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Held up! A feverish finish on Saturday between Paremata-Plimmerton and the upper Hutt Rams resulted in a 22-22 fulltime score – the first draw of the season in the Premier grade.
Monday evening edition (updates expected later as more information or news comes rolling in): Round 5 of Wellington club rugby this coming Saturday is the Star Wars round.
Who would be the Luke Skywalker and who would be the Princess Leia of Wellington club rugby?
Swindale Shield matches coming up on Saturday’s fifth round at a glance are (home team first, Premier 2 and Colts curtain-raisers the same clubs):
#1 – Avalon v Poneke
#2 – HOBM v Marist St Pats
#3 – J’ville v Ories
#4 – Pare-Plim v Norths
#5 – Tawa v OBU
#6 – Wainui v Petone
#7 – Wellington v Upper Hutt Rams
There is no school or midweek rugby scheduled this week – so make the most of the midweek rugby hiatus as it’s going to get busy during the week soon enough, with school going back for term 2 today.
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Monday evening news – from the NZ Herald, story HERE
“The Auckland Rugby Community in a state of shock after a player died after suffering a head knock in Beachlands at the weekend.
In a weight-restricted Under-85kg match between Beachlands Maraetai and Patumāhoe on Saturday, Cory Heather, 33, suffered a head knock, believed to be from a knee to the head.
The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called to Te Puru Park after Heather fell unconscious following the accident. He was flown to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition.
His partner, Rachel Hurcombe, their three children – all aged under 5 – and his mother, Donna Heather, were watching the game when the accident happened. Sister Shania Heather arrived at the ground shortly after the accident.”
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Another round of scoring in Wellington club rugby being spread around – no striking individual try or points scoring hauls yet this season, which is mildly out of the ordinary as usually by this time someone has scored a big bag of tries of kicked a haul of points. For the most part, the competition is even, so that is a good thing.
As it stands after the first month of Premier rugby, OBU hooker and captain Louis Calvert and Paremata-Plimmerton halfback and fullback Esi Komaisavai are the joint leading try scorers in the Swindale Shield with 6 tries apiece.
Four individuals have scored more than 50 points, these being: Brandyn Laursen (HOBM) 61; Rique Miln (MSP) 54; Alex Ropeti (Ories) 52; TJ Clarke (Petone) 50.
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It is understood that the WRFU are possibly bringing out a Best & Fairest competition update on social media this week- look out for that one.
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Brandyn and Craig Laursen at the presentation of Brandyn’s 150th match on Saturday. Photo: Warwick Burke.
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Good to see Leni Apisai back playing in club rugby. A former Wellington U16 player of the tournament, hooker Apisai is well-travelled and its players like him that we welcome back to the competition. However, he may be in for some banter from visiting Norths supporters this coming Saturday when his new Paremata-Plimmerton side hosts his old side.
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Are the Coburns the most niggly brothers in Wellington club rugby? Props Tony and James love a contest!
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A shoutout to another set of brothers, the Woodward brothers in the Upper Hutt Rams’ pack. Both exceptionally hard-working players, always giving it their all.
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Great to see a good number of Premier centurions still rolling out for their clubs B-teams. Pare-Plim duo James “Smokey” Corcoran and Danny Herewini are two, while HOBM had Francis Tanuvasa in their Premier 2 midfield. Upper Hutt’s Josh Hunt is another though he’s found himself on their Premier bench the past two weeks.
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The Round 4 Colts Paris Memorial trophy between Poneke and Tawa on Saturday prematurely ended due to a serious ankle injury to Tawa Prop Pio Silva, who scored Tawa’s first try of the second half.
Six minutes into that half tawa scored again, but not long after Silva marched to the line only to be caught in the tackle which snapped his ankle. All fields at Kilbirnie Park were occupied and the player was immovable. The officials and coaches decided to end the match. From what’s been told Pio Silva is in good spirits considering. Ankle in plaster and obviously out for the season.
The final score from the match was Poneke 16 – Tawa 10. This was the first time in nine years that the Poneke Colts have won this match.
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The Wellington club rugby competition is a battle of attrition just as much as anything else and injuries and periodic absences are already starting to take their toll. Poneke were already down four starters on Saturday (all away, not injured) and then lost try-scoring fullback Nick Robertson during the game (hopefully not serious). Similarly, the Rams lost left wing Soli Malatai during the first half, forcing a backline reshuffle as well.
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A week ago there was talk of the Crusaders merging with the Highlanders. Could they win the competition from here?
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Will the Swindale Shield wooden spoon have been decided by the time that Wellington and Avalon meet in round 10 on 8 June?
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Bring back All Blacks trials.
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A 7-6 result under the roof in Dunedin on Saturday night. A low scoring affair perhaps pushed many viewers to change channels and watch the football. Speaking of which, who else spotted the group of Wellington club rugby Colts players in the crowd in the party zone waving their shirts around?
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The advantage law when applied well is a beautiful thing – but when its not boy it can be frustrating!
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How significant for the title fortunes of both clubs was the 22-22 draw between Paremata-Plimmerton and the Upper Hutt Rams in the Clash of the Colours match on Saturday?
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Some notes on Old Boys University Premier players:
OBU prop Gareth Ward Allen is out of Tauranga Boys High School and plays underwater hockey for New Zealand attending two World Champs. He is a Physio by trade and was a medic for Wellington U20 reps earlier this year.
Centre Ty Poe has scored 27 tries in 59 games.
Hooker Zac Pene out of Hamilton Boys’ High School is a former member of the Junior Black Sox Softball wider squad and the son of former All Black Aaron Pene (15 Tests). Pene played 110 games (76 wins) for Otago. Zac works with Tom Henderson (26 games, 106 points) at KPMG.
Nathaniel Barry out of Aquinas College, Tauranga was in the Wellington U19’s last year and is the son of former All Black loose forward Liam Barry who followed his father Kevin and his grandfather Ned in wearing the silver fern. The first example of a third generation All Black.
With 65 gamer Cody Quin out of Rotorua Boys’ High School is the Goats’ most experienced player.
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Since 2014 OBU has won 94 Swindale Shield games, HOBM 79.
OBU has an 8-2 record when Jack Sargentina is the referee.
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HOBM fullback Zane Ainslie has scored 17 tries in 25 games.
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ANAZC day Bledisloe Cup? 22 of the 82 Tests since 1995 have effectively been dead rubbers with the Trophy already decided. What about a one-off match that alternates annually between New Zealand and Australia?
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England secured their sixth Women’s Six Nations title in succession and completed a hat-trick of Grand Slams with a 42-21 victory over 14-player France in Bordeaux. Assia Khalfaoui was given a red card for a dangerous tackle in the second half. England has won 15 internationals in a row, halfway to their own world record of 30.
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Going beyond the pretty pictures, the Hurricanes Hunters beat the NZ U20s 45-26 on Friday. Scoring details of that match were:
At NZCIS, Trentham: Hurricanes Hunters: 45 (Losi Filipo, Reon Paul, Ngane Punivai, Dominic Ropeti, Harry Press, Pene Va’a, Veveni Lasaqa tries; Aidan Morgan 4 con, Harry Godfrey con) New Zealand Under 20: 26 (Stanley Solomon, A-One Lolofie, Riley Williams, Mosese Bason tries; Rico Simpson 3 con). Referee: Stu Curran (Manawatū).
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We saw our first dropped goal in Wellington Premier club rugby on Saturday, with MSP first five Rique Miln landing the opening pot of 2024, against Wainuiomata.
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Awesome pre-match ANZAC Day ceremonies that we saw in Australia at the start of both the Waratahs v Chiefs and Reds v Blues matches this past weekend.
We also liked the special commemorative jersey that the Reds wore – partly in Australian army colours:
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The Hurricanes are back home this coming Friday night, playing the Waratahs.
Who remembers the 2000 match between these sides? One of the all-time great Hurricanes wins when they were down and out and reduced to 13 players but came back to win 27-20.
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For the seventh year in a row, this year’s home school Saint Kentigern College won the Presbyterian Quadrangular tournament last week, also involving Wellington’s Scots College, Hawke’s Bay’s Lindisfarne College and Canterbury’s St Andrew’s College.
St Kent’s beat Scots 24-5 in the final, with St Andrew’s defeating Lindisfarne 30-22 in the 3v4 match. Each school had a tournament MVP, these being: St Kent’s Sam Jancys; Scots Reweti Ngarimu; St Andrews Will Voice; Lindisfarne College Reid Palmer
Curiously, Scots College withdrew from the upcoming Hurricanes pre-season First XV series that starts this weekend in Palmerston North, with Feilding High School taking their place. Feilding play Palmerston North Boys’ High School in rare match between these two schools in the opening round. Wellington schools St Pat’s Silverstream, Wellington College and Hutt International Boys’ School are still attending.
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The John Plumtree coached Sharks beat Scarlets, featuring John’s son Taine Plumtree, 32-27 in the United Rugby Championship. Reece Plumtree has played 54 games and scored 13 tries for OBU. Troy Plumtree was a member of the National Championship winning Wellington College basketball team and has featured for the Wellington Saints in the NBL. The Saints are 5-1 this season.
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This Monday column is a collaborative effort. To contribute or if you have news to share please email editor@clubrugby.co.nz
