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Above: Rugby returned to Porirua Park with a bang on Saturday with three matches on Jerry Collins Stadium and three wins for Norths teams. This month Norths is supporting Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month and their teams are sporting colourful socks.
A rip-roaring opening weekend of club rugby in Wellington, Wairarapa-Bush and Manawatu. In Wellington, heavy rain made for lush fields at the teams took the field across four of the five competition grades.
Swindale Shield Round 2 Games coming up this Saturday at a glance (Colts and Premier 2 matches replicated) :
- Marist St Pat’s v Upper Hutt Rams, Evans Bay Park.
- Old Boys University v Hutt Old Boys Marist (Wood Cup), Rugby League Park.
- Oriental-Rongotai v Johnsonville Hawks (Ash Pointon Memorial Cup), Polo Ground.
- Paremata-Plimmerton v Wainuiomata (Smith and Wilson Cup), Ngati Toa Domain.
- Pōneke v Avalon Wolves, Kilbirnie Park.
- Tawa v Petone (Bill Brien Challenge Shield match), Lyndhurst Park.
- Wellington v Northern United, Hataitai Park.
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Round One scores and scorers at this link here (opens a Word document):
SWINDALE SHIELD TEAMLISTS AND SCORING 2025 RD1 results
Second round Women’s Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy matches coming up on Saturday at a glance:
- Oriental-Rongotai v Wainuiomata, Polo Ground
- Pōneke v Petone, Kilbirnie Park
- Marist St Pat’s v Avalon, Evans Bay Park
- Paremata-Plimmerton v Northern United, Ngati Toa Domain
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Great to see a bunch of new players in the Swindale Shield this year – as per last week’s annual gains and losses article almost four starting XVs of players not playing in the Wellington competition this year, but a number of new players making their debuts in the Swindale Shield or for their new clubs.
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The Jubilee Cup runner-up has won the ‘final replay’ eight times in the last 20 years. Tawa had never achieved the feat until Saturday and has a 1-2 record when holder of the Jubilee Cup.
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A few grumpy messages on Saturday night correcting scores we posted in our recap report of the day (received both online and offline)! We can’t be everywhere, so can only rely on the accuracy of the scores entered online and to an extent whether those scores have been finalised, many of which were not (see more on this issue below). While we accept that there will be some errors, we can only work with the information we have.
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The Johnsonville-Paremata-Plimmerton match reverted to uncontested scrums early in the second half on Saturday.
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He played a full season for Norths last year, but a brief debut for his new club Marist St Pat’s for halfback Jayde Burns on Saturday. He was red carded after 10 minutes for misplaced action with his boot. A 20-minute red card, so it didn’t affect the game too much as it might have if it was 15 on 14 for the remainder of the game.
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The Black Ferns Sevens won their ninth SVNS league title since 2012 by winning the Singapore Sevens for a second consecutive year. The Black Ferns Sevens improved their record in the 2024-25 season to 30-2. The Black Ferns Sevens have won 41 of the 52 SVNS finals they have contested and 344 of 382 games. The Black Ferns Sevens are 19-9 in finals against Australia.
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Further to the item above, who are we to talk, as our Draws & Results website is broke and we couldn’t fix it in time before the new season started, but there appeared to be some problems with the new Rugby Xplorer website and its bedding in. Perhaps many issues were human error, but results seemed to disappear or change on us when refreshing the results page on Saturday evening. Still no official Swindale Shield points table anywhere as of Monday morning. Here is hoping for a smoother transition going forward.
One thing we have already found that the Rugby Xplorer developers will need to fix urgently is when they denote who scored the tries/points in the results it just has their surnames. What if there are brothers or two players with the same surname that get on the scoresheet? Was it Dion Lealofi or Greg Lealofi who scored a try for Wainuiomata? Was it DJ Taoipu or Daniel Taoipu who scored for Pōneke? What if they are planning on expanding to Wales or South Korea where many surnames are the same?
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Jackie Patea-Fereti had the honour of leading the Hurricanes Poua on to the field in her last first-class game on Saturday. The 38-year-old was capped 18 times by the Black Ferns between 2012 and 2019 and holds the record for most games for Wellington with 85. A foundation player with Poua (12 matches) in 2022, she made her first-class debut in 2006 as a teenager. That season, the Pride won their only Farah Palmer Cup Premiership.
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Readers of this column would know that one of our bugbears is no scoreboard or clocks or both at Premier games (and in other grades). Here’s another. Starting games late. If a game is scheduled for a 12.30pm kick-off it should mean that, not coming out of the changing rooms at 12.34pm and kicking off at 12.36pm. Not the referee’s fault, often they are waiting on halfway for the teams to appear to start the game.
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There were three penalty tries in Swindale Shield games on Saturday.
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Avalon’s best result in the last 26 games was a 26-26 draw with Wainuiomata on June 10, 2023.
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The new rule introduced this season of removing the scrum when awarded a free kick, particularly free kicks from lineouts – yeah or nah?
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Tipping competition top 10 leaderboard after the opening weekend:
Visit the leaderboard at: https://www.faceyoursfears.com/games/WGTN2025/tips
It is very much early days now, and new entrants can still join at https://www.faceyoursfears.com/games/WGTN2025/join and catch up through your sage tipping skills or through the use of one of two ‘wildcard’ rounds where points are doubled.
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The Wairarapa-based arm of Club Rugby was in Eketahuna on Saturday, where the hospitality belied the difficulties a wholly rural club like them faces. Another of the “Wairarapa Originals”, “Eke” was founded in 1889 and in the past 135 years have won a host of titles, including in Manawatu and Wellington competitions. But they’re now a one-team club, the only one competing in Wairarapa-Bush’s Premier competition this year without a second team, and would really be struggling for numbers without a sizeable Fijian contingent that are working in the district. As recently as a decade ago they had four teams, including a Women’s team playing in Wellington and a Colts side playing in the Manawatu, so the decline has been stark. While some big-city clubs complain about the difficulties they have, perhaps a visit to a club that gave us Black Ferns Rebecca Mahoney (later an international referee as well) and Shakira Baker might just give them cause for a rethink
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Feilding Yellows beat Feilding Old Boys Oroua 66-0 in their derby match to start the Manawatu Senior 1 season. In other results, Linton Army marched to a 36-7 win over Old Boys Marist, defending champions Kia Toa defeated College Old Boys 37-5 and in the closest result of the afternoon, Freyberg beat Te Kawau 33-22. Varsity had the bye. The absence of any coverage in the Manawatu Standard online is noted.
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Napier Old Boys Marist and Taradale are both three from three to start the Hawke’s Bay Premier Nash Cup season. In their matches on Saturday NOBM beat Havelock North 43-27 and Taradale took down Napier Pirate 25-19. The other three matches saw Napier Tech beat Central 40-22, Hastings account for Aotea 80-19 and Clive accounting for M.AC. 44-29.
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Two tries and five conversions for 20 points for Northern United Women’s first-five Arene Landon-Lane in her team’s 14-try 80-0 win over Avalon on Saturday. In the same game, Paige Misky played her 50th match for Norths.
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Four tries on Saturday for Norths Colts fullback Labront Muldrock-Tolai, in his team’s 57-7 win over Avalon Colts. Two tries and six conversions for 24 points for Petone Colts fullback Adam Jansen van Vuuren in his team’s 88-0 win over Wellington.
Staying with Colts fullbacks – he scored just the one try, but showed a penchant for the counterattack – Tawa Colts fullback Jonty Baker also played well in his team’s 46-34 win over the OBU Colts. At the bookend of his team, loosehead prop Joseph Samuelu showed some stopping and scored two tries.
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The Hurricanes Hunters missed out to a stacked Chiefs Development side 14-36 in pouring rain in Hamilton on Friday. The Hurricanes scored tries through Jone Rova and Joseph Gavigan with Lucas Cashmore kicking two conversions. They play a return fixture against the same side in Napier on Saturday 19 April.
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The Rongotai College First and Second XVs play their last pre-season matches before start of the school holidays against the visiting Australian touring side of Downlands College, Toowoomba. Downlands College have a rich Australian rugby history, including former Wallabies Tim Horan, Garrick Morgan and Greg Holmes. First XV Kick-off this coming Friday at Rongotai is at 2.30pm, while the Second XVs of both schools kick-off at 2.00pm on the back fields.
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Tawa College beat Aotea College 54-12 in their First XV pre-season fixture on Saturday.
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Where to next for the Hurricanes men’s team, after losing 18-19 to the Blues on Saturday night. They have the Force, Brumbies and Reds on the road and the Chiefs and Crusaders at home as part of a tough road to the finish.
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Helston Park is going to be a tough place for visitors to win at this year – and with the spectators lining the path at the top of the bank it feels a bit like a scene from Zulu.
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Welcome back Richard Gordon, taking a tumble in his return game to Wellington Premier rugby.
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The Hurricanes Poua ended their campaign with a 26-49 loss to the Blueswomen in Auckland on Saturday. The Hurricanes Poua have lost 10 consecutive matches, with their closest game this season a 19-point difference. There were standout campaigns from loose forwards Elinor-Plum King and Layla Sae, who both ranked inside the Aupiki top 10 for most tackles. Sae had 110 tackles in six games, more than any player, to go with her 71 carries (5th equal). Plum King made 93 tackles and beat 22 defenders (seventh). Ayesha Leti-I’iga was devastating when involved and ranked inside the top 10 for metres gained (365), defenders beaten (25), and offloads (9), but often lacked support, though Cassie Siataga and Te Rauoriwa Gapper had some moments of quality. However, the Poua lack the depth across the board to compete with the leading contenