Boys University pulled away from the Wellington Axemen in the second half to win 40-31 at Nairnville Park, after leading just 10-7 at halftime. OBU retained the Dean Gifford Memorial Shield in the process.
Northern United beat Paremata Plimmerton 52-31 on Old Timers' Day at Ngatitoa Domain for the Ivan Hargreaves Trophy, while Tawa beat Johnsonville 75-5 at Lyndhurst Park for the Carmen Cup and to defend the Bill Brien Challenge Cup for the first time.
In inflicting a first defeat of the year on the Eagles, MSP were ahead throughout but Eagles first five-eighth Glen Walters' missed a chance to equalise at the end with a sideline conversion. MSP had established a 23-3 lead late in the first half, but HOBM closed the gap to 23-14. MSP scored again to extend the lead to 28-14, but Walters slipped a gap to score to make it 28-21, before HOBM replacement back Jayden Treviranus rushed away for a solo try.
Wainuiomata No. 8 Ben Tupuola scored a try under the posts off a 5-metre scrum with the final play of the game to set up a 26-26 draw for the Darren Larsen Cup.
After scoring the game's first try before conceding three straight tries, Wainuiomata came back from a 19-7 deficit in the second half and they closed to 19-26 with just a few minutes to play before the final successful assault on the chalk.
The Upper Hutt Rams held on to beat the Avalon Wolves 31-26, after Avalon had their noses ahead 23-14 early in the second half. Likewise, OBU pulled clear of the Axemen after leading 10-7 at halftime and Norths accelerated to victory in the second spell against Paremata-Plimmerton, who had Shane Hedge playing his 200th Premier-first team game and Danny Herewini his 100th.
Ten individuals scored Tawa's 11 tries in their big win over the Johnsonville Hawks 75-5, after holding a 35-0 lead at halftime.
Women's
Northern United took their third straight win in the Rebecca Liua'ana Trophy when they overcame Marist St Pat's 44-19.
Norths came back from 5-19 down at halftime to beat Marist St Pat's. Second five-eighth Monical Tagoai scored a first half brace for MSP, but Norths hit back with 39 unanswered points and their second five-eighth Helen Collins scored two tries.
Oriental-Rongotai defeated Poneke 132-0, with four players scoring hat-tricks and several others getting on the scoreboard.
Hutt Old Boys Marist defeated the Avalon She-Wolves 37-22 in their match at the Hutt Rec. HOBM scored five unconverted tries in the first 50 minutes to lead 25-5 and pulled clear from there.
Petone edged Paremata-Plimmerton 17-12 for their first win of the year in the fourth match of the round.
The OBU Impalas had this week's bye.
Les Mills Colts
Defending champions Petone suffered their first loss of the season, beaten 35-33 by Tawa in the Colts Paris Memorial Trophy.
Tawa's pack produced a boisterous effort in laying the platform for this win against their undermanned opposites. For safety reasons, this game went to uncontested scrums later in the second half.
Petone scored the game's first try, before Tawa came back to scored twice themselves. Petone made a turnover 70 metres out and sent their left wing over for their next try, but Tawa took a quick tap penalty to score and closed the first half holding a narrow lead.
The Tawa No. 8 cut through to extend their lead, but Petone closed the gap once more. Tawa's forwards rumbled over to score from a lineout. Once more, Petone hit back. Tawa was awarded a penalty try, which was the winning of the game.
Petone's defeat means that MSP are the new Colts leaders and the only unbeaten side after three rounds, beating Ories 26-24.
OBU and Norths are third equal after the Goats defeated the Upper Hutt Rams 42-12 on Friday night at Te Whaea and Norths beat HOBM 38-27 at the Hutt Rec.
Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Johnsonville in the match of the round in the Colts Division 2 JRD Cup competition.
Other grades
The Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield competition sees Northern United and Marist St Pat's remain as the two unbeaten sides after eight rounds.
Norths beat Paremata-Pimmerton 45-32 and MSP defeated HOBM 65-11.
Poneke are third with their 37-24 win over Oriental-Rongotai.
The Upper Hutt Rams kicked a penalty to break a deadlock and edge Avalon 34-31, while Tawa beat Johnsonville 27-21, Petone defeated Wainuiomata 51-21 and OBU beat Wellington 40-14.
The Johnsonville Terrahawks and Eastbourne have the early jump on the field after two rounds of the U85kg JC Bowl competition, both registering their second bonus point wins.
Johnsonville beat the HOBM Howler 51-0 and Eastbourne beat the MSP Reds 26-10. OBU pipped defending champions Wellington 19-15 in another U85kg match.
The Poneke Ruffnuts the OBU Rightous Brothers 97-7, the Upper Hutt Rams Pirates beat the OBU 69ers 73-7 and the Johsonville Cripples beat MSP 69-20 in three free-wheeling results of the Reserve Grade Mike Copeland Trophy competition.