
Two weeks to go in the Wellington Premier and Premier 2 club rugby competitions.
Top tier Jubilee Cup semi-finals this coming Saturday at a glance (home teams first):
- Paremata-Plimmerton v Old Boys University
- Johnsonville v Oriental-Rongotai
Hardham Cup semi-finals this coming Saturday at a glance (home teams first):
- Marist St Pat’s v Poneke
- Petone v Hutt Old Boys Marist
It is also semi-finals in the Premier 2 competitions.
Premier 2 top tier Ed Chaney Cup semi-finals at a glance (home teams first):
- Tawa v Petone
- Poneke v Marist St Pat’s
Premier 2 second tier HD Morgan Memorial semi-finals at a glance (home teams first):
- Ories v Johnsonville
- Stokes Valley v Paremata-Plimmerton
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There is still another fortnight to go before the full resumption of college rugby competitions, but there are two catch-up Premiership fixtures this coming Saturday, with HIBS playing Wairarapa College at 1.00pm at home and Mana College hosting Wellington College at 2.30pm.
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The Ranfurly Shield is on the line this week, with a Wellington XV playing Horowhenua-Kapiti in Levin for its first defence of the new era on Wednesday, kick-off 2.05pm.
Expect the teams to be named soon – always interesting to see who is in the Wellington team, which won’t necessarily resemble the actual Wellington Lions that will play in the NPC in just under a month.
The Horowhenua-Kapiti side will also feature several familiar names to Wellington audiences, such as former OBU captain Jonathan Fuimaono, former Norths flanker Callum Watts-Pointer, former OBU backs Reagan Verney and Hamish Buick and former Norths back Leon Ellison, amongst others.
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Turnover of the week here by OBU blindside flanker Douglas Perrers. This was early in the second half with OBU leading 10-6 and if Tawa had broken through here the outcome might have been different. Instead, OBU escaped and scored the game’s next points to go up 13-6. Arriving from Brisbane club rugby at the start of the season, Perrers is relishing Wellington club rugby’s often gnarly conditions. He has played 14 of 15 possible matches for OBU this season. Huddy Sports interviewed him a couple of months ago, watch HERE
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Wellington and Horowhenua/Horowhenua-Kapiti have met numerous times in history, but only a handful of these games were full Wellington “A” teams. Some highlights:
- In 1900, the two provinces played each for the first time. A Wellington “B” beat Horowhenua 31-0.
- In 1901, a “Wellington XV” beat Horowhenua 15-8 in Levin –their first match in Levin.
- In 1903, Horowhenua beat Wellington “B” XV 13-9 in Levin – Horowhenua’s first win over a Wellington team.
- Between 1963-77, the Wellington Colts played Horowhenua on an annual basis.
- For a decade between 1984-94, Wellington and Horowhenua ‘Invitational’ teams met on an annual basis. Wellington won all these except for a 12-12 draw in 1988 with Horowhenua bolstered by four Hawke’s Bay players that day.
- The two unions met separately in July 1988. This was the first time that a full Wellington “A” team had played Horowhenua. Wellington won 100-12 at Levin, with No. 8 Emosi Koloto scoring five tries and wing Nigel Geany four.
- The most recent meeting between the provinces was on 25 May 1994, with Wellington winning 85-0 at Otaki.
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Teams representing the Horowhenua have played in 16 previous Ranfurly Shield matches, the first in 1914 and the most recent in 2015.
Horowhenua had two unsuccessful challenges in 1914 against Taranaki and in 1923 against Napier. The union then combined with Manawatu to form Manawhenua from 1925-32. This team successfully challenged and won it off Wairarapa in 1927 (although at the time Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay were locked in a player eligibility dispute and their win had to ratified, which it subsequently was), defended it against Taranaki and Whanganui and lost it to Canterbury. Fast-forwarding almost 50 years, Horowhenua’s next challenge was against Manawatu in 1976. Manawatu again in 1978 and then Auckland in 1980, 1986 and 1993. The union now known as Horowhenua-Kapiti then had challenges against North Harbour in 2007, Waikato in 2013 and Hawke’s Bay in 2015.
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Did you know that Wellington was the first union to take the Ranfurly Shield on the road.
In 1919 and 1920 Wellington accepted challenges in away games against several of the bigger unions of the day. In 16 defences during these two years, six were away from home – including a remarkable three away defences in seven days against South Canterbury, Otago and Southland – before their luck ran out in the last of these matches in Invercargill, losing 6-17. In away defences prior to that loss, Wellington had beaten Canterbury (23-9), Taranaki (20-9), Auckland (23-20), South Canterbury (32-15) and Otago (16-5). In September the following year, 1921, Southland reciprocated and brought the Shield to Wellington, the Lions duly recapturing it with a 28-13 victory.
In Wellington’s last reign they started 2009 off by taking it over the hill to Masterton (92-19) and then up to Cooks Gardens against Whanganui (61-6)
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Strathendrick RFC, not far north of Glasgow, proved popular tourists at Upper Hutt this past weekend. Founded in 1975 their most notable players are Scottish internationals Stewart Campbell, Rory Kerr, and longtime Sevens captain Colin Gregor.
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The second round of the Wellington Colts competition starts this coming Saturday. The top eight teams play in the quarter-finals of the John E Kelly Cup competition. More details to come as the week unfolds.
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With inflation running at 149 percent in Argentina this year, how did thousands of Mendoza locals afford to go to the rugby on Saturday?
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When exit plays go bad.
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Jack Sargentina was due to referee the Upper Hutt – Ories game on Saturday but withdrew ill. He has 55 Premier games. We wish Jack a speedy recovery. He has officiated the last two Jubilee Cup finals.
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There might be a need for traffic management this Saturday afternoon on Evans Bay Parade, on account of rugby players, officials and supporters crossing the road both ways! Poneke hosts Marist St Pat’s in the 1.00pm Premier 2 Ed Chaney Cup semi-final at Kilbirnie Park and then MSP hosts Poneke in the 2.45pm Premier Hardham Cup semi-final on their side of the road at Evans Bay Park.
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The 2023 Hurricanes Youth Council Programme will be a bumper one, with over 100 representative and school fixtures coming up on the calendar.
Details of many of these will be promoted soon, but to view these now visit: http://hyrc.org.nz/news/2023-programme-expands-to-over-100-fixtures.html
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The Women’s NPC starts this coming weekend, the start of a seven-week round-robin season. Wellington plays Canterbury in Christchurch first up this Saturday. Hawke’s Bay play Auckland and BoP Volcanix erupt against Waikato.
The Wellington Pride’s first game is against the Auckland Storm the following Sunday at the Hutt Rec, the day after the Jubilee and Hardham Cup finals which we believe to be but not confirmed at the same venue.
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Reports of HOBM’s Kent Harris earning a Manawatu Turbos coaching gig? If so, congratulations on that.
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A strong game for Barrett on Sunday morning. Which one? Thinking of Scott Barrett in this instance. But Jordie and Beauden also played well at times. Scott Barrett also played lock, but could he play blindside flanker? Although the player who was at blindside for the All Blacks on Sunday played well too (unsure of his name, shows how much professional rugby we watch).
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College Old Boys will meet Varsity in this coming Saturday’s Manawatu Senior 1 [Premier] club final, after both prevailed in tight semi-finals with late wins.
College Old Boys came from behind at halftime to beat Kia Toa 34-31 and Varsity defeated first round winners and top qualifiers Old Boys Marist 22-21. Varsity scored a 100m try on fulltime to win the game.
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Another good game by Xavier Numia on Saturday, for the All Blacks XV against Japan A.
No Asafo Aumua – was he injured?
Alex Nankivell was solid in this game too. He ran hard all day, and looked like the New Zealand player with the most energy, on a hot afternoon. Shame he is going overseas.
Former First XV favourite Folau Fakatava was good coming off the bench, and scored a great solo try at the end.
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Moana Pasifika has appointed Fa’alogo Tana Umaga ONZM as its new Head Coach. Umaga, who has a wealth of experience as a player and a coach and has garnered huge respect across the rugby landscape for his contribution to All Black rugby and the global game, will commence the 2024 DHL Super Rugby Pacific competition on a three-year contract, building on the foundation put in place by former Head Coach Aaron Mauger.
Tana Umaga who coached Moana Pasifika in its debut match against the Māori All Blacks in 2020, says “I’ve always held a special place for Moana Pasifika since its inception, and I’m deeply honoured for this opportunity to take up the reins again as Head Coach.”
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Reiko Ioane has 34 Test tries. Beauden Barrett 42.
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The Wallabies have only won 13 of their last 35 tests. Eddie Jones won 59 of 81 tests with England but used 112 players.
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When the Black Ferns beat Canada 52-21 on Sunday (NZT) they officially achieved their 100th Test victory. The Black Ferns took 117 Tests, England 142. The Black Ferns’ longest winning streak is 24 from 2002 to 2009. They won 20 Tests in a row from 1994 to 2001 and are presently on a 14-match winning streak.
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Cruel ending to the Upper Hutt Rams season by losing on a last-play breakdown penalty to Ories. The penalty essentially happened beside the posts 5m out. Is there merit in not allowing teams to shoot for penalties in the last 20 minutes?
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Does rugby have an economy of scale problem? Yellow cards incur the same punishment sometimes as deliberate foul play. It’s like someone getting the same sentence for manslaughter that they can be given for jaywalking.
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Pirates Old Boys are the Southland club rugby champions after beating the Eastern Northern Barbarians 37-10 in the Galbraith Shield final in front of a big crowd at Rugby Park on Saturday. Read more HERE
It’s a bit of a shame that the Otago Daily Times (link above) puts its own Otago club rugby content behind a paywall! So you have to subscribe to read about local sport, whether you are a local resident or an outsider interested in this. Perhaps an opportunity for Club Rugby to expand to Dunedin in the future.