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Sideline Conversions 1 May (some rugby news and information to start the week)

We are in the mix for round six this coming weekend, games at a glance:

#1 – Avalon v Pare-Plim
#2 – HOBM v Upper Hutt Rams
#3 – Norths v Ories
#4 – Wainui v Poneke
#5 – Wellington v Marist St Pats
#6 – J’ville v OBU
#7 – Tawa v Petone

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New Zealand Army v New Zealand Navy playing today at 3.00pm today, at Trentham.

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7-for-7 for the Upper Hutt Rams and 6-for-6 for Petone in their senior matches on Saturday.

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A remarkable score in one of the other Under 85s matches on Saturday, with Poneke racking up a century over the Wellington Axemen.

Both of those sides move into National Club Cup action this weekend, and both take on Taranaki opposition and meeting halfway in Whanganui. Poneke meet competition newcomers New Plymouth Old Boys, while the Axemen take on the well-performed Tukapa side.

Because of these matches and others, there is no scheduled WRFU Under 85s play this coming Saturday.

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Could the Women’s first-round Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy be effectively decided this coming weekend? Unbeaten pair Norths and Petone meet, though the Villagers are two points ahead after Norths were held to a draw by Avalon and have only HOBM/Wainui and Pare-Plim left to play after that.

Talking of the Women’s grade, how unusual is it to see Oriental Rongotai down in sixth with three losses and in jeopardy of being consigned to the Divison 2 Izzy Ford Cup for the second round. Their match against Avalon next week suddenly looms large.

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The loudest cheer is Petone’s packed clubrooms after their Old Timers Day’ win over Poneke? Not for a player of past or present, but a result. Specifically, the MC announcing HOBM’s loss to Pare-Plim over the bridge in Woburn.

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This week’s shoutout is to Josh Hunt, who lined up in the midfield for the Upper Hutt Rams Premier 2 side against Northern United in the Harper Lock Shield.

Hunt is no stranger to club rugby and to both teams. He played for Upper Hutt between 2006-09, then Norths between 2010-11, then back to the Rams where he has been playing continuously for the past decade. He played a full season for the Rams Premiers last year, and is part of an experienced group of players currently in their Harper Lock Shield team. They beat Norths 31-15 on Saturday.

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The Northern United Media Crew is no longer broadcasting all their home games this year, with their well-produced and entertaining live streaming service to the world. The ‘boss’ sadly passed away last year, and now a couple of them are back playing for the Premier 2 team. Hopefully it comes back in the future.

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Not mentioned in Saturday’s wrap was that the Upper Hutt Rams took two trophies back to Maidstone with them from Porirua Park. One was their interclub Terry Farrow Memorial, with the other being the Bill Brien Challenge Trophy. They’ll defend that for the first time in many years when Petone come to visit on the 13th.

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A rare trio of unexpected referee appearances on Saturday. Recently-retired professional Mike Fraser was on the sideline for OBU v MSP at Rugby League Park and lending his experience to Matt Thomas, while recent Premier referee Vincent Ringrose ran the line at Porirua Park. And David Walsh found himself in the middle of the HIBS v Upper Hutt/Heretaunga Premier qualifier after the appointed ref went down with an injury.

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One man who might be enjoying having his feet up this morning is Paul ‘Softy’ Latham. Known to many as one of Paremata-Plimmerton’s most passionate supporters, for all 30 days of April Latham has been scaling Porirua’s Colonial Knob each morning to raise money for the Ahuru Mowai Trust which he established to provide safe places for children and their families who have special needs. Latham, who has an autistic son, has been joined every morning by Pare-Plim Punters player James Barnes who himself has three autistic children. Numbers joining have varied from day-to-day, though on Anzac morning they were joined by nearly 100 others including players from not only Pare-Plim, but also Norths, Tawa, the Upper Hutt Rams and the Porirua Vikings and Vic Uni Hunters rugby league sides.

If you would like to contribute, you can at https://givealittle.co.nz/org/ahurumowaitrust

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In Horowhenua-Kapiti, Rahui have opened up a clear lead at the top of the standings, winning their fourth straight match with a bonus point in Saturday’s round of the Ramsbotham Cup. They beat Levin College Old Boys 29-21. Shannon and Waikanae have moved into second and third, after Shannon beat Paraparaumu 30-7 and Waikanae defeated Levin Wanderers 38-21.

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Four of the five Colts games this round were played on Friday night.

Genuine question here. Was that the clubs’ doing and prerogative, or was this the union, for whatever reason? We ask, because the Hurricanes were also playing at home at the same time, and if this was a scheduled night round perhaps maybe it could have been scheduled on a different Friday night that the Hurricanes were playing at home?

From a Hurricanes perspective, what’s 200-300 fewer potential supporters at their game between friends? For them, events a fortnight ago have shown that a Hurricanes crowd and a local community rugby crowd are two different things.

It could be four consecutive rounds that these Colts players miss seeing the Hurricanes. This coming weekend, the Hurricanes play in Suva in Fiji at the non-club and college rugby community friendly time of 2.05pm. Sky should put a replay on starting at 5.00pm when clubrooms are full. If they don’t, that’s a fail. Then there’s the following weekend with the 4.35pm kick off in Wellington against Moana Pasifika. In past years, the union have brought club rugby matches forward to 12.30pm/2.15pm kick-offs, but perhaps why bother this year, in the words of Dexter ‘you gotta keep ’em separated’.

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Why can’t or won’t the Hurricanes can’t publish results and scoring details of their games on their own website?

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On the subject of Moana Pasifika, they lost their ninth consecutive match this weekend – lots of engagement in the aftermath on this post below:

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Some chitter-chatter on the tweet machine late last week that Sky TV are about to dump First XV coverage altogether this year.  They can’t have Auckland, by far and away their largest market, so perhaps its not viable for them to cover everything else. All we know is we made enquiries about this a few weeks ago, thinking that they might increase their lower North Island coverage, and it was on at that stage.

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Interesting media development this past weekend, with the newspaper formerly known as the Dominion Post, the Christchurch Press and the Waikato Times rebranding and going behind a paywall. No loss to this audience as they ceased covering community sport a long time ago. Perhaps the time has come for a community focused sports website and/or news website that just reports the news and not opinion?

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Not often a pack is dominant and the No. 8 scores a hat-trick, including two from the base of the scrum, and a front row forward scores the other try from a lineout play, but the team is well beaten. Lots of work for Northern United if they want to retain hope of defending the Jubilee Cup.

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Plenty of hookers (of the rugby variety) to go around the Upper Hutt Rams at the moment. Josh Houston-Tupou returned to their side on Saturday after an absence, which included playing in the Manawatu this year. Last year’s St Pat’s Silverstream captain Toby Mallon was his back-up, while Eli Hunt is still playing most weekends. In the Premier 2 side Richard Treviranus went well as starting hooker on Saturday, while recent Wellington U19 hooker Leon Tuiloma has joined the club from the Axemen because he lives in Upper Hutt and it makes sense for him to be training and playing close to home. He was playing openside flanker for the Premier 2 team on Saturday.

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An open question for Sporty, who run the Draws & Results that the provincial unions all use. Why is there seemingly  no archive feature? Why can we go back and look at the points table for say 2022, or maybe 2019, for the competitions that are run? It’s like any results prior to April this year have been erased.

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A shout-out to the Eastbourne Under 85s. One of the better performers in the grade in recent years, they’ve had a tough start as they’ve struggled for numbers after a number of retirements and other player departures. But they’ve continued to front, even using the Game On provisions to ensure that their games get played.

Contrast that with their Wests counterparts, who have defaulted three of their four fixtures this year and, according to the WRFUs bylaws, are liable for removal from the competition.

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In the Hawke’s Bay Nash Cup, Napier Tech won their sixth straight match with a 34-14 win over Taradale, who are third. Central are second with five wins from seven outings, after beating strugglers Clive 71-5.

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Great match by Upper Hutt Rams right wing Jono Ryan, scoring three well-taken tries. He has come up from the U85kgs squad to Premiers and has scored six tries in his first five matches.

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A rugby coach has apologised for swearing and calling his young players ‘jersey-pulling bitches’ after a video surfaced of his pre-match pep chat to the boys.

The video was captured several years ago, but only was widely circulated this week, with many identifying the Eastern Bay junior club rugby coach, and expressing concern about his behaviour.

In the video the coach talks to the primary school aged boys about tackling. He swears several times and calls them ‘jersey pulling bitches’ while referring to an opposition team as ‘f…ing c…s’. He also tells one boy that he is “scared as” and that he will bring some wipes down “so you can wipe your arse when you shit your pants.”

Read more HERE

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Who will be the new Hurricanes coach in 2024, now that Jason Holland is joining the All Blacks?

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The Ories boys on the charge for the Hurricanes against the Horsemen last Friday night. Xavier Numia has re-signed with the Hurricanes through to 2025. Full gallery of this game HERE 

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