Short Passes -13 May

There are two rounds to play in the Premier Swindale Shield competition. Will Hutt Old Boys Marist win the first round competition? Can Oriental-Rongotai regroup from their heavy loss to Wainuiomata on Saturday to beat the Eagles this coming Saturday? Who make and miss out on the ‘top 7’? Follow the drama HERE (link to Draws & Results and standings).

This coming Saturday sees the third and final of the Hurricanes pre-season Tranzit Series at Porirua Park. This involves the St Pat’s Silverstream, St Pat’s Town, Scots College and Wellington College First XVs. At 11.30am Scots College will play Gisborne Boys’ High School and St Pat’s Silverstream will meet Napier Boys’ High School and at 1.00pm Wellington College will play Palmerston North Boys’ High School and St Pat’s Town will meet Hastings Boys’ High School. More details to come later in the week.

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Some midweek rugby over the next few days. On Tuesday at 1.00pm the Hutt International Boys’ School First XV hosts Rathkeale College. On Wednesday at Evans Bay Park (kick-off TBC) St Pat’s Town meet St John’s Hastings. On Wednesday at the Hutt Rec at 2.45pm there is a cheeky representative fixture between the Hawke’s Bay and Tasman Mako wider NPC squads. On Wednesday at Jerry Collins Stadium at 6.00pm the Tawa College and Porirua College First XVs square off.

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Will the folly of the approach to the Premier Reserve grade be shown up badly this year? Currently a team’s place for the second round is determined by whether their Premier side is in the Jubilee or Hardham Cup, and while there are sound reasons for this – such as being able to provide back-up – it seems rather perverse that the fate of their season is defined by something completely out of their control. As things stand two of the current top three sides in the Harper Lock Shield, leaders and defending double champions MSP and Tawa, are both looking at the B-tier for round two, while 11th-placed HOBM are guaranteed to be in the A-tier already.

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Spare a thought for the Oriental-Rongotai Women’s team, who were defaulted to on Friday afternoon by Hutt Old Boys Marist. This is their third win by default in four weeks. They have also played one game where the opposition (Poneke) were short and they played a 13-a-side match. So in effect they have played two full games in six weeks. Not ideal preparation ahead of this coming Friday evening’s match at the Stadium against Northern United! Its a tough situation for all parties involved, both trying to grow the game while maintaining a proper competition. But its not a good look and a solution has to be found.

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The Old Boys University Green Colts have seemingly won the first round Paris Memorial Trophy Division 1 competition. They beat last year’s first round winners Marist St Pat’s 12-10 on Saturday to be unbeaten after 5 rounds. They just need to win their next two matches to claim the first round spoils. Their opposition? The Upper Hutt Rams (one draw, four losses) and then Paremata-Plimmerton (one win, four losses).

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We have a *NEW* photo storage website. This is a ‘Smugmug’ site and can be found through links on the home page of this website or by visiting this site HERE

The ‘old’ photo storage site still exists, with photos dating back to 2005. This can be accessed through a link on the new Smugmug page or through the Draws & Results pages.

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Oriental-Rongtai failed to trouble the scoreboard operators at William Jones Park on Saturday, succumbing 0-27. The last tine Ories was blanked in a Premier match was 44-0 by Norths in Round 2 of the Jubilee Cup in 2008.

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St Pat’s Silverstream pipped Gisborne Boys’ High School 22-21 on Saturday. This was their first ever win on the famous Rectory Ground in Gisborne.

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Johnsonville’s losing streak in the Swindale Shield is now 24 games. Paremata-Plimmerton went 20 games without a victory before beating Johnsonville 22-8 in the 2016 Swindale Shield. Rimutaka lost 22 in a row from 2012-13.

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Like father, like daughter? Read about Marist St Pat’s lock and former Wellington Lion and Jubilee Cup winner Lua Lokotui’s daughter Paris who is the NZSS Netball team preparing to play the England U19s in July HERE 

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It is ‘Club Night’ at Westpac Stadium this Friday.

The Hurricanes will be milking this for all they’ve got over the next few days on social media, but in reality this is lip service and club rugby is nothing but a pest for professional rugby. The slow creep towards rugby in New Zealand being ‘Americanised’, with the professional game and nothing below it, is becoming more alarming.

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The Hurricanes, who are a clear second on the NZ Conference points table, host the Jaguares on Friday night, who are third on the South African Conference with six wins and five losses. But just five points separates first (Sharks) from fifth (Stormers) the Argentinians have everything to play for. They lost 27-32 to the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night.

Congratulations to Taine Plumtree (Old Boys University), Kaliopasi Uluilakepa (Petone) and Billy Proctor (Marist St Pat’s) for their selections in the New Zealand U20 for the Junior World Cup in Argentina. Naitoa Ah Kuoi (MSP) missed out after travelling to Australia with the squad recently.

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Sterling job as ‘ball fetcher’ by Paremata-Plimmerton Colts reserve lock Cameron Ticehurst on Saturday. The one and only available ball was kicked into the trees adjacent to Petone #2. The lineout was formed and the 30 players on the field and about 100 spectators and reserves waited for the next re-start. No ball, no game, so after a short pause Cameron left the lineout, crossed the path, scaled the tree, extracted the ball, got down and re-joined the game in the middle of the lineout. Club rugby at its best!

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There was a shake-up in Manawatu club rugby last week, with Linton Army’s withdrawal from the Senior A [Premier] competition.

The side defaulted to Feilding Old Boys-Ōroua last weekend and to Varsity on April 13, and so with low player numbers, the club has decided to pull out before the second round of the club competition started this past Saturday.

The bye has been removed, so all eight teams played every week. The competition will finish two weeks earlier, with the Hankins Shield final on July 13.

Teams will keep competition points from round-one games against Linton. But points for and against from matches against Linton will be set to zero, because Varsity and FOB-Ōroua could be affected if points differential is needed to determine playoff positions.

Dannevirke was the last club to drop out of the senior one competition, in 2012, and now has a team in senior two.

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On the field, Kia Toa beat Feilding Yellows 14-12 on Saturday to win the first round Manawatu Jubilee Cup.

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They lost their last match of the first round, but Coastal have won the first round McLeod Shield in Taranaki Premier club rugby.

Coastal sit on 12 points at the top of the table after points were halved with four wins and three losses this season.

Stratford/Eltham beat Coastal 28-22 on Saturday, but Coastal claimed the silverware on the back of more bonus points.

Due to halving the points, the premier table is congested with Coastal leading on 12 points, Tukapa, Spotswood United, Clifton and Stratford/Eltham all in second place on 11 points, followed by New Plymouth Old Boys and Inglewood on nine and Southern on four points.

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Thirty one women’s players who have worn the black jersey were honoured on Saturday at a special capping ceremony at Eden Park. The caps are based on traditional rugby caps and feature the Black Ferns number, the silver fern and details of their Test debut.

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New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has welcomed a new initiative which saw a non-contact rugby grade for boys kick off last week on Auckland’s North Shore.

The North Harbour Rugby programme is the first of its kind in New Zealand and was designed to address the decline in the number of boys playing rugby in the region.

The boys’ open grade attracted registrations from 13 club teams in the North Harbour region.

North Harbour Rugby Head of Rugby Engagement and Participation, Bill Wigglesworth, said the new grade was about providing rugby opportunities to boys who were new to rugby and others who weren’t keen to continue playing tackle rugby.

“We’ve made quite a few changes this season to make sure we’re providing quality experiences to young kids. We’re focusing on creating rugby environments that are all about a climate of development, fun and put young people at the centre of their rugby experience, said Wigglesworth.

“We’re expanding our non-contact versions of rugby called Rippa Rugby and QuickRip and they’re fast and exciting to play. Lots of boys decide to play rugby later on and we want to give them an opportunity to be involved without putting them into a tackle team straight away.”

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It would be great if something akin to Kayo Sports came to New Zealand. Check this sports streaming website HERE

Only available in Australia (unless accessing illegally or with a VPN) this would be the endgame for Sky TV.

We are not advocating that, but why doesn’t Sky TV do this?

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