![](https://clubrugby.nz/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Web_banner-Rugby33.png")
UPDATED #2: Mud and glory. After this past weekend of wet weather rugby, winter sport is upon us. Thankfully it wasn’t cold on Saturday, but very wet as mid-afternoon games kicked off.
This week we have some school rugby on Tuesday and Wednesday, ahead of the Colts competition resuming under lights on Friday.
On Tuesday, Hutt International Boys’ School hosts Rathkeale College at 1.00pm at their school ground, and on Wednesday Tawa College and Upper Hutt College meet in the Co-ed Cup at Tawa at 3.30pm, followed by the second Beard Trophy match and Aotea College’s first defence against Mana College. This latter match kicks off at Ngati Toa Domain at 4.00pm. There is a also a full round of schoolgirls matches on Wednesday afternoon.
The ninth round of 13 of the Swindale Shield matches this coming Saturday at a glance are:
#1 – Marist St Pats v Poneke
#2 – Avalon v Upper Hutt Rams
#3 – J’ville v Tawa
#4 – Norths v Pare-Plim
#5 – Petone v Wainui
#6 – Wellington v OBU
#7 – HOBM v Ories
+++++
Every Swindale Shield fixture in Round 9 has an interclub trophy on the line.
+++++
The Women’s second round kicks off this coming weekend, with the eight teams split into two divisions of our teams who play a double round-robin for the Tia Paasi Memorial Cup (Division 1) and Izzy Ford Cup (Division 2).
+++++
WRFU Media Release: Wellington Rugby Football Union have today announced the signing of former England international, Brad Shields.
Shields will return to New Zealand to link up with Wellington in the 2023 Bunnings Warehouse NPC competition before joining former Super Rugby club, the Hurricanes, for the 2024 Super Rugby season.
“Being given the opportunity to wear the Lions jersey again is amazing. Wellington is a club and organisation that has given me so much, so it will be exciting to join the team on such a high after the success of last season with winning the Ranfurly Shield and the NPC title.
“It looks like a great set-up and good environment. It will be great to work with the players, learning and sharing my experience, but also working with Tamati and the coaching staff with some fresh new ideas.
“I’ve got some great memories with this club and hope to make some more and give back to the next generation of players coming through the same system I was lucky enough to go through.
++++++
Paremata-Plimmerton have never had a player score a hat-trick in a Premier match, although former player Jordan Clark was wrongly denied a third try in a match three years ago.
So naturally, when it did come they had two players do it in the same game as winger Louis Northcott and centre Joe Faleafaga did it in their Old Timers’ Day win over Wainuiomata
A bumper crowd in at their clubrooms afterwards as well, where Tane McMillan-Parata was presented with his recently achieved 100 Premier games cap
+++++
The Oriental-Rongotai Premiers have dropped two consecutive home games on the trot to teams that were bouncing back from big defeats – Tawa and now Marist St Pat’s. This coming weekend they have a big match against a seemingly resurgent Hutt Old Boys Marist for the Bondy Memorial Cup at the Hutt Rec.
+++++
Stanley Solomon – 10 tries in five Premier starts for Petone.
+++++
Nine tries in her four matches for Ories Women’s fullback Ivana Samani.
+++++
As mentioned on Friday, Callum Harkin is out of the Swindale Shield for a few weeks with a shoulder complaint. He will probably miss the upcoming matches against Wellington and Poneke but then could return for the Ories match in round 10. Tom Henderson slipped into 10 on Saturday against Norths and in pouring rain played well in the second half especially.
+++++
Also, look out for the OBU Premiers to wear Inglewood club jerseys in their upcoming match against Ories, to mark that club’s famous All Black halfback Dave Loveridge‘s 20-year association with the OBU club.
+++++
A Billy Wallace competition Best & Fairest competition update please?
+++++
Johnsonville lock Anthony Pettett played for the Manawatu Evergreens in their midweek match last week against the Hawke’s Bay Saracens – and scored a 70m runaway try in their 43-24 loss. These two teams meet again next Monday on King’s Birthday Monday.
+++++
What will you be doing at 82? Well age certainly isn’t proving any barrier to Wellington referee Rex Ward who chalked up that number in years during the week and was out refereeing Under 55kg on Saturday morning.
+++++
Thoughts for a quick recovery for OBU winger Owen Wright and Norths fullback Jaxon Poutama after their sickening collision trying to recover a loose ball on Saturday early in their Swindale Shield match.
+++++
Rugby is a pressure game but that doesn’t excuse the behaviour of some coaches and managers in recent weeks from open dissent with refereeing decisions to firing water bottles at pitch-side fixtures.
+++++
A defeat for the Hurricanes this past weekend against competition leaders the Chiefs. A bit of talk on Twitter late last week how is it that Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett could play in a comfortable win over Moana Pasifika but then both take an All Blacks rest in this game against the Chiefs. Whatever the reason, between this and their arrogant scheduling of games, the Hurricanes are trying really hard this year to alienate their fans.
+++++
The Hurricanes have matches to come against the Blues and Crusaders, then a quarter-final (possibly against one of these two teams) then who knows after that. Will Julian Savea get the one try he needs to break the all-time try-scoring record?
The list as it stands is:
- 60 Israel Folau
- 60 Julian Savea
- 59 Doug Howlett
- 58 Caleb Ralph
- 58 TJ Perenara (might come through the middle next year and move the top…)
+++++
Petone and the MSP Internationals fought out a 24-24 draw in their Reserve Grade Mike Copeland Cup match in the rain on Saturday.
MSP and Petone are fifth and seventh in the 15-team competition, which includes three Upper Hutt teams and three OBU sides. Competition leaders the UH Rams J8s beat the combined OBU Righteous Brothers/Pink Ginners 29-12, while the Johnsonville Cripples had their first loss of the season, losing 22-19 to the Poneke Ruffnuts who move into fourth.
