Local teams experience the ups and downs of early rounds
By Tim O?Connell
Two rounds into the 2009 club season, our local rugby teams are faring reasonably well on the Swindale Shield and Harper Lock ladders. While Petone has made the best start of all the clubs in Wellington?s premier rugby competition, the northern suburbs are not too far off the pace, albeit with a mixed bag of results in the opening weeks of the Swindale Shield. Tawa has already showed signs that their Hardham Cup success in 2008 was no fluke. With a largely unchanged squad of experience and youthful exuberance, the boys in the red, blue and yellow jerseys lost gallantly to Upper Hutt on March 28 before demolishing Avalon 46-7 at home in round two. Meanwhile, the newly-christened Randwick Meats Petone side has already exhibited the form of a team to be reckoned with in 2009, with two early wins putting them at the top of the table with nine points. Speaking at the start of the season, Coach Dion Ross said he believed his charges had cultivated a positive team spirit, which he believed was an encouraging sign for the rest of 2009. However, Ross was wary of looking too far ahead at this stage. ?We?re confident, not fearful of the season ahead-but at the same time we?ll just be taking things one game at a time and hopefully things will go the way we want.? Week one of the Swindale Shield programme saw Petone begin their quest for a Swindale/Jubilee double with a thirteen try 86-9 romp over a hapless Avalon side at Porirua Park, despite having eight new players in the starting fifteen. Things got even better in round two on April 4 as Petone claimed a huge psychological and morale boosting 30-25 victory over Northern United at Petone Recreation Ground. In a repeat of the 2008 Jubilee Cup semi-final, Petone turned the tables on last year?s champions in ideal conditions for running rugby. For North?s, however, their second loss means they remain third from bottom, with two bonus points the only thing keeping them ahead of Avalon and Wainuiomata at the foot of the table. In senior first action, Johnsonville has made the best possible start towards regaining a spot in the premier grade with a win over in the first round of the Harper Lock Shield.
