Sideline Conversions 24 February (some rugby news and happenings to start the new week)

The Hurricanes Poua’s Monica Tagoai takes on Matatu midfielder Grace Brooker in their pre-season fixture at NZCIS on Saturday. Super Rugby Aupiki starts this coming Saturday. 

Monday afternoon ulda edition: Welcome to the last week of the summer season.

Rugby starts in Wellington this coming Saturday. Small steps at first, but it is only going to get busier in future weeks as community and college rugby rugby kicks into gear.

A double header at Wellington Stadium on Saturday, with the Hurricanes Poua playing the Blues Women at 4.35pm and the Hurricanes there for their first Wellington home game of the year against the Blues at 7.05pm.

These games are preceded by the Hurricanes U20s versus the Crusaders U20s at NZCIS at 11.30am (kick off time to be confirmed) – so all roads lead to Upper Hutt in the morning.

Club rugby pre-season matches ramp up this Saturday too, with several initial fixtures for clubs and teams for 2025. More at the end of the week on these games once confirmed.

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Another roaring round of Super Rugby just completed, extensively covered elsewhere.

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Seventh Heaven squared. The Black Ferns Sevens have won the Vancouver Sevens for the seventh consecutive time, beating Australia 34-10 in their semi-final and then defeating Fiji 41-7 in the final. The men continue to struggle, after losing to Spain over the weekend, their third loss to them. How come they were kitted out in INEOS sponsorship though? Did the money come through?

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The Hurricanes Poua beat the South Island Matatu 36-28 in their Super Rugby pre-season match at NZCIS on Saturday. The game was called off early owing to a serious injury to a Hurricanes Poua player.

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The Hurricanes Youth Council‘s 20th Annual General Meeting was held last week.

Nick Reid (Manawatu SSRU) and Bridget Belsham (Whanganui RFU) were re-elected President and Vice-President respectively.

David Fa’atafa (Wellington SSRU) and Cameron Hayton (Wairarapa Bush RFU) were re-elected Treasurer and Secretary respectively.

The Annual General Meeting also approved a constitutional amendment, enabling the election of a Council “Patron”.

The role of the Patron is to be a “respected ambassador”, for the purposes of promoting the work of the Council.

The Annual General Meeting recommended that Rex Kerr MNZM be elected Patron of the Council, and I’m pleased to report that Rex has accepted the role.

The Council also agreed its 2025 programme (subject to finalisation of funding), which will include an inaugural Under 16 Development Camp for female players.

Full Details of the 2025 programme to come.

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What’s up with the ongoing inability of the Hurricanes being unable to cover their own games? If they unable to compile a basic match report for their own website, at least post the score and scorers and a couple of bullet point highlights or match facts.

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Dom Harvey spoke with Jackson Garden-Bachop last week on his podcast – watch/listen at the link below or by searching for his name on You Tube.

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Last week in this space we enquired about the status of two Wellington players in the New Zealand Sevens programme.

Roderick Solo seems to be perpetually injured in NZ Sevens media releases, and in October Solo himself told us he was about to have an operation. We have since been informed that Solo is out for the entire current international sevens series, and once confirmed they are going to come to us with more details on his recovery and return to play programme. Justine McGregor is fit and available for selection, but missed out on this past weekend’s playing squad in Canada. She is still a teenager, so plenty more opportunities ahead for her in a competitive women’s sevens environment that saw Manukura school leaver Maia Davis make her debut.

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Who had either Riley Higgins, Billy Proctor or Kade Banks in their Fantasy Rugby team at the start of the season, but didn’t replace them for at least a week as it wasn’t officially announced they were injured? We would think plenty of people as Proctor is an All Black and Higgins was one of the talking points in media’s players to watch and competition preview articles.

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Confused as to how the Highlanders ended up playing with only 13 players for 20 minutes of their gutsy win over the Blues on Saturday night? As explained by our regular contributor and referee Scott MacLean, the answer lies in the world of front-row regulations and the specific laws that apply to 23-man squad competitions.

Daniel Leinert-Brown’s 68th-minute yellow card (later upgraded – correctly in Scott’s view – to a red) started proceedings, and with both of the Highlanders starting props – Ethan de Groot and Saula Ma’u – already out of the game through injury, things get tricky quickly. Firstly the Highlanders were obligated under Law to put their remaining front-rower, reserve hooker Jack Taylor on (this is an equity issue to ensure where possible the team down a player doesn’t get a benefit from it) and withdraw another player to keep numbers at 14. Secondly, since the Highlanders were then forced to go to uncontested scrums because of Leinert-Brown’s departure due to foul play, that required them to lose an additional player under the 23-man regulations taking them to 13. Finally, because scrums were now uncontested, they were required to put eight men in regardless, leaving them with just five backs to defend against seven Blues.

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From the same game, ne of those ‘Hutt Rec’ specials:

Finn Hurley take a bow 👏#SuperRugbyPacific #HIGvBLU pic.twitter.com/tUSYvjNT6C

— Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) February 22, 2025

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What about France thrashing Italy 73-24 in the Six Nations this weekend! In last year’s Six Nations, Italy held France to a 13-13 draw. This was the same France that had beaten Wales 43-0 a fortnight ago. Wales were the big improvers, only losing to Ireland 18-27, while England edged Scotland 16-15 in their match for the Calcutta Cup.

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Here at Club Rugby, we are here to promote the game and the players, but we can’t ignore bad behaviour. Particularly when these players are on our database and searchable in our website (which incidentally has been down all weekend because the hosting company moved servers and forgot to take our website with it).

Last week two current (2024) Wellington Premier club rugby players were before the courts.

Tobi Oliver (Avalon centre, 2023 and 2024),  full name Tobias Oliver-Davies, choked another person unconscious in an incident has avoided a conviction.

The victim spent four to six months off work after falling face-first onto the ground and suffering a serious head injury. Oliver-Davies had earlier pleaded guilty to assault with intent to injure. The victim made a gesture through a window, and Oliver-Davies came outside and put him into a headlock until he passed out. The victim then fell to the ground, fracturing his skull and causing a gash on his eyebrow that needed 14 stitches. He was later found to have suffered a small brain bleed. Defence lawyer Oliver Neas said his client was “a young man with quite a bright future ahead of him”, pointing to his aspirations in sports and study.

Siale Siale (former Poneke lock, 2017 -2024), who previously admitted a charge of manslaughter for the one-punch un-aliving and kicking when down of Luke Smith, was sentenced last Thursday to two years and three months in prison and ordered to pay an emotional harm reparation of $10,000.

In the words of Sergeant Phil Esterhaus let’s be careful out there.

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Join the referees and get involved – plenty of opportunities at the link below:

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Curious as to why Caleb Clarke withdrew from Fantasy Rugby?

From the NZ Herald Monday afternoon: All Blacks and Blues standout Caleb Clarke has apologised, after admitting to driving dangerously and failing to stop for police.

The 25-year-old winger’s case was called today in the Auckland District Court but he was excused from attending.

“Last year I made an error of judgement while riding my motorbike in Auckland,” a statement released on behalf of Clarke said. “I’ve taken full responsibility for my actions and have entered a guilty plea today.

“I’m extremely apologetic and embarrassed. The court and employment processes are ongoing and I am now going to focus fully on my rugby.”

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The annual Walk for Mental Health will be taking place this year on Sunday 2 March at 1.00pm, at Hikoikoi Reserve, Petone and William Jones Park, Wainuiomata. It is an initiative led by WRFU’s Mental Health Committee and aims to promote community wellness, build awareness around mental health, foster a sense of unity among different rugby clubs, and raise funds for Youthline Wellington. Participants will come together in two locations for a 3km walk, completing 10 laps of a rugby field or up and down the Petone Esplanade.

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I don't think Irish and Scottish fans should worry too much, half of their future stars are still learning their rugby in the southern hemisphere. pic.twitter.com/vcP5D4ITed

— CarrickTalksRugby (@TalksRugby) February 22, 2025

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This is our regular Monday morning news and happenings column. It is a collaborative effort, so to contribute please get in touch.