+++++
Much talk about Beauden Barrett playing within himself and safety first rugby throughout the Super Rugby competition, with an eye on staying fit for the Rugby World Cup. Well on Friday he got himself injured (ankle), so he perhaps now won’t be playing at all for a few weeks.
+++++
+++++
Eagle-eyed readers would have spotted the revision between our first and second edition of Friday’s preview, particularly pertaining to the Women’s grade.
The answer is simple. We checked the union’s by-laws online, which were the 2022 version and assumed they were still current. Only after publication were we tipped off they had changed, in part because of the situation at the end of the Women’s first round last year which resulted in a three-way tie and ultimately the title awarded to Norths, and that shared titles were back on the table.
So, given this, how hard is it for the union to ensure the publicly viewable version of the by-laws are the correct ones?
+++++
Crusaders First XV competition match of the round report
It would be a touch harsh to suggest Christchurch Boys’ High School literally threw away victory against Nelson College but enjoying three-quarters of possession and a 10-0 lead in as many minutes the hosts missed a royal chance to knock over the reigning champions at Straven Road.
In greasy conditions, and on a field that deteriorated quickly, Christchurch started imperiously with wing Ollie Singleton scoring a try from a grubber and first-five Victory Isaako adding a sideline conversion and an opportune dropped goal a short time later.
Christchurch possesses seriously tall timber in the locking department and George Steel and Jack Frost were employed to coordinate repeat lineout drives close to the visitors’ line. Eventually, Nelson lost their loosehead prop to the sin-bin.
Instead of consolidating their position of strength, Christchurch threw an intercept which, temporarily at least, shifted momentum Nelson’s way. A sustained assault inside Christchurch’s 22 didn’t yield any profit but a 10-0 margin at halftime was a manageable deficit.
Ironically replacement loosehead Oliver Kirk scored beside the posts early in the second half as the Nelson resurgence continued. There was a hint of a fumble at an earlier ruck but Kirk crashing over was a rich reward for his stoic industry. The lump of a lad born in Kansas.
Christchurch regained control but dogged Nelson tackling and inconsistent handling was a source of growing frustration.
The winning try was scored with perhaps 15 minutes remaining. Nelson right wing Callum Roberston slid over on the left side – rare territory, quick recycling, and clinical passing creating an overlap.
The Nelson tackling became more impenetrable the longer the contest lasted. Their calculated audacity to contest the lineout caused unlikely disruption too. Their starting loosehead finished at tighthead.
Bustling hooker Blake Craddock and lock Kobe Brownlee punched considerably above their weight for Nelson.
Last weekend Nelson defeated 2022 finalists St Bede’s College 32-17 after toppling St Andrew’s College 34-22 in the first round.
Nelson toured Wellington earlier this year and scored resounding victories over St Pats Town and Rongotai College. They return for the Quadrangular tournament in a month.
+++++
++++++
When top meets bottom. Competition leaders Rahui beat Levin Wanderers 102-0 on Saturday in the Horowhenua-Kapiti Ramsbotham Cup competition. Good for the highlights reel, but not for the competition. Levin’s other team in the competition, College Old Boys, went down 38-47 to Shannon.
+++++
+++++
Leinster blew a 17-0 to lose the Heineken Cup final against LA Rochelle 27-26. Leinster, essentially the Irish test team, were unstoppable in the first dozen minutes and then couldn’t stop kicking the ball (and often poorly) inviting the huge Frenchmen back into the game. Few will stay with the Irish when they have the fast possession game going, remember the 19-phase try agaibst the All Blacks last year? However, the incessant kicking maybe to their determent. Will have the mental fortitude at the World Cup having never gone beyond the quarters.
+++++
The second round of Manawatu club rugby kicked off on Saturday with first round winners and previously unbeaten Old Boys Marist losing 35-37 to College Old Boys, veteran Timoci Seruwalu scoring two tries for the winners.
+++++
There was a 100-pointer in Hawke’s Bay Premier rugby on Saturday too, with mid-table MAC beating minnows Tamatea 100-22. Napier Tech are the unbeaten competition pace-setters.
+++++
After 12 rounds of the NRL (almost halfway) a third of the teams are tied in 16 points and the bottom placed side won by 66-18. Is the NRL the most even professional competition? What can Super Rugby to do make it more competitive?
+++++
The Crusaders are launching their ‘Hall of Fame‘ at the end of this week, with the first three inductees to be named. Who would make the Hurricanes Hall of Fame? What about a Jubilee Cup Hall of Fame?
+++++
A tough season for Waitakere in Auckland Premier club rugby, having scored 35 points and conceded 525 in their seven matches so far, and that includes a default.
+++++
The London Sevens quarter-final between New Zealand and France ended controversially. With time up, and behind 19-12, France ventured deep into New Zealand territory. A penalty at the ruck five meters out left New Zealand stretched defensively. Following a quick tap, the considerable frame of Joris Simon crashed over to make it 19-17. Thomas Carol surveyed his conversion to tie the game, 20 metres out, 15 metres in from touch. He took too long and never kicked the ball. Only 30 seconds are permitted for a shot. Carol protested he was distracted by All Blacks walking towards him. His appeals were in vain but he had a point with many not far from the kicker before a possible strike. Why shouldn’t all players be behind the posts like they are in 15s for kicks like that?
As part of Poneke Old Timers’ on Saturday there was a reunion of the 2003 Premiers, the last Poneke team to win the Jubilee Cup. A couple of former players came over from Australia for the 20th anniversary occasion. Match report of that final below:
+++++
This column/collection of happenings is a collaborative effort. Please send contributions through to editor@clubrugby.co.nz
