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The HOBM Eagles were the weekend’s biggest winners, defeating the Wellington Axemen 81-7. Photo: Warwick Burke. Photo galleries of all the weekend’s Swindale Shield matches at https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2024/2024-Swindale-Shield- and more to come.
MONDAY AFTERNOON EDITION: Round one is done and dusted and the season proper is underway.
This Thursday the St Pat’s Silverstream First XV hosts Feilding High School at 2.00pm at Maidstone Park, while St Pat’s Town host Queensland’s Toowomba Grammar School at Evans Bay and Kilbirnie Parks (two matches) at 4.00pm on the same afternoon. The boys from the plateau are on an 11-day tour of New Zealand and have been Christchurch to play St Andrew’s and Christ’s Colleges and to the top of the south to meet Marlborough BHS.
Make your plans early for the second round of Wellington club rugby, Premier games at a glance are (home teams first, and Colts and Premier 2 matches involving the same clubs):
#1 – Avalon v HOBM (Billy Herbert Memorial Trophy)
#2 – J’ville v Norths (Barlow Trophy)
#3 – Marist St Pats v Ories
#4 – Petone v Upper Hutt Rams (Ted Connolly Cup and Bill Brien Challenge Cup defence)
#5 – Tawa v Pare-Plim
#6 – Wainui v OBU (Peter Dunford Cup)
#7 – Wellington v Poneke (Spud Lindsay Memorial Trophy)
All Premier matches kick off at 2.45pm.
In school matches, Wellington College hosts New Plymouth Boys’ High School at Kilbirnie Par at 1.30pm and Scots College and Rongotai College also meet at 1.00pm.
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An unwanted match coming up on Saturday for all but a group of high performance coaches as the ‘curtain-raiser’ to the Hurricanes match at the Stadium when the Hurricanes Hunters take on the Chiefs Development side in front of no one at 4.00pm. This game will likely take out players from Wellington, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki club rugby to the detriment of all involved in these competitions. The Hurricanes then return from their bye to host the Chiefs at 7.05pm.
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Plenty of colour in the socks being worn by both Norths and MSP at Porirua Park on Saturday. The reason? A terrific initiative led by veteran Norths prop Dan Filemoni to raise awareness of autism and generate support for those in their community with children dealing with the affliction.
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Ories have won seven games in a row, their longest run of wins since winning 13 on the bounce from the last round of the Swindale Shield in 2011 to Round Four of the Swindale Shield in 2013. Fa’atau Mamea scored two tries and John Monu 17 points for Wainuiomata in a 37-20 win that broke Ories streak in 2013.
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Great to see the ebullient Dora Laupola back playing on Saturday after taking last season off and her previous season was curtailed by injuries from a car crash. And amongst the spectators watching up on Porirua #2 was Ayesha Leti-l’iga, whose rehab from the torn ACL she suffered while on Black Ferns duty is progressing well and might be back before the end of the club season.
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Hearing the city’s Catholic-aligned club’s Premier side using a lineout call of “Muhammed” raises some interesting theological questions.
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All three Seumanufagai brothers were in the Ories reserves on Saturday – Salesa, Ronaldo and Herman.
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A small contingent of players will be due back to their sides as early as this coming weekend, who have been at the Hong Kong 7s playing in invitational teams. These players include Kyle Preston (OBU) and Sam Clarke (Paremata-Plimmerton).
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Luca Rees has played circa 130 Premier matches for Ories and now for Norths. Most of these have been at No. 8, three last year were at second-five, and on Saturday he started his first Premier Swindale Shield match as far as our records show at lock.
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Poneke’s James Mose goes by the name ‘Rockitt’ – the only one-word name on Wellington club rugby teamsheets. Like a Brazilian football player or famed musician.
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Tawa would have enjoyed the services of PJ Sheck on Saturday. He is with the Blues, but hasn’t started a match all year for them. According to a Blues spokesperson on social media he is currently available for selection, so perhaps he is playing Auckland club rugby now?
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Petone’s backline already has Richard ‘Squid’ Evans. It now has TJ ‘Crayfish’ Clarke because of his family fishing background and the way he runs with the ball with one hand like a diver carrying a crayfish and Stanley ‘Swordfish’ Solomon because he slashes through backlines with razor sharp precision. A seafood platter of attack!
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Meanwhile, the UH Rams have their own name for their deadeye shooter who won them the game on Saturday against Poneke:
— Upper Hutt Rams (@UHRamsRugby) April 6, 2024
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The apparent non-growth of the Wellington women’s competition is not confined to that region. Waikato have a lost a team this year and their women’s competition has been reduced from six to five teams.
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Thirteen tries for HOBM in their 81-7 win over the Axemen, with 11 of those scored by players wearing numbers from 8-15. The outliers were hooker Harry Press on his club debut and replacement prop Jason Hoffman.
Kienan Higgins scored three tries in his HOBM debut. He has 22 tries in 42 Wellington senior matches overall, including six occasions he scored more than twice in a single game. Higgins won a Jubilee Cup with Norths in 2019.
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Check out the new Rugby News magazine on your news stand shelves.
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Petone’s new Gisborne Boys’ High School player Braith Ingram had a barnstorming first 40 minutes for the Petone Colts on Saturday. He was subbed as he had to back up for Premiers. For the Tawa Colts, hooker Evan Paenga and prop Jarred Kuresa were amongst two that played well. Petone won 38-36, after Tawa had earlier pulled away to lead 36-19 with 15 minutes to play.
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An old gripe but how hard can it be for Premier teams to get jersey numbers right? In lower grades more acceptable perhaps but in Premier rugby everyone can do better.
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Absolutely no shortage of experience amongst the referees in the opening round of the Wairarapa-Bush Premier competition on Saturday with nearly 500 matches between Chris Jefferies (189), Alistair Payne (178), and a returning Shay O’Gorman (122), with the fourth – Kaleb Rowlands – a relative newcomer with just 20.
And a special mention of Payne – a regular visitor to Wellington himself – who refereed Rathkeale’s preseason tilt with Rongotai at 12.30pm and then headed back into Masterton to back up and referee the Marist against Pioneer clash. Something we’re told he does routinely
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The Poua finished with a record five defeats and one fewer victory than in 2023. Poua’s biggest issue was a lack of depth on the bench and inferior fitness compared to the leading three. In the second half of matches, the Poua was outscored by 156-70. Poua ranked last in tires scored (19), clean breaks (40), metres gained (2,688), Lineouts (70%), offloads (57), and tackles completed (82%).
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Feilding High School had an impressive 41-7 victory over New Plymouth Boys’ High School on Saturday. Alani Fakava, Ezrah Hopa-Cribb, Peni Havea, Rupeni Rayiyawa, Kotahi Cribb, Dane Johnston, and Aston Scott scored tries for the victors with Nixon Foreman adding three conversions. This Saturday at Maidstone Park, Feilding tackles St Patrick’s College, Silverstream. It’s Silverstream’s first game of the season. Feilding and Silverstream have essentially played annually since 2003. Isn’t it time for a trophy? What about the Whitelock/Mannix Cup in honour of two great rugby families from each school?
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Otahuhu Rugby Club, winners of nine Auckland Gallaher Shield championships, withdrew their Premier and Colts team from the season on Tuesday citing a lack of numbers. Otahuhu was founded in 1926 and has produced legendary All Blacks like Mack Herewini, Waka Nathan, and Keven Mealamu.
Marist in Auckland fielded 17 club debutants in their 112-3 over Waitakere to open the Gallaher Shield while twice defending champions Manukau Rovers were beaten by Suburbs 19-0. The Manukau Premier reserves defaulted. Doug Sanft who coached Manukau in both those triumphs is now with Marist. Doug Sanft played premier club rugby for Ardmore Marist in 2002, and 2003 and NPC for Counties and a Test for Samoa. As a coach, he helped Ardmore Marist claim three Counties and two National club sevens titles as well as the 2018 McNamara Cup.
Impregnable, implacable New Zealand brought upstarts France crashing back to earth by prevailing 10-7 in the battle of wills that was the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens final on Sunday.
The swallow dive from Cody Vai as he crossed for the New Zealanders’ second try felt pointed, following flamboyant French try celebrations throughout the tournament.
Read more HERE
New Zealand beat USA 36-7 to lift the Women’s trophy, their third consecutive gold taking them above Australia to the top of the HSBC SVNS series standings.
Michaela Blyde scored a hat-trick as the Black Ferns Sevens proved too strong for a USA side making their first final appearance of the season with a relentless 19-5 victory over France in the semi-final
