Petone on top of Swindale Shield in day of high scoring

Petone are alone at the top of the Swindale Shield after a high scoring afternoon of club rugby across all the grades in the Wellington region on Saturday.

In cold, blustery conditions, Petone emerged as the Premier competition's outright leaders after beating the Wellington Axemen 52-15 and taking home the Jack Taylor / Bill Francis Trophy. 

Petone pulled away in the second half after leading 21-0 with the southerly at their backs in the first half. 

Petone leads the competition by one point to Old Boys University, who also had a comfortable eighth round win. The OBU Goats beat the Avalon Wolves 78-5 at Fraser Park. They were dominant throughout, taking a 34-0 lead into halftime in a crosswind, before more than doubling that lead in the second half. No. 8 Shamus Hurley-Langton scored a hat-trick for the Goats, while flanker Caleb Delany scored two and first five-eighth Dale Sabbagh kicked 18 points to surpass 100 for the season. The Wolves scored a solitary try to lock Chris Lafaele.

The Goats' win was the biggest win of the day in the Premier grade, and they are now ahead of Marist St Pats on the standings whose 22-24 defeat to Hutt Old Boys Marist in their Father Cleary Shield match was the closest result of the day. 

HOBM scored two converted tries and led 14-10 at halftime. MSP had all the early running but were unable to convert. Instead it was Hurricanes centre Chase Tiatia who scored the game's first try when he intercepted a pass by MSP first five Aidan Morgan and dashed clear. The Eagles doubled their lead when second five and the competition's leading points scorer Brandyn Laursen scored from a clinical first phase scrum move.

Following an earlier penalty, MSP scored a key try just before the break with No. 8 Pago Haini bursting forth over the tryline in a determined run. 

Playing into the wind, MSP dug deep early in the second half, but were unable to penetrate. HOBM extended their lead to 17-10 with a Laursen penalty. Aidan Morgan then intercepted a HOBM pass and ran clear to score for MSP to cut the deficit to 17-15.

A booming break by Tiatia then set up wing Tomasi Alosio to cross to make it 24-15. MSP scored a consolation try at the end to flanker James Tuia to give his side what could be a crucial bonus point win.

Northern United and Tawa are a point behind MSP in fourth equal, both winning their eighth games well.

Norths beat the Upper Hutt Rams 43-23 for the Terry Farrow Memorial Cup. Norths won seven tries to three at Maidstone Park, with wing Losi Filipo scoring two of these. For the Rams, flankers Jared Woodward and Jack Wright and replacement prop Rhodri Evans each scored tries.

Tawa beat the Johnsonville Hawks 50-5 at Lyndhurst Park to retain the Carman Cup. For Tawa, loosehead prop Tony Coburn and halfback Jono Boyd both scored braces with four individuals scoring their other tries.

Poneke were the biggest movers on the points table, moving into the mid-table seventh position and keeping in touch with the top four contenders with their gritty 20-15 win over Oriental Rongotai for the Jimmy Grbich Memorial Shield at home at Kilbirnie Park.

Poneke broke a 15-15 deadlock with three minutes to play with a big shunt from a scrum on halfway and halfback Mario Counsell turning the ball over for his side to swarm up field on rampant attack. Poneke went close to scoring in the corner but were thwarted by desperate defence. But they couldn't prevent lock Galu Taufale from threading through a ruck and scoring the match-winner in front of the scoreboard. 

The red and blacks completed an into-the-wind comeback that seemed unlikely early in the second half after evergreen Ories centre Paulo Aukoso ran on to a short pass from flyhalf Alex Ropeti off a first phase scrum attack and raced through to score his side's second try. This made it 12-3 to Ories, after Ropeti had scored the only try of the first spell after 30 minutes following a well-organised team build-up. 

Poneke struck right back with a try through fast hands to score in the far corner, to close the deficit to 12-8 and galvanise the Poneke pack whose lock Cole Stewart was making his 100th start for. Poneke took the lead for the first time by scoring their second try after fullback Issac Moe Jenkins reeled in a Ropeti cross kick near the sideline and counterattacked up past halfway. Tighthead prop Hennie Tui carried play up field, leading to busy hooker Andrew Jones making a charging run at the line to score. Flyhalf Caleb Robson converted from out wide and Poneke were now up 15-12.

Ories first five Ropeti kicked a penalty to level the scores up at 15-15 with under 10 minutes to play, before Poneke scored near the end to seal the win.

Wainuiomata have also moved ahead of Ories amongst the mid-table contenders after beating Paremata-Plimmerton 63-19 on their Old Timers' Day at William Jones Park.

Wainuiomata turned around a heavy loss to Norths last week by laying on nine tries to Paremata-Plimmerton's three. Second five Tyler Tane was the individual star performer with four tries and nine conversions for 38 points. Halfback Jordan King also scored two tries, while for the visitors, No. 8 Junior Davey, prop Peni Taupau and replacement loose forward Zach Lemana scored their three tries.

It was also a mixed bag of scoring in the Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield. Leaders Northern United maintained their unbeaten record by running out 65-3 winners over Stokes Valley in the late game at Delaney Park. Second placed MSP came back from 10-0 against HOBM to win 19-10, with Poneke staying third after beating Ories 23-7, after scoring the only try of the first half and leading 13-0 turning to play into the stiff wind and pulling further ahead with the opening try of the second half.

The other close result was at William Jones Park, where Pare-Plim edged Wainuiomata 18-14, but there were big wins elsewhere. OBU beat Avalon by 82-12, Tawa overcame Johnsonville 92-12, and Petone Blue ran out 90-12 winners over their Petone White counterparts. 

It’s all set for a showdown next Saturday in the Premier Women's competition between Oriental Rongotai and Norths for the season title when they meet next week at the Polo Ground after both continued their winning ways in Saturday's penultimate round. 

Ories were untroubled against Petone running in 15 tries in a 93-0 win. Six individuals scored two or more tries, while flanker Precious Auimatagi added nine conversions in a 28-point haul.

Norths had to work harder, pushed by a gallant MSP side before prevailing 41-27, while HOBM finished their year winning 41-17 over Poneke and sit third on the ladder for now. The closest match of the day was out at Ngati Toa Domain, where OBU got up by 31-22 over home side Paremata-Plimmerton with midfielder Thamsyn Newton scoring a hat-trick.

The seventh round of the Paris Memorial Trophy Colts competition saw leaders Old Boys University Green maintain their position with an obligatory 22-0 win over the OBU second side.

OBU Green head a close-knit group of chasers snapping at their heels, with Petone Blue in second by beating the Wellington Axemen by default this weekend. Norths White also had the weekend off with their bye, but maintain third place on the standings, ahead of Norths Blue who defeated the Upper Hutt Rams Colts 79-7. In other matches, HOBM Green beat Poneke 67-7 and Tawa blanked the Johnsonville Hawks 27-0.

The Upper Hutt Rams maintained their perfect winning record in the U85kg JC Bowl, winning their sixth straight bonus point win by beating Eastbourne 38-24 on the latter’s Old Timers’ Day at H.W. Shortt Park. The Light Rams now have a seven-point buffer to second placed Eastbourne on the standings after seven completed rounds. Last year’s champions Avalon are third equal with the OBU Scallywags after Avalon beat the Wests Roosters 45-0 at Ian Galloway Park and OBU had the bye. In other U85kg JC Bowl matches, both on Kilbirnie Park, Wellington beat MSP 22-10 and the HOBM Howlers pipped Poneke 26-24.

The Upper Hutt Rams Thirstys had the closest win of the afternoon in the seventh round of the Reserve Grade Mike Copeland Cup competition, edging the Wests Roosters Mixed Veges side 22-21.

The Thirstys win was the closest of the round, which also saw some high scoring. The Poneke Ruffnuts beat the OBU Pink Ginners 67-28, the Paremata-Plimmerton Punters defeated Stokes Valley 60-26 and competition frontrunners the Upper Hutt Rams J8s beat the OBU 69ers 41-12. Joint frontrunners the Ories Vatos also won again, beating the Wellington Axemen, while the Upper Hutt Rams Pirates beat the MSP Internationals 29-17 in the other game.