Club Rugby A-Z 2025

• By Scott MacLean

Our A-Z preview of the season turns 10 this time around. We look ahead at the upcoming campaign, which gets underway this Saturday with first rounds in all six competition grades as well as the “friendly fire” of the Presidents grade.

A – Anticipation: Just what will the season ahead bring? Champions OBU probably go in as favourites in the Premier grade, but as many as eight teams, we think, start the year with legitimate title hopes.

B – Brewing: It’s been a steady few years for the Upper Hutt Rams, making incremental improvements without a massive leap in fortunes. In Adam Campbell and Matt Lee, they have two of the more astute coaches in the club game with a well-established track record, and some genuine gamebreakers on the field. Is this the season that steady climb turns into a stampede?

C – Celebration: A milestone year for Johnsonville, as they celebrate 125 years this season. After flying high in 2023, the Hawks found themselves returning to earth last year as they struggled to find the formula they had a year prior. They’ll hope to this term to make it a memorable year for their supporters, and particularly so at home at Helston which when the wind and rain comes in from the north can be as inhospitable as anywhere in Wellington.

D – Duo: 2024 was a historic one for Old Boys-University, as they not only captured the Swindale-Jubilee double, but their second side achieved the Harper Lock-Ed Chaney one as well. But repeating that Premier success will have to be done without the pair who have carried them to much of the Goats recent glory; they might see Hurricane Callum Harkin on occasion but unlikely to see Crusader Kyle Preston at all. Tom Henderson and Mitch McLeod are likely to step into the breach, but will they have enough across the park to do it all again?

E – Exile: With drums beating in some quarters (and perhaps self-serving ones) for a return to a 12-team Premier division with the traditional second-round, does exile beckon for Avalon and Wellington? The pair have combined for just three wins in the past three seasons – the matches against each other – and seem the likely casualties under such a proposal. Both would appear to desperately need success this season, and we’ve sadly seen with Wests (see ‘G’ below) what the ramifications of losing Premier status can bring.

F – Flailing: Promoting the Under 85kg grade and giving it a National Championship was supposed to encourage more “smaller” blokes to stay in or come back to the game. It might be working elsewhere, but it’s struggling in Wellington with a quarter of the teams that started last season not back this term. That leaves the grade with just nine, and a far cry from the 20-plus teams fifteen or so years ago. The Tawa Ducks start as defending champions, but fingers crossed this year is a blip and numbers start building again next year.

G – Going: At some point during this season, the name “Western Suburbs” will formally disappear from the list of current clubs with only legal paperwork between now and being subsumed into Old Boys-University. The demise of the club with their history – which goes back to the formation of the Athletic club in 1878 – should serve as a reminder that rugby’s landscape is in constant change, but whether it’s for the better is highly debatable.

H – Hardham: It might not be the Big One – which has eluded them for their nearly 80-year existence so far – but having the Hardham Cup as pride of place at William Jones Park will be a fillip for Wainuiomata this season. One of the true “community clubs” of the province, they’re a proud outfit that was seldom battered last year, and that win to end the season could, and should, serve as a springboard to a strong run this year. Will it?

I – Inches: Remember the Al Pacino team talk from Any Given Sunday? Last year it was just inches for Tawa from snatching the Jubilee Cup out of OBU’s grasp in that pulsating decider at Porirua Park and if that alone doesn’t drive the Lyndhurst side’s motivation then who knows what will. Most of their big guns are back and some very veteran faces are back at the club to try and go one better, as well as a pretty handy trio that might be available to them at the business end of the campaign

J – Jump: Seemingly every year there’s that player who breaks out and has the sort of season or two that makes them hard to ignore for the representative coaches; players like Petone’s TJ Clarke or Pare-Plim’s Louis Northcott. Who is it this year that makes a name for themselves?

K – Kilbirnie: The home of Poneke. It was another trying year for the red and blacks, but the early signs are that the second year of Ross Bond’s second term at the helm could be the start of better things. There’s some intriguing recruitment from outside the province and from overseas while the return of Maea Temu-Schmidt will bolster the pack, and along with the desire to get back to where they believe they belong, there is also the memory of former star Pakai Turia to push them onward.

L – Ladies: The good news here is that 2023 Champions Marist St Pat’s are back in the fold after being absent last year, returning the Women’s competition to eight teams, and from what we’ve seen so far most of the players that went elsewhere have returned. Looking ahead Petone will be looking to defend their title, but Ories – ‘losers’ in that extra-time draw – loom as the biggest challengers and the rest will want to have their say too.

M – Magpies: One of the nicknames of Oriental Rongotai, on account of their black and white hoops. Ories put up a stout defence of their title but ultimately came up short and returning to the summit would be at the top of their plans for 2025. It’s doubtful that any club can generate the sense of community that they do which in turn helps them retain their best local talent. Will that put them back on top?

N – Neighbours: One addition we made last year was covering the competitions in our neighbouring provinces; Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa Bush. The competition up the coast is already underway with Rahui looking to claim the title that slipped through their grasp when their dominant campaign came unstuck in the final against Foxton, while over the Remutaka’s Carterton will be seeking a three-peat of championship crowns.

O – One-Forty: How old the Petone club turns this year. But another prominent birthday number will be nagging away in the back of their heads; 21. That’s how many seasons have passed since they last drank from the Jubilee Cup and that’s not sitting well with the Village faithful, the old-timers of whom were accustomed to so much more. Carne Green and Cam Prouting have taken the reins this year, so can they get the saddle riding high again?

P – Proving Ground: Premier rugby has increasingly become more and more of a young man’s game, and the season is again shaping up as a stage for Wellington’s next crop of stars, with First XV graduates and young guns ready to leave their mark. Some of the leading contenders could be leaning on their talents fresh from the college ranks who’ve traded schoolboy glory for the grind of Premier rugby’s grind. Will these players handle the step-up and etch their names on the Jubilee Cup?

Q – Quicksand: That’s what life has to feel like for Norths at present, with back-to-back 12th place finishes in the Swindale Shield that are not what they and their supporters are used to, let alone with that coming off the back of a Jubilee Cup triumph. Shane Pihema has taken charge up Mungavin Avenue, so can he lead them out of the muck and onto firm ground?

R – Rathkeale: The news on the college front is that the Masterton-based Boys school have chosen to leave the travel-heavy Central North Island competition and join the Wellington Premiership. They’ll have to qualify, but they should help stiffen the grade here. Silverstream will be out to defend the title they emphatically won last year, Wellington College will want to go one better, Scots, St Pats Town, and Rongotai will want to have their say, and perhaps someone emerges from the pack like Hutt International did two years ago.

S – Swoop: As in what Hutt Old Boys Marist – aka the Eagles – aim to do this year. Their playoff match against Petone at the end of last season perhaps showed the blueprint for how to maximise their strengths as their massive pack just steamrolled their great rivals into the turf. New coach Otto Rasch was never one to back away from good forwards fight in his day, and it’s hard to think that’s changed now. They’ll still have plenty in the backs too, so will they be carrying the silverware off at years end?

T – Tank: As in Sharktank, the nickname for Ngati Toa Domain and home of Paremata-Plimmerton. It was always going to be a tough ask for the Hammerheads to carry on in 2024 from where they left off in 2023 and that proved to be the case, but they’ve reloaded for this term and their National 7s success will have boosted the confidence. Their major question? Can they replace Sam Clarke and his influence now he’s been snapped up by Taranaki?

U – Underdog: Everyone loves a good upset (maybe except against their team) and rugby does have a knack of throwing ones up. The Premier grade was strangely missing that “What? Wait???” result last year, so hopefully (maybe?) we get one or two this season where a big gun gets toppled by a comparative minnow.

V – Veterans: Experience counts for plenty, and many clubs have those players who have been around a long time to help guide the youngsters, whether that be alongside them on the field or behind the scenes at training or pastoral care when the sun goes down. It is often these current or former players or coaches that make the difference in tight campaigns.

W – Whistle: There’s been some tinkering again to the Laws again this season, which everyone – referees, players, coaches, and spectators – will have to adjust to. Amongst the region’s leading referees there are a couple of faces missing and a couple of returnees this year, but with over 100 matches each week to take care of the Wellington Rugby Referees Association is always keen to hear from anyone looking to take up the challenge.

X – Xplorer: The new system and application rolled out by NZ Rugby for squad and game day management. Despite having been used in Australia where it was developed for the past few years the feedback from those we’ve asked about it has been almost-universally poor by comparison to the trusty old Sporty system. Hopefully the answer from Headquarters isn’t just “get used to it”.

Y – Youth: Plenty of it has shown up at Marist St Pat’s this season. They might not all contribute out of the gate, but their presence would seem to help a club where winning championships is a byword. They’re just some of a swathe of new faces down at Evans Bay,  and how well first-year coach Jason Adamson can get his new charges to mesh will go a long way towards determining how they fare in 2025.

Z – Zoom lenses: As always, we reserve this space for the phalanx of photographers out there every weekend capturing the action, and without the game would not get the coverage it deserves. So once more thanks to: Mike and Caroline Lewis, Andy McArthur, Dave Brownlie, Dave Lintott, Russell ‘Chainsaw’ Potts, Hugh Pretorius, Stewart Baird, T-Paul Gale, Joe Serci, Masanori Udagawa, Reef Reid, Peter McDonald, Warwick Burke, James Foy, Barry Stead, Tarn Styche, Dan Taylor, Steve Rodgers, Jun Tanlayco, Jared Clarke, Mark Fairmaid, Tane Nathan and others, for your work. Photos can be shared on social media (for commercial or other purposes please always seek permission/get in touch first), but please always credit the photographer where possible, respect watermarking on images and thank them when you see them!