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Ories Premier coach Whetu Henry comes out of retirement to lead the Wellington Māori haka on Saturday! Luke Flett and Jimmy Lee Hongara on his inside. Henry came off the bench later on and their scrum helped them win the match with a couple of big turnovers that led both indirectly and directly to their tries.
Monday mid-morning updates: There is plenty of rugby coming up over the next several days.
Look out for our end of week preview, but at a glance, much of what is coming up follows.
The Wellington Premiership First XV semi-finals are on Saturday and see Wellington College (1) hosting Scots College (4) and St Pat’s Silverstream (2) and St Pat’s Town (3) meeting in the other. The Premier 2 semi-finals will see the Silverstream seconds hosting Porirua College and the Wellington College seconds hosting HVHS. Plus semi-finals in all other college grades coming up.
There is an after school sixth round catch-up Premiership match on Wednesday between Paraparaumu College and Tawa College.
Moving on to Saturday, and there is club rugby and represeantive rugby to watch and follow.
It is the final of the Reserve Grade Division 2 Alan Seerup Cup, with top qualifier and unbeaten Marist St Pat’s Internationals hosting the Wests Roosters Mixed Veges. Match details to be confirmed at the time of publishing.
The National Under 85kg Competition is underway for lower North Island teams, games this Saturday:
- Pōneke v Coastal, 12.00 pm Kilbirnie Park (and being livestreamed by Pōneke)
- Axemen v Hastings Rugby & Sports, 11.00am, venue TBC.
- Johnsonville v NPOB, 2.00pm in New Plymouth
- Avalon v Massey University, 2.00pm at Massey.
- Old Boys University v Eskview (time and location TBC)
In representative rugby, the Wellington Samoans and Wellington Fijians Men’s teams play each other at Ngati Toa Domain at 1.00pm.
In two games away, the Wellington Centurions and the Whanganui Heartland Championship squads play at Cooks Gardens, Whanganui, at 1.00pm and the Wellington Māori and Manawatu Māori men’s teams meet in Palmerston North (time/venue TBC).
The Wellington Pride open their 2024 Farah Palmer Cup Women’s NPC campaign at Porirua Park on Saturday at 12.05pm, while the Wellington Lions play their opening round NPC match away at Eden Park against Auckland on Friday night at 7.05pm.
Manawatu’s teams have a double-header at home on Sunday to start their seasons, the Cyclones playing the Taranai Who and the Turbos playing the Tasman Mako.
As a sideshow to all that above, the All Blacks play Argentina in Wellington on Saturday night.
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The three-week Central Shield Hurricanes U19s competition is a fortnight away from starting. This is between the Wellington, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay U19s and the Hurricanes Heartland U20s, who are selected from the Heartland U19s competition that wrapped up in Bulls yesterday.
Wairarapa-Bush retained their Hurricanes U20 Development title with a pair of wins over the weekend. After beating Poverty Bay the previous weekend in Napier, Wai-Bush beat Whanganui on Saturday and then Horowhenua-Kapiti yesterday. Wairarapa-Bush’s Mitieli-Ezekiel Waqa was the tournament MVP.
Following those matches, the Hurricanes Heartland U20 team was selected to join the Wellington, Manawatu, and Hawkes Bay U19 sides in the Central Region competition in the next few weeks. This can be seen here: http://www.hyrc.org.nz/news/26-players-named-in-2024-hurricanes-heartland-under-20-squad.html
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As noted above, both the National Provincial Championship and the Farah Palmer Cup competitions start this coming weekend. But outside of provincial unions’ social media spheres, who would know? Coverage has been sparse so far, in large part because of the Olympic Games dominating the sporting news cycle (and rightly so), but still not a lot of coverage, and Wellington doesn’t really have any local mainstream media left anyway.
Could it be the last season of the NPC at Wellington Stadium where the Lions have won 98 of 137 matches? Jerry Collins Stadium is set to stage the first three home games with the railyards venue hosting the last two. Wellington is only 3-3 at the JC. The Wellington Pride are 11-4.
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Rest in peace Daryl New – a regular fixture at William Jones Park over the years, and we most recently saw him there earlier this year on his mobility scooter but still in good spirits and still getting the shot. A big loss for the community.
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The Wellington Lions and Manawatu Turbos squads met at a cold, wet NZCIS on Sunday in their pre-season hit out behind closed doors.
This website received several messages (and no doubt the union many times that many) asking why this game wasn’t promoted by the host union and no team was put on their usual social media channels beforehand. It was because of health and safety and traffic management reasons! They couldn’t have a crowd as nothing was in place.
As recently as a few years ago, these pre-season games generated plenty of interest. One year – 2007 off hand – Wellington and Auckland met in a NPC pre-season game at Wellington Stadium on a cold and miserable Friday night and everyone was lamenting that the official crowd of 1,500 was the poorest crowd then on record at the stadium! Then the following two years the Lions hosted pre-season games at bumper Porirua Park and Petone Recs respectively and made big afternoons of it.
As far as the rugby went on Friday, there was little for us to report, with various combinations and players used across the park, and some first-choice players such as Du Plessis Kirifi, Brad Shields, Caleb Delany and James O’Reilly there but not playing. Others such as Xavier Numia, Peter Lakai, Pepesana Patafilo, Riley Higgins and the returning Jackson Garden-Bachop were coming back from breaks.
Others have been playing club rugby for at least the past few weeks and continued the way they have been playing in the Jubilee and Hardham Cups: Peter Umaga-Jensen, Penieli Poasa, Siale Lauaki, Akira Ieremia, Dominic Ropeti, Kyle Preston, Chicago Doyle, Issac Bracewell, Connor Tuifao, Ben Tuiomanufili, Hugo Plummer, Filo Paulo, TJ Clarke, Connor Tuifao, Leon Tuiloma and debutant first five (later in the second half) Callum Harkin.
Stanley Solomon also made his senior Wellington debut, starting at fullback, and later ending up at halfback (interesting).
The front row, halfback and midfield will be areas to look out for in their first NPC selection of the year later this week. Of the squad’s hookers, Leni Apisai and Harry Press didn’t play either, while Poasa played well, at least in general play. Other front row squad members that didn’t play were props PJ Sheck and Solomon’s recent NZ U20s teammate Senio Sanele. Both Japanese props, Kazuki Kato and Yota Kamimori, did.
Julian Savea and Peter Umaga-Jensen were the first half midfielders and then Billy Proctor came on at centre in the second half. Riley Higgins (first half) and Matt Proctor (second) played on the right wing and Pepesana Patafilo (first half) and TJ Clarke (second) on the left wing.
Kyle Preston was listed to start, but didn’t play. Bracewell then Solomon were the halfbacks. The squad’s other halfback is Mitchell McLeod, but he has been injured for a few weeks. Will be interesting to see if Kemara Hauiti-Parapara is playing for Auckland on Friday.
Manawatu rolled out similar dynamics in their line-up, with No. 8 and captain Brayden Iose their key man again this year. Flankers TJ Howden and Slade McDowell complement him well. The returning Jason Emery to their midfield is a big asset for the Turbos as well. On halfbacks, it was good to see Luke Campbell back for Manawatu, a decade now since he captained the Wellington U19s to their national title win in Taupo.
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College Rugby Chat
All four semi-finalists won their last round-robin matches but it appears the first versus fourth semi between Wellington College and Scots College could be more compelling than the clash between the two St Patrick’s College’s.
Wellington completed a 10-0 regular season record with a routine 40-10 victory over Tawa College. Z’kdeus Schwalger scored three tries. It’s the first time since Wellington last won the Premiership in 2016 that they’ve been unbeaten in the round-robin. St Patrick’s College Silverstream in 2017 and 2018 and Scots College in 2019, 2021 and 2023 have gone on to win the Premiership after winning every round-robin match.
Defending champions Scots College had an entertaining 56-24 shootout with St Bernard’s College. Tau James-Fonti crossed for a Bernard’s brace, but Scots had more ammunition. Halfback Jake Lawson was his effervescent self, scoring two tries and key forwards Charlie Barton, Brandon Lo and Reweti Ngarimu each scored tries; fit and confident. Scots lost to Wellington 21-17 in Round 2 and went within a whisker of toppling St Patrick’s College Silverstream (15-14) on July 6.
Silverstream has otherwise been rampant since losing to Wellington College 27-24 on June 12. Silverstream have scored 223 points and only conceded 19 in their last four games. Silverstream had their biggest win of the season on Saturday smashing Paraparaumu College 85-0. Thompson Tukapua scored 24 points and captain Drew-Breg McLean two tries.
Silverstream hosts St Patrick’s College, Wellington who they trounced 50-5 on July 24. In their first game since that towelling Town scrambled to a 20-18 win over winless Hutt International Boys School requiring a last play Max Reynolds penalty to prevail.
Olympic Women’s Sevens – Black Ferns Champions
USA’s Emilie Bydwell is the first female head coach to win a rugby sevens medal at an Olympic Games
New Zealand co-captain Risi Pouri-Lane now has three gold medals on an Olympic stage, having led her country to Youth Olympic Games gold in Buenos Aires in 2018 before winning gold at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024
There are four women to have now scored four tries in an Olympic rugby sevens match after Australia’s Maddison Levi (v South Africa), New Zealand’s Michaela Blyde (v China) and France’s Séraphine Okemba (v USA) joined Fiji’s Reapi Ulunisau (v Brazill, Tokyo 2020) in a select club. Four members of the New Zealand team now have three Olympic medals, two gold and one silver. They are co-captain Sarah Hirini, Theresa Setefano, Tyla King and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe.
Australia’s Maddison Levi set a new record for the most tries scored in a single Olympic Games with 14, surpassing Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s 10 for New Zealand at Rio 2016.
The women’s all-time Olympic try-scoring record is now shared by Maddison Levi, Michaela Blyde and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe with 17 each.
A shocking 18 cards in 34 matches were brandished at Paris 2024.
New Zealand was the first team to surpass 200 points at a single Olympic Games 209 and scored a record 34 tries. There were 91 more overall points in Paris than what there was in Tokyo.
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Wellington’s clubs are now having their end of season awards over the next few weeks, such as HOBM’s on Saturday night below:
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Now that representative rugby is upon us, one idea for the future could be to introduce a ‘State of Origin’ game or series after the club season has finished. Perhaps a two or three-week round-robin or challenge series between Wellington City, Hutt Valley and Porirua/Western Bays. Of course this was actually a thing in one form for a couple of years a decade ago when they ran some midweek games as Wellington Lions trial matches during the club season. Or an U21 or U23 tri-series along the same lines, where you would base yourself around your first first junior club or if you have only played senior rugby in Wellington the club whom you played your first senior match for.
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In Auckland club rugby news, a new format is being brought in. From the Auckland Rugby article:
With an overwhelming majority (17-1) voting in favour, the new three-division premiership system aims to enhance competitiveness and provide a clear pathway for clubs striving for excellence.
A New Structure for Competitive Excellence
The approved structure, known as Structure One, features a three-division premiership. Division 1 and Division 2 will each consist of 10 teams, while Division 3 will include 16 teams.
The competition will involve a full round-robin format, ensuring that every team faces each other at least once. An innovative top-six finals format will maximise excitement and engagement for players and fans alike.
Additionally, a knock-out series involving all 36 teams will be integrated into the season, further elevating the stakes and intensity of the competition.”
Read the full article – which is also telling as its by far and away the most words the Auckland union has written on their own website about their own club competitions all year – at: https://www.aucklandrugby.co.nz/newsarticle/143740?newsfeedId=1923063
This is also relevant to Wellington in case a full 14-team Premier competition becomes unsustainable in future years.
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All Blacks and Hurricanes halfback, TJ Perenara, has announced that he will be heading offshore to play in Japan at the end of 2024.
Perenara has signed a three-year contract with the Black Rams Tokyo for Japan’s League One competition.
“I’m excited to embark on a new journey with the Black Rams Tokyo in Japan,” says Perenara, “It’s a new chapter for my family and I, after an incredible 12 years with the Hurricanes.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the journey I’ve had with the Hurricanes. Each experience has shaped me, and the unwavering support from our fans has made it even more special. Thank you for being behind me every step of the way.”
Perenara is the most-capped Hurricane of all time and has played 163 games for the franchise since making his Super Rugby debut in 2012. He won a Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks in 2015 was an integral part of winning the Super Rugby title with the Hurricanes in 2016.
With Hurricanes talisman Ardie Savea and TJ Perenara now gone, is now a good time to draw a line in the sand with the Hurricanes and/or the Super Rugby competition they play in?
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Rest in Peace Mark Burgess, former Tawa junior, Tawa College and Tawa player and the club’s President when they won the top two titles for the first time in 2013:
