Sideline Conversions 29 July (some rugby news and information to start the week)

Home club Northern United won the first final of the day on Saturday at Porirua Park, the Colts Division 1 decider.

That’s a wrap for most of club rugby this year in Wellington, with just the final two weeks of the Reserve Grade Division 2 competition to come in the competitive grades. It is also President’s Day this Saturday, hosted by MSP and with all games on Evans Bay and Kilbirnie Parks.

Plus the last round of College Premiership rugby coming up this weekend, although the semi-finalists have all been locked in (see below).

The second round of Wellington girls U18s matches this coming Wednesday.

The Wellington Lions squad (which was named Sunday evening, a bit more on that below), meets the Manawatu Turbos at Rugby League Park this coming Friday at 12.00pm. This is their one and only full pre-season match before starting their 2024 NPC campaign the following Friday against Auckland in Auckland for the Fred Lucas Cup.

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Swindale Shield/Jubilee Cup Double

• Petone, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1986
• MSP, 1979, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2008
• Wellington, 1972, 1982, 1985
• Norths, 2006, 2010
• Tawa, 2013
• OBU, 2017, 2024

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OBU’s Premier record since 2015, 122 wins, 42 defeats.

OBU is the first to win Jubilee Cup/Swindale/Ed Chaney/Harper Lock outright in the same season.  In 1986 Petone won all four but the Harper Lock Shield was shared with Titahi Bay.  Quite a few have won three out of four.

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Now that Finals Day is over, we are going to come down off the fence and suggest that having multiple finals on the same day at the same venue is not the way to go.

Understand that they want the men’s Premier finals done and dusted by this time, because the representative season is just around the corner. But it would be good thing to perhaps to have at least some finals the following weekend, such as Premier 2. You are not going to get the same two finalists in the Jubilee Cup and the Premier 2 Ed Chaney Cup every year, but there is a high chance that at least one finalist  will be the same club in both – see below since 2013 when one or both have been the same clubs. This way you’d sync the season accordingly so it finishes a week later.

• 2024: OBU and Tawa
• 2022: Northern United
• 2021: Tawa
• 2020: Northern United
• 2019: Northern United
• 2017: OBU
• 2015: OBU and MSP
• 2013: Tawa

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Although having said that above, there is still one competitive grade in action, the Reserve Grade Division 2 competition. This moves into semi-finals this coming weekend, with top qualifier and unbeaten Marist St Pat’s Internationals set to host fourth placed the Upper Hutt Rams Thirstys in one knockout match and the OBU Righteous Pink Ginners and the Wests Roosters Mixed Veges meeting in the 2 v 3 encounter.

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Photo galleries from the weekend and the season at: https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2024

More from Saturday still to come, and more this season added steadily between now and October (not counting sevens ones after that).

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Great that “James from Paremata-Plimmerton” found his car keys late Saturday afternoon.

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Good stuff from Tawa making up a whole lot of corflute signs for their supporters, plus a range of apparel made up during the week. Plus setting up a face painting stall at the bottom of the stand.

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A Wellington XV hosted the Taranaki NPC squad at Rugby League Park this past Friday. With club Finals Day the next day we were unable to cover this, and it got scant coverage elsewhere, but the result was that Taranaki won 50-35. This was after Wellington led 28-12 at halftime. Taranaki came back with tries in the 45th and 55th minutes to trail by 2 points, before taking the lead with about 10 minutes remaining.

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What have been some of the big storming runs by props down the years?

One example is the 1978 Swindale Shield ‘final’ between Athletic and Marist St Pat’s, with Athletic prop Kevin ‘Butch’ Phelan. breaking from a MSP-fed scrum, charging down a Tu Wylie kick and sprinting 40 metres to score the try of the match, giving Athletic a 22-18 victory.

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Speaking of props, what about the two Japanese props the Wellington Lions have purchased for the NPC, or maybe it is the other way round and they went team shopping?

Squad below – we will look to do a story with commentary about this squad over the next day or so – after we finish all our Finals Day content!

• Leni Apisai – Paremata-Plimmerton
• Asafo Aumua – Avalon
• Tjay Clarke – Petone
• Bradley Crichton – Northern United
• Caleb Delany – Old Boys University
• Losi Filipo – Petone
• Jackson Garden-Bachop – Northern United
• Sione Halalilo – Oriental-Rongotai
• Callum Harkin – Old Boys University
• Riley Higgins – Petone
• Akira Ieremia – Tawa
• Yato Kamimori – Kubota Spears Tokyo Bay
• Kazuki Kato – Kubota Spears Tokyo Bay
• Du’Plessis Kirifi – Northern United
• Peter Lakai – Petone
• Siale Lauaki – Tawa
• Ruben Love – Wainuiomata
• Mitch Mcleod – Old Boys University
• Xavier Numia – Oriental – Rongotai
• James O’Reilly – Hutt Old Boys Marist
• Pepesana Patafilo – Tawa
• Teofilo Paulo – Hutt Old Boys Marist
• TJ Perenara – Northern United
• Hugo Plummer – Tawa
• Penieli Poasa – Oriental-Rongotai
• Harry Press – Hutt Old Boys Marist
• Kyle Preston – Old Boys University
• Billy Proctor – Marist St Pats
• Matt Proctor – Marist St Pats
• Dominic Ropeti – Oriental-Rongotai
• Senio Sanele – Upper Hutt Rams
• Ardie Savea – Oriental-Rongotai
• Julian Savea – Oriental-Rongotai
• PJ Sheck – Tawa
• Brad Shields – Petone
• Stanley Solomon – Petone
• Peter Umaga-Jenson – Wainuiomata

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The Wellington Pride beat the Hawke’s Bay Tuis 43-27 in a pre-season Women’s NPC fixture in Palmerston North on Saturday.

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Wairarapa-Bush have announced their squad for the Heartland Championship, and as with Horowhenua-Kapiti there’s a Wellington flavour to it. Wainuiomata prop Jordan Sului is one of two loan players named along with Alec Odell from Manawatu’s Old Boys Marist. Wairarapa College Old Boy Bruce Kauika-Petersen, formerly of Petone, Norths, and briefly Pare-Plim, has returned home from Northland and is the Player of Origin, while the fourth name is an eyeraiser in former Ories and Sevens flyer Ambrose Curtis who starred in the Magpies curse-busting 2011 Jubilee Cup win and has been playing overseas in recent times.

Others with connections to Wellington are Marist trio Charles Mataitai (formerly Avalon) and Upper Hutt duo Soli Malatai and “The Postman” Tafa Tafa, while another not named but may also be involved is former Poneke star Levi Harmon.

Marist supply 10 and champions Carterton seven of the squad which doesn’t contain a player from either Masterton Red Star nor, curiously enough, beaten semifinalists Pioneer.

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New Zealand Rugby (NZR) recently completed the first round draw of the U85 National Club Cup 2024 season, which kicked off in Auckland this past weekend.

The draw, completed under the supervision of Mike Hester, NZR Head of Participation Development, resulted in the first round of matches to be drawn across the Northern, Central and Southern regions, involving 45 teams from across 14 Provincial Unions (PUs).

Games involving Wellington teams get underway next weekend, 10 August.

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The semi-finalists in the Wellington First XV Premiership have been resolved with one round remaining in the regular season. Wellington College, St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, St Patrick’s College, Wellington (Town) and defending champions Scots College are the four schools to advance.

Scots confirmed their place with a dramatic 30-29 win over Beard Trophy holders Tawa College. When winger Avarn Pepe scored for Tawa in the 69^th minute, a boilover of vast proportions seemed conceivable. However, Scots held their nerve when down 29-27 earning a 74^th minute penalty which Happy Valley Patu kicked. Scots switched off the accelerator at halftime losing a 27-7 lead. With two tries, Tawa fullback Labront Muldrock-Tolai was integral in his sides’ revival. Scots centre Haare Kawiti dotted down twice.

Wellington College made equally hard work of their 22-19 win over the winless Hutt International Boys’ School (HIBS). A 67th-minute try to winger Teina Hingston-Mill finally got the table toppers over the line. Hingston-Mill scored a late winner earlier in the season against Scots. First-five Sean Carter played an exceptional hand for HIBS scoring two tries. HIBS has had two wins over Wellington College – 6-5 in 2014 and 10-8 last year.

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On Sunday Linwood rugby club won their first Canterbury Metro title since 1973 with a thrilling 39-32 victory over University of Canterbury who were seeking their 20th title at Rugby Park.

Linwood is club of All Blacks brothers Ben and Owen Franks, former All Blacks captain Tane Norton and legendary fullback Fergie McCormack who scored 2065 points in 310 first class games. Linwood finished the regular season with a 5-6 record sneaking into eighth place. In the quarter finals Linwood knocked over regular season leaders High School Old Boys 30-27 and then accounted for defending champions Marist Albion 32-29 in the semis.

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Ponsonby won the Gallaher Shield final 59-24 against Pakuranga at Eden Park on Saturday. In their 150^th Anniversary season, the fabled club completed the Auckland season with a faultless 16-0 record, outscoring opponents 864 to 166. First-Five Wiseguy Faiane scored as many points as Pakuranga by himself. No.8 Taina Fox-Matamua scored two tries. Fox-Matamua has played for Tasman and spent a season with Italian team Zebre Parma in United Rugby championship. The most points Ponsonby have scored in a season is 917 in their 2002 Gallaher Shield success. The 2002 Ponsonby side compiled a scoring record that stacks up favourably with anything New Zealand club rugby has seen. In 20 Auckland competition matches (19 wins) the team scored 136 tries, with five players in double figures, and 917 points at better than 45 per match. At the other end Ponsonby only conceded 308 points in total. Players named Williams scored a scarcely credible 406 points in Auckland play – Gavin scored 183 including 12 tries, Paul had a team-leading 19 tries in his 158 points, Brett scored 10 tries and a couple of dropped goals and Murray’s seven points from one outing as kicker tipped the group over the 400 mark. Ponsonby has won the Gallaher Shield 51 times. Only Otago University, which won its 53rd Dunedin championship in 2019, has won more New Zealand club rugby titles.

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Drastic change lies ahead in Auckland rugby with the Gallaher Shield almost certainly set to be reduced from 14 premier teams to 10 with the bottom four clubs from 2024, Puketapapa Roskill, East Tamaki, Manukau Rovers and Waitakere City all being cut.

A promotion/regulation option is being entertained but Auckland is seeking a shorter and more competitive competition.

Auckland’s reduction of Premier teams leaves Wellington as the biggest club competition in the country with 14 clubs but will struggling clubs be able to keep the wolves at bay? Norths have only won four games since capturing the Jubilee Cup in 2022. Wellington have lost 47 of their last 48 games while Avalon are winless in their last 24 starts.

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Richard Boag a proud Billygoat on Saturday, the WRFU vice-president giving the gold medals to OBU’s Jubilee Cup winning team.

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New Zealand rebounded strongly after losing their Olympics quarter-final to secure fifth place in Paris. New Zealand beat SVNS League winners Argentina 17-12 and Ireland 17-7 in consolation playoffs. New Zealand won five out of six matches in the tournament which is more than gold-medallists France and equal to runner-up Fiji who lost their first Olympic match after 17 consecutive victories.

Silver medallists Fiji actually finished as the top point-scorers with 154, 38 more than Olympic champions France. Fiji were also the top try-scorers on 23 with Argentina, France and New Zealand next best on 18. The record is 26 tries by Fiji at Rio 2016 with New Zealand having crossed for 25 at Tokyo 2020.

A total of 180 tries and 1,146 points were scored across the 34 matches. This is slightly down on the record of 195 tries and 1,244 points scored at Tokyo 2020.

USA’s Perry Baker was the top try-scorer at Paris 2024 with six, matching the record for a single men’s Olympic Games competition set by former team-mate Carlin Isles in Rio and matched by Argentina flyer Marcos Moneta in Tokyo 2020. He finished one clear of Fiji’s Joji Nasova, New Zealand’s Moses Leo, Ireland’s Chay Mullins and Argentina’s Matías Osadczuk.

Fiji’s Iowane Teba and Baker finished as the top points scorers at Paris 2024 on 30, one point clear of France’s Ravan Rebbadj and New Zealand’s Akuila Rokolisoa.

In the Olympic final won 28-7 by France over Fiji, Antoine Dupont scored two tries and created another. Should New Zealand have daggled the Olympic Sevens carrot to All Blacks like Damian McKenzie or Will Jordan? When former All Blacks Sevens coach Clark Laidlaw was asked which Hurricanes he would select for the All Blacks Sevens he nominated Salesi Rayasi and Harry Godfrey. Stanley Solomon could have been useful.

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When was last time – if ever – that a player has scored four tries in a major Wellington club rugby final? HOBM left wing Phelan Rona (above, photo by Warwick Burke) scored four for in his side’s Colts win over Tawa.

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Sideline Conversions thanks the Wellington Referees for all their hard work this season in club rugby.

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Ruben Love has also been called into the All Blacks for the upcoming Rugby Championship.

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A post shared by Old Boys University – Righteous Pink Ginners (@righteous_pink_ginners)

On the above, we did a history profile with Jackie Ruru last year. A hugely promising and popular player, his death rocked the rugby world on 1 September 1934 – 90 seasons ago.

Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 048: Dick Pelham and Jackie Ruru