Sideline Conversions 17 March (some news and information to start the new week in rugby)

A hard-fought pre-season match in dry conditions at Rongotai College between Oriental-Rongotai and Kia Toa on Saturday. Photos: Andy McArthur. More photos here 

Third coffee of the day updates: Welcome to the new week in community rugby, although if you are Irish that might be starting tomorrow after today’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

In Wellington, there are just two weekends of pre-season rugby to come before the competition kicks off in earnest. As normal, we will collate everything more thoroughly in our preview on Friday, but a glance at some Premier fixtures coming up in Wellington this weekend sees Pōneke host Taranaki’s Tukapa for the Zemba Cup, Avalon host Manawatu’s Freyberg, the Upper Hutt Rams play Petone, Norths play Johnsonville, HOBM and OBU play and Ories and Wainuiomata meet.

Also, on Friday, the Old Boys University Colts and the Wellington College First XV meet in their annual Letica Cup fixture, after the 1960s former Wellington College player and Junior All Black who passed away young through illness.

+++++

Horowhenua-Kapiti’s competition gets underway this Saturday. While that’s rather early, they’ll be taking both Easter and King’s Birthday off in full and with seven teams in their Premier grade they’ll have byes in there as well. Look for a brief preview in this Friday’s column.

+++++

The NPC draw is out today and the NPC Women’s draw is out tomorrow, so look out for these if they don’t find your social media feeds first, as all 14 unions will be in lockstep releasing all these at once and drowning each other out. They could just cancel the NPC now and award the trophy to the Wellington Lions again!

UPDATE: The NPC draw is out – here it is: https://www.provincial.rugby/bunnings-npc/fixtures-and-results

Wellington’s first match is against Canterbury on Saturday 2 August at 2.05pm in Wellington at an as yet unconfirmed venue.

An appalling time slot for club and college rugby (will be First XV semi-finals that day), which will still be in full flight that afternoon, but we will get to that later in the year.

+++++

The WRFU released the draws for the balance of their grades last week. Ten teams will front in the Under 85s, two fewer than last year with the midseason demise of Wests and Petone not entering this year.

Fifteen sides will lineup for the Reserve Grade, which this year starts with two pools rather than the two divisions of recent seasons. A notable name is missing here too, with the OBU Teddy Bears deciding to fold and merge with the 69ers.

According to John Anderson’s University rugby history the Story of the Green and Golds 1982-87, the Teddy Bears were formed in the mid-1960s and their team song was the Teddy Bears Picnic. The 69ers was originally a team of law students formed in 1977 and also went by te name Soixante Neuf at one time.

The combined team has announced they hope to recapture the in-house OBU social side’s prized possession the Ruru Shield off the OBU Pink Ginners. Watch this space.

+++++

Old Boys University and Massey University played a tight and often entertaining brand of rugby for the hardy crowd at Rugby League Park pre-season fixture on Saturday. Both sides were close to full strength, not counting their Super Rugby U20s players, with the home side Fielding a high number of returning players and a couple of new ones from their champion Premier and Premier 2 sides in 2024 and the visitors likewise and some Manawatu 15 and 7s reps.

A big talking point heading into the new season is how will OBU fare without their halfback Kyle Preston and first five Callum Harkin (although he could be around as the year unfolds). Mitchell McLeod was selected in the Lions last year but missed the season with injury. In his first competitive game back, the former St John’s College, Hastings student donned Preston’s jersey and ran with it. He scored the first three tries for his side in a lively cameo, before Wellington U19s halfback Thoma Takeuchi took over for much of the rest of the game. OBU have depth in their forwards too, and their scrum was particularly strong.

The game was played in four quarters, with Manawatu scoring the game’s first try after a scorching break up the embankment touchline, followed by McLeod’s first to make it 7-7. OBU won the second and third quarters, both two tries to one and with former Scots College wing Calum Koebergh scoring these tries, and OBU led 5 tries to 3 after 60 minutes. With the wind, Massey hit back back with two tries and it was five tries apiece and a bit of a thriller. OBU rallied and scored their final try with a couple of minutes to play and won 36-33 (previously reported 36-28).

+++++

Down the road at Rongotai College, former OBU (and before that Tawa) and last year’s New Zealand U20s midfielder Fuka Paongo was spotted playing for Kia Toa against Oriental-Rongotai. A Paongo-Pena Va’a midfield at Kia Toa would go well in the Manawatu competition this year.

+++++

The Super Rugby U20s kicked off in Taupo on Saturday. Beyond the games being live of Sky TV, there doesn’t appear to be too much going on in the way of post-match coverage. The scores from the games were:

• Hurricanes U20s 65 – Fijian Drua U20s 10
• Chiefs U20s 59 – NZ Barbarians U21s 19
• Crusaders U20s 29 – Moana Pasifika U20s 22
• Blues U20s 48 – Highlanders U20s 45

The scoring in the Hurricanes-Fiji match was: Hurricanes U20: 65 (Will Cole 2, Liam O’Connor, Jai Tamati, Stanley Solomon 2, Jacob Denyer, Jacob Kennedy, Ieti Campbell, Mosese Bason tries; Cole 6 cons, pen).

Semi-finals on Tuesday see the Hurricanes play the Chiefs and the Crusaders play the Blues.

+++++

The NZ Barbarians U21s side is coached by the Upper Hutt Rams’ Dion Waller, and features hooker Leon Tuiloma.

+++++

Website update. Note our “old” .co.nz website, the part of our website that has all the Draws & Results and historical data, remains down. There is someone working on this and we remain hopeful of getting this back up soon. Time is running out though, so we will soon be moving to DEFCON 4. This happened after the previous host changed servers causing the website to break. The delay in getting it back up is due to its incompatibility as the website was bespoke built in 2004 using now far outdated coding versions.

+++++

+++++

Tawa College beat Rongotai College 4 tries to 2 (no conversions taken) in their college First XV pre-season fixture played in four 25-minute periods at Rongotai on Saturday morning. After an active start to the new season, Rongotai takes this coming weekend off before returning on host Palmerston North Boys’ High School at home on Saturday 29 March. Tawa College plays Bishop Viard College this Thursday.

+++++

Porirua College beat Aotea College 55-5 in their pre-season First XV hit-out on Saturday – just pre-season but a rather large margin of victory that one.

+++++

Grim reading for the Hurricanes Poua at the halfway mark of Super Rugby Aupiki. The Poua have lost a record seven consecutive matches and in 2025 rank last in points scored (24), points conceded (125), tries scored (4), tries conceded (21), metres gained (1,331), turnovers conceded (59) and lineouts won (64%).

The Poua return to Upper Hutt to host the South Island Matatu this Saturday. Kickoff at NZCIS is 2.05pm.

+++++

The Hurricanes men’s team earned a much-needed away win on Friday against the Highlanders. Extensively covered elsewhere (but no references to it on their own website, as we have previously discussed in this space). They have their bye this weekend before hosting the Waratahs on Friday 28 March.

Du Plessis Kirifi made 23 tackles and two turnovers in the Hurricanes 20-18 win over the Highlanders in Dunedin. It was a performance so inspirational that it might save the Hurricanes season, the difference between a 1-4 and 2-3 record. Krifi must be close to All Blacks selection. If not this season, never one would think.

Marvel uniforms saw no relevant colours on Hurricanes attire. What about teams wearing club jerseys?

+++++

A ‘big’ shake-up coming for Junior Rugby?

A major shake-up of the game proposed by New Zealand Rugby will prevent children playing 15-a-side rugby until their first year of secondary school — a move which has received pushback from some club representatives.

1News can reveal that in a proposal yet to be signed off by NZ Rugby’s board, which will meet later this month, children in their final year of intermediate school (year 8) will play 13-a-side rugby on a slightly narrower (by 10 metres, 5m each side) adult-sized field.

It is proposed that there will be five forwards and eight backs, with the two flankers dropping out.

Under the changes, which have been announced to clubs and have not been received positively in all quarters, year 7-aged children will play 10-a-side rugby on half an adult-sized field.

Previously, year 7 and year 8 kids played 15-a-side rugby on a full field.

Children younger than this will continue to play 10-a-side. Those in their first two years of rugby, aged five and six, will continue to play Rippa, a game which has transformed playing numbers in New Zealand, especially among girls.

Another proposal, as NZ Rugby seeks to recruit and retain players, and most specifically boys, will scrap breakdowns in games for those children in their first year of tackle rugby (seven- and eight-year-olds).

In a change designed to focus children’s progression towards tackling properly, players will be taught to place the ball when tackled, with the halfback directed to immediately pass the ball.

Read more HERE https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/03/11/junior-rugby-shake-up-no-15-a-side-games-until-high-school/

+++++

Ruben Love has re-signed with the Hurricanes and New Zealand Rugby through to the end of 2028, it was announced last week.

+++++

One team from Marlborough

Marlborough (district population 52,000 according to an internet search) will be represented by just one team when the Tasman Trophy premier rugby competition kicks off on April 5.

Central will be the region’s sole participant in the annual battle between the top club sides from Marlborough and Nelson.

The writing has been on the wall for a number of seasons.

From the early Tasman Trophy days, when Marlborough boasted six sides (Central, Moutere, Waitohi, Renwick, Harlequins and Awatere) numbers keen to take part in the top of the south exchange have waned.

Five Nelson sides will return – Marist, Waimea Old Boys, John Goodman Shield holders Stoke, Nelson and defending champs Kahurangi. Competition begins on Saturday, April 5.

Kahu Marfell, Tasman’s community rugby manager, described the situation as “disappointing”.

“It’s certainly not ideal. There was talk of creating a Renwick/Moutere combination [to play in the Tasman Trophy], which didn’t quite make it … so now there needs to be some work put in to work out how to attract players and then retain players.”

The drop off in premier teams is likely to have a flow-on effect for the second tier senior A competition, which kicks off on May 3.

It is expected that there will be six teams contesting that title (Renwick, Central, Waitohi, Pelorus, Harlequins and Awatere), with Moutere a possible participant.

Read more HERE https://marlboroughapp.co.nz/news/articles/central-to-go-it-alone-in-2025

+++++

Macca Springer is the 20th player in Super Rugby to score four or more tries in a single match. The previous Crusaders record was four by Caleb Ralph in a 96-19 win against the Waratahs in 2002. Sean Maitland scored four in a 52-10 win against the Brumbies in 2011.

+++++

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wellington Rugby Referees (@wgtnrra)

+++++

France beat Scotland 35-16 this past weekend, to win this year’s Six Nations title.

Will the France B team coming to New Zealand this winter rattle the All Blacks?

France wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey broke the record for most tries in a single Six Nations campaign with his eighth score of this year’s tournament.

The 21-year-old, who dotted down in every game, broke Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale’s (38 Tests, 19 tries, 29 wins) record of seven tries from 2018.

The Bordeaux-Begles flyer ran a sharp support line off Romain Ntamack to race away and score in the win over Scotland on Saturday that clinched France’s first title since 2022.

Bielle-Biarrey equals the all-time record for most tries in a single championship – joining England’s Cyril ‘Kid’ Lowe and Scotland’s Ian Smith, who scored eight tries in the 1914 and 1925 Five Nations respectively.

Les Bleus ended this year’s tournament with 30 tries – the most in a single Six Nations campaign. The 2025 championship also broke the record for the most tries overall in one edition (101), surpassing the 91 scored two years ago.

Wing Tommy Freeman joined Bielle-Biarrey in touching down in every game of this year’s Six Nations, becoming the first Englishman to do so. The 24-year-old started England’s first four matches on the wing and played at outside centre in the 10-try thrashing of Wales in Cardiff.

Former France wing Philippe Bernat-Salles (41 Tests, 26 tries, 25 wins) was the last player to score in every round of the Six Nations back in 2001.

+++++

Looking forward to the opening weekend of the Swindale Shield? Start planning now. Round One games on Saturday 5 April are:

• Marist St Pat’s v Pōneke, Evans Bay Park, Evans Bay Park.
• Johnsonville v Paremata-Plimmerton, Helston Park.
• Petone v Wellington Axemen, Petone Rec.
• Oriental-Rongotai v Upper Hutt Rams
• Northern United v Avalon Wolves, Jerry Collins Stadium
• Wainuiomata v Hutt Old Boys Marist, William Jones Park
• Old Boys University v Tawa, TBC

2025 photo galleries:

https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2025

+++++

This column, and everything we do, is a collective effort. Always looking for fresh assistance with content, ideas and support. For more go to the About Us page here