Premier Men finish fifth in Swindale Shield
Our Premier Men finished the Swindale Shield in fifth place after an arm-wrestle with old rivals Petone. They will host Oriental Rongotai in the first round of the Jubilee Cup playoffs next week.
Matches between Marist St Pats and Petone are renowned for intensity and close results, this match went to form. After opening the scoring with a penalty, first five Andrew Wells went off in the first 15 minutes with what looked to be a season ending injury. Petone would score the first try of the match five minutes later.
After regrouping, the home side struck back with a long range try where Ben Tuiatua gathered a high ball and scampered up the sideline before handing to Logan Love to finish. A penalty to Petone on halftime saw them take a 8-10 lead into the break.
When the Villagers scored a try three minutes into the second half to extend their lead to 8-17, things were looking ominous. But off the following kick off Jack O'Brien gathered a loose ball and darted to the tryline to narrow the gap to 13-17. A try to John Tuia saw the Red Machine take the lead at 18-17 before a penalty soon after gave the visitors the lead once again at 18-20.
Sustained pressure was eventually rewarded with a close range try to James Tuiatua giving the home side the lead at 23-20. Both teams had chances to score in the final 10 minutes but the Marist St Pats defence held strong to take the win and the Bill Elvy Memorial Cup.
Earlier on Evans Bay the Premier Reserves had a close match with Petone which ended with a 21-36 loss after a late try. They too finished fifth and will host Stokes Valley in next weeks playoffs.
The Colts faced unbeaten HOBM at Hutt Rec and went down by 22-34. The Internationals bounced back with a big 64-14 win over OBU 'Pink Ginners' and the Under 85s went down to Tawa by 0-73.
Both Netball sides won with MSP 1 beating QMC by 35-30 and MSP 2 beating Wellington East by 36-26.
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