Swindale Shield to go down to the wire in final round
It was a dramatic and high scoring day of Swindale Shield rugby around Wellington on Saturday, with defending champions Old Boys University and recent past winners Northern United and Hutt Old Boys all with a chance of winning the first round Premier title next weekend.
In games involving these three teams, Northern United held on to beat Old Boys University 50-45 and Hutt Old Boys Marist defeated Johnsonville 52-24, placing both Norths and OBU on 50 points and HOBM on 49 heading into the last round.
Further down the table, Poneke and Tawa both won their matches at home to become the next two teams to book their Jubilee Cup places when the championship round starts in a fortnight.
Poneke beat Petone 36-19 for the interclub FJ Tilyard Shield, while Tawa overpowered the Upper Hutt Rams 55-24.
In the other three matches, Oriental-Rongotai defeated Marist St Pat's 41-32, the Wellington Axemen beat Wainuiomata 27-24 and the Avalon Wolves beat Paremata-Plimmerton 37-25 on their Old Timers' Day.
Behind the leading trio of teams, Tawa are on 41 points, MSP 40 and Poneke 39 and all safely in the Jubilee Cup.
There is one spot to be decided in the last round - with Petone on 37 and Oriental-Rongotai on 32 being the two teams still alive in the last round.
Swindale Shield
At Jerry Collins Stadium, Norths led all the way against OBU in 13-try thriller that involved several shifts of momentum. Norths raced to a 19-0 lead, but OBU pegged this back to 19-14 and Norths led 33-21 at halftime.
Norths went ahead 36-21 and pulled further ahead, but OBU came back and on the back of a superior scrum closed the gap to 50-42.
With two minutes left OBU flyhalf Dale Sabbagh kicked a penalty from in front creating the chance of an improbable victory, but this was denied by Norths lock Chris Middleton, who won a lineout steal near his own line at the death.
At Kilbirnie Park Poneke finally capitalised on early momentum by scoring two tries and taking a 10-0 lead over Petone.
Left wing Tyson Fukatsu crossed soon after the break to put Poneke up 17-0. Petone crossed through replacement prop Jordan Gogo but Poneke scored twice more and when Alex Morrissey found the line it was 29-7 and all but over.
At the Hutt Recreation Ground, the Eagles had the game in the bag at halftime, when leading 40-0. Second five-eighth Chase Tiatia played a leading hand in helping the Eagles pounce on opportunities and run in several first half tries.
Tiatia scored himself just after halftime to extend it to 47-0, but Johnsonville came back into the match and scored the next three tries and later a fourth.
At Fraser Park, Avalon Wolves centre Chris Aumua scored two tries including an intercept try as his side went out to a 17-0 lead against Paremata-Plimmerton. Paremata-Plimmerton came back with three tries and a penalty to close the score to 18-22. Blake before the Wolves dug deep for their Old Timers and pulled clear to win.
At Lyndhurst Park, Tawa used their dominant scrum and dangerous back backs to post a half century on the Upper Hutt Rams. It was close early, before Tawa took the lead and pulled clear in the second half to win well. Flanker Telea Seumanutafa scored a a hat-trick of tries.
At William Jones Park, Wainuiomata finished with 14 players in their Bill Jones Cup loss to the Wellington Axemen who scored a late unconverted try to take victory. Wainuiomata led 17-8 at halftime. Wellington scored next to close the gap to 15-17, before both sides scored converted tries to advance Wainuiomata's lead to 24-22 with about 10 minutes to play. It wasn't enough, however, the Axemen finishing strongly.
At Evans Bay Park, it was tit-for-tat between visitors Ories and MSP, with Ories leading 19-17 at halftime. Ories opened the second spell with their bonus point try to take a 24-17 lead before further tries advanced the score to 31-29 in favour of Ories. MSP fullback Andrew Wells slotted a penalty to see his side take a 32-31 lead, but Ories replied with a penalty and another try to take the win 41-32.
Points Table:
Norths 50
OBU 50
HOBM 49
Tawa 42
MSP 41
Poneke 39
Petone 37
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Ories 32
UH Rams 28
Wainui 27
Avalon 22
Pare-Plim 17
Wgtn 17
Jville 2
Harper Lock Shield
The Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield will come down to a 'virtual final' next weekend between Marist St Pat's and Northern United, after both frontrunners won well.
MSP took their 12th straight win by beating Ories 66-38, while Norths won their 11th outing by beating Old Boys University 51-24.
Poneke held on to third by edging Petone 25-24, while Johnsonville exploded in the second half in beating Hutt Old Boys Marist 41-19, Avalon beat Paremata-Plimmerton 55-26, Tawa beat the Upper Hutt Rams 27-15 and Wainuiomata beat the Axemen 26-20.
Women's
The seventh round of Women's Rebecca Liua'ana Trophy matches saw both Ories and Petone leapfrogged Paremata-Plimmerton into second and third respectively behind leaders Norths, with their wins and Paremata-Plimmerton's bye round.
Ories scored six tries in beating MSP 36-22, including two each to Raylene Lolo and Evelyn Tea, while Petone outgunned Poneke 94-0 with Mary Lee-Sa'u and Jackie Fereti each scoring four tries.
Leaders Norths took a 43-34 win over Avalon, while Old Boys University and Hutt Old Boys Marist drew 12-12 at Nairnville Park after leading 12-7 at halftime courtesy of tries to centre
Jess Offen and halfback Tawny Burgess.Much of the second half remained scoreless, before HOBM scored their equaliser late.
Colts
The Les Mills Colts Paris Memorial Trophy Division 1 title was won by Marist St Pat's who beat HOBM Green 32-19, to register their seventh straight win.
OBU Green finished second after defeating Norths Blue 29-24 On Friday night, after leading 17-0 early and then 29-10 with 15 minutes to play only to hold off a spirited late finish.
The Upper Hutt Rams played well to beat Tawa 39-22, while last year's champions Petone ousted Ories 42-19,meaning Ories face relegation to division 2 for the second round (all to be confirmed during the week).
Paremata-Plimmerton won their seventh straight Colts JRD Cup clash, to take out the first round title and earn promotion to the top flight for the second round. They beat the Avalon Wolves Colts 51-11 today. OBU Black beat Johnsonville 34-12 to finish second.