Poneke and Marist St Pat’s looking to bounce back

Both Poneke and Marist St Pat's suffered unlikely defeats to lower ranked teams last weekend, making their eleventh round clash at Kilbirnie Park tomorrow for the Horan-Millar Trophy a key fixture of the afternoon. Neither will want to drop this one, with the race for the 'top 7' shaping as a close one over the final three weekends. 

New leaders Old Boys University meet Paremata-Plimmerton, while there are also several clutch matches in the women's and lower club rugby grades.

Elsewhere it Old Timers Day at Stokes Valley.

Hutt Old Boys Marist v Avalon
Venue: Hutt Rec
Referee: Sam Thompson

Avalon produced the upset of the season last Saturday when they knocked over MSP at Evans Bay Park. The week previous the Wolves had conceded a season high 78 points. Thomas Kiwara was a hero scoring 17 points in the 27-17 triumph.

By contrast the Eagles relinquished podium position in the Swindale Shield, thumped 48-16 by reigning champions Old Boys University.

HOBM welcome back Wellington Lions halfback Sheridan Rangihuna back and this coupled with returning forwards gives HOBM a more sturdy appearance.

Avalon have blown three double-digit leads this season, but finally hung on against MSP. Confident Wolves having nothing to lose against a Hutt team still very much in the hunt to win the Swindale Shield.

The Billy Herbert Memorial Trophy is held by HOBM.

Paremata-Plimmerton v Old Boys University 
Venue: Ngatitoa Domain
Referee: Ben Lourie

Old Boys University stormed to the top of the table with a commanding 48-16 win over previous leaders HOBM. Paremata-Plimmerton produced a similarly spectacular result when they surprised in form Poneke 25-11.

OBU lost six forwards last week, but boast more depth than any other club and should match the rapidly improving Paremata-Plimmerton pack.

The halfback tussle between Richard Judd and Tomasi Palu will be fascinating. Paremata-Plimmerton have won all three games when the Hurricanes contracted Judd has started while Palu scored four tries against the Eagles.

Petone v Wellington
Venue: Petone Rec
Referee: Vincent Ringrose

Petone got their season back on course last week with a crushing win over hapless Johnsonville. No.8 Tupou Sopoaga produced a star turn scoring the first four tries of the match.

Wellington haven't had any problems scoring points recently, but defence remains a major concern. Hurricane Jonah Lowe turned out for the Axemen against Tawa.

Petone holds the Bill Francis/Jack Taylor Trophy that they are playing for.

Poneke v Marist St Pat's
Venue: Kilbirnie Park
Referee: Damian McPherson

Both sides are smarting after shock defeats in Round 10. MSP have responded well to losses this season. After being thrashed by OBU 17-32, MSP defeated Petone 50-22 and HOBM 28-26 in the same week.

Poneke are on 33 points, but with a loss could be flirting with the regulation zone. 

Watch for a great loose forward scrap with Tom Horan (MSP) and Greg Foe (Poneke).

Poneke hold the Horan/Millar Trophy after a thrilling 29-27 win last year.

Wainuiomata v Tawa
Venue: William Jones Park
Referee: Kyle Lagerwall 

Tawa retained the final place in the top seven after putting a half century on Wellington. Repeating the dose against Wainuiomata will be much tougher with the hosts having lost six games by less than a converted try.

Pepesana Patafilo scored two tries last Saturday and his possible clash at centre with veteran Marvin Karawana will be interesting.

Both packs are noted for their abrasive approach so the Chris Stirling Cup will be keenly fought for.

Johnsonville v Upper Hutt Rams
Venue: Helston Park
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe

The top two sides in the 2017 Hardham Cup will meet in that competition again. The Rams are the favourites to win this clash having enjoyed four victories in the Swindale Shield as opposed to Johnsonville's zero.

Greg Te Kura is growing in stature at halfback for the Rams while Tui Yandall deserves praise for appearing in every game at loose head for Johnsonville this season.

Both sides have conceded a combined 739 points in 2018 so there should be plenty of tires in this affair.

Oriental-Rongotai v Northern United
Venue: Polo Ground
Referee: Damian Botherway

Ories are in eighth place on 27 points, still five points shy of cracking the top seven despite beating Petone and Wainuiomata in the last fortnight to keep their Jubilee Cup hopes alive.

Norths are running hot having won six consecutive matches and scored 263 points. 

Adam Deck scored 21 points of Ories 26 points against Wainuiomata. Perry Hayman bagged 17 against the Rams and he plays his 100th Premier game in this match at centre. 

The will be a tight and torrid To'omaga Alex Iona Memorial Cup fixture.

Women's and lower grades

Paremata-Plimmerton faces the sternest test of their season thus far when they host Oriental-Rongotai at Ngatitoa Domain in the sixth round of the Rebecca Liua'ana Trophy women's competition. 

Pare-Plim are the competition leaders after five weekends but have a game in hand and have their bye next weekend. Ories will want to bounce back after losing to Norths last Saturday so this could be a willing clash.

If Ories beat Pare-Plim, Norths should be the new leaders as they play winless Poneke on the top field at Porirua Park.  The two other matches will be hard to predict, with HOBM hosting Petone and Old Boys University hosting Avalon.

The Poneke versus Marist St Pat's Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield game at Kilbirnie Park is a feature 11th round Harper Lock Shield match. Poneke are third with nine wins, while MSP are the leaders with 10 wins and eight by way of bonus point.

Norths are still in Premier Reserve contention and they play Ories in the early game over at the Polo Ground.  In the other games, OBU head to Ngati Toa and a clash with bottom side Pare-Plim, Petone are at home against Wellington on the Petone Rec, Johnsonville host the Rams at Helston, Tawa head to William Jones to face Wainuiomata, and HOBM and Avalon clash at the Hutt Rec.

Once again there's a combination of Friday night and Saturday games in the Les Mills Colts competitions. 

In the Division 1 Paris Memorial the round starts with Ories and Norths meeting tonight at 7.30pm at Te Whaea. The Magpies finally got off the mark against Tawa and will look to put distance between them and relegation while Norths (16 points with a game in hand) will look to shake off rust quickly after their game last weekend was postponed at the 11th hour. On Saturday leaders MSP (23) remain unbeaten and head to Lyndhurst to face a Tawa side (at 12.30pm) in a similar situation to Ories, while OBU Green (21) are the closest challengers and take on Petone at Te Whaea. The fourth match is at the Hutt Rec where HOBM and the Upper Hutt Rams - hopefully recovered from an illness that swept through the side - meet.

The Division 2 JRD Cup, Saturday sees unbeaten leaders Paremata-Plimmerton (25 points) host OBU Black (20) in a top-of-the-table clash at Ngati Toa.

It's a congested looking table in the early going in the U85kg Restricted grade and Saturday's stack of games is highlighted by the clash up the coast of two of the four joint-leaders when unbeaten Avalon head north to take on Paraparaumu at 1pm. The Upper Hutt Rams and Eastbourne are the other two, with the Rams hosting MSP on home turf at Maidstone (also at 1pm) while Eastbourne head to the cage at Ian Galloway Park to face the Wests Roosters at 2.45pm.