The A-Z of Wellington club rugby 2023

• By Scott MacLean

The 2023 club season kicks off this weekend with the first of 13 rounds in the Premier Men’s Swindale Shield along with the Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield and Under 85kg JC Bowl competitions. The Colts and Women are also in action, with their competitions to start proper in coming weeks.

Our eighth annual A-Z looks at the season ahead.

A: Accuracy. You don’t win rugby games by being sloppy and usually the team that makes the fewest mistakes are the victors on the day. Those statements hold true no matter the level, though as the skill and ability go up the magnitude to which they can be punished increases as well. Accurate rugby at its best is some of the most thrilling entertainment the game can offer, so here’s hoping there’s plenty of it this season. 

B: Bula Vinaka. There’s a new and distinctly Fijian flavour to Avalon this year and the hope for the Wolves faithful is that changes their fortunes for the better. Their seemingly eternal problem of newly established players leaving for elsewhere remains, but new coach and recent club centurion Thomas Kiwara has been able to coax some experience back to Fraser Park to mix with the youthful enthusiasm and island flair. Will they have some bite this season?  

C: Close. For all its success, 2022 was a near-miss for Petone as the Villagers fell to a Norths side that could bring in their Super Rugby players in the Jubilee Cup final. The Swindale – and perhaps just as importantly for them the McBain as well – resides at North Park but whether it stays there will be of interest, as well as how they cope with their starlets Peter Lakai and Riley Higgins both now on full-time contracts with the Hurricanes. Can they end that title drought this time around? 

D: Difficult. The do-over of the Swindale draw was far from kind for Johnsonville, who now face perhaps the toughest start to a season in recent memory with an opening six weeks that seems them face Poneke, Petone, HOBM, MSP, Ories, and OBU. The Hawks have shown that on their day they can spring a surprise – as evidenced by their win over MSP last year – but have also been notoriously slow starters. So, will they take flight in those early weeks, or will that tough start see their ambitions grounded before the midway point?

E: Edge. Winning close results was Poneke’s modus operandi last year with seven of their eleven Swindale wins coming by seven points or fewer. The only side to lower Petone’s colours last year (until Norths in the final), they also saw off HOBM, Ories, and most satisfyingly for their supporters, MSP. The big improvers last year in vaulting from ninth to third, the challenge for them and coach Reggie Goodes will be to push on that bit further in 2023. Can Kilbirnie continue to be a place where teams dread to head?  

F: Forty-Four. It might be the number of the bus to Strathmore but has become as much of the identity of Oriental Rongotai as anything else. The Magpies did wind up with the Hardham Cup last term but losing to rivals MSP in the first round of the playoffs would have stung and with the wealth of talent they have, they and their supporters will consider contending for the big prize to be an absolute must. Ensuring the Polo Ground as a fortress will be key to that. 

G: Growth. The one area of the sport where numbers are heading in the right direction nationally is in the Women’s game, albeit Wellington losing two teams last year (HOBM and OBU) was far from ideal. With the success of the Women’s World Cup and professional pathways in New Zealand and Australia starting to form will numbers here continue to swell? On the field Norths will look to defend their crown, MSP for redemption after last year’s final disaster, Ories to return to the summit, and maybe a big push from Petone or even Avalon to be serious contenders.

H: Health. Injuries are always a factor, but it bordered on the ridiculous for Old Boys-University last season as the Goats used an almost unfathomable 53 different players in the Premier side, including 34 debutants. The fact they still made the Hardham final gives some idea of the depth in numbers they can call on. At full strength with Kyle Preston and reigning Best & Fairest winner Callum Harkin running the show they should be contenders and could benefit from a return to the central city at their new home of Rugby League Park.

I: Indefatigable. The average length of a Premier players career might be getting shorter with the pressures of life and work, and opportunities coming up overseas, but there’s still a core of players defy the trend and are out there week-in, week-out. And not just guys at the Premier level – most of who you can identify from the century of games (or more) on their club blazers – but real warriors of lower grades like Upper Hutt Ram Ainsley Mei, OBU’s Paul Swift, or even MSP’s Under 85s player Malcom Mashingadze who reached the mark of 200 games in the lightweight grade last season.

J: Journey. It’s been a decade now since Marist St Pats last tasted Jubilee Cup success – comfortably their longest drought since their formation after the 1970 season – and have been on the losing end on three occasions in that time. The Red Machine have recruited well from the college ranks and that seems their road back to the top, but their chances this year will again rest on the old guard that have carried them in recent seasons. So, do they have enough for one more push?

K: Kings. When it comes to the lower grades no one has been more dominant than Tawa’s second side, who rattled off a second successive unbeaten Harper Lock Shield/Ed Chaney Cup double and the challenge for everyone is to take them down. With the Premier 2 competition returning to a single division this year and likely the same post season format as the Premiers, those challengers could include a couple of sides rebounding from poor 2022’s like OBU and the Rams. 

L: Lower. A big change this year is the dropping of the tackle height for initial tacklers from the line of the shoulders down to the sternum. While not as drastic as that introduced in England it puts the onus of everyone to get it right and onto the referees of the WRRA to enforce it, and how teams adjust to it and other law changes will of interest in the opening rounds. And speaking of the WRRA if taking charge on the field has ever interested you, give them a call. 

M: Motivation. The defence of their title came to an end in perhaps the most crushing form available for Tawa last year, holding out Petone in a pulsating semi-final until deep in added time. That memory alone should provide enough motivation for this season as they seek a fourth title in the past decade, and with the depth and talent they have managed to build up amongst the trees at Lyndhurst Park few will bet against them being there once again at the business end. 

N: ‘Nui. The shorthand for Wainuiomata and one of Wellington’s more fiercely proud suburbs, as evidence by the grounds that show up to William Jones Park. Jubilee Cup finalists just four years ago, 2022 saw them register just two wins in the Swindale as a new wave of talent moves in to take the place of the band of loyal foot soldiers who served the club so well for so long. Will 2023 be another year on the rebuild or will they take a step forward towards the top once more? 

O: Oldest. For the province’s longest-existing club, 2022 was a chastening experience for Wellington. Winless on the field with some very heavy losses was trying enough but being unable to field a second side as well put their Premier status in some jeopardy. Their Colts performed well as did their 85s, but as a another trying season looms is the famed Axe slowly being blunted? 

P: Push. It’s been a lean few years for the Upper Hutt Rams and 2022 was especially frustrating with a series of narrow losses, but 2023 could be where they push again for the very top. On the field they’ve managed to bring together some of the cream of the college crop – highlighted by NZ Schools Barbarians prop and College Rugby player of the Year Senio Sanele – to link with the outstanding Toby Crosby while the new facilities at Maidstone Park begin to take shape. Will the valley reverberate to the thunder of hooves?

Q: Quick. The great Earl Kirton is fond of saying “there’s many things you can teach in rugby, but you can’t teach gas”. Wellington’s club footy might be based more around power, but there’s more than a few rapid movers like Poneke’s Nick Robertson, OBU’s Callum Harkin, and HOBM’s Zane Ainslie, plus Ories’s Ayesha Leti-I’iga and Georgia Daals in the women’s game. And then there’s young Ram Tyrone Trego from Hutt International, who won the NZ Secondary Schools 100m title last year.

R: Repeat. Winning back-to-back titles is hard, which is why only OBU has done so since MSP in 2000-01 (if you ignore the shared title/drawn final of 2010), but that will be the goal for Norths. 2022 seemed like a lost year until an unlikely reversal in form backed by their adoption of the “Tears or Beers” mantra fuelled a run all the way to the title. With their exile to the #2 ground at Porirua Park for the year, a frontloaded schedule of home games, and a squad that looks rather different – what will the champs deliver this time around?

S: Scales. Perhaps the most contentious piece of equipment at any level of rugby, they’re a required part of the Under 85kg team managers kit for the ritualistic pre-match weigh-in. With the backing of the national body and the profile of the knockout Club Cup the grade has new meaning, and with most of the regions 17 clubs having made serious efforts to get a team together things are trending in the right direction even if still short of the halcyon days of over a decade ago.

T: Trophies. McBain, Horan-Millar, Jim Grbich, Sammy Saili, Alby Makeham, Alby Jack, Marc Verhoeven. Not only are these names woven into the history of Wellington club rugby but are immortalised on interclub trophies that clubs battle for each week and the highly sought prize for the winner, and often leads to these encounters having that little bit extra on them in the lead-up and on the park.

U: Upswing. It might be small fry to others but 2022 was a milestone year for Paremata-Plimmerton. Their four wins were their most ever in the Swindale, 10th their best finish, and the 26 competition points earned from those wins – and pushing HOBM, OBU, and Poneke all the way – were more than the previous three seasons combined. Will the Hammerheads circle more prey in 2023, and maybe even play a Jubilee Cup match for the first time in their history? 

V: Valley. It was ultimately frustration and disappointment for Stokes Valley in 2022 as their top team narrowly lost to Petone in the HD Morgan final. That would have consigned them to another season start in the second-tiers second division, but the change to a single division format means the opportunity to mix it with the big clubs second sides once more. Off the field the club have turned their fortunes around and from being on the brink of extinction are thriving once more. The Rhinos are on the move.

W: Wait. Like their city brethren, it’s been a while between drinks from the Jubilee Cup for Hutt Old Boys Marist, and like Tawa, last season’s exit would have stung being mown down in the second half of their semi-final by a Norths side that had their Super Rugby stars. Few clubs are better at remaining at the sharp end of the competition while rolling through talent than the Eagles are so you expect they’ll contend once more, but will they be there for the Big Dance in late July? 

X: Xanadu. A word that means ‘a place or state of mind full of beauty, happiness, and wonder’. For some, that feeling can apply to winning their final, whether that happens to be the Jubilee Cup or – at the other end of the spectrum – the David Scott Cup for the U55kg college grade. 

Y: Youth. And specifically, the college game where hundreds of youngsters take to the field every week. It’s where the future stars of the game cut their teeth, and where other learn some valuable life lessons. At the sharp end Silverstream will set out to defend their Premiership crown as well as the Premier 2 and U15 titles, but the worrying trend of declining player numbers continues with some smaller schools really struggling to fill out teams. 

Z: Zoom lenses. As always, we reserve this for the phalanx of photographers out there every weekend capturing the action, some of whom sport lenses that look more like NASA telescopes these days. So, thanks to all the volunteer photographers attached to clubs and teams and those who help us. This is largely unique to Wellington and as well as keeping the various social media pages and websites illustrated, it helps us document the history of the game on an ongoing basis by posting all galleries here: https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/ 

Huddy Sports is back for 2023 – watch the first episode below, with an interview with Petone hooker Josh Southall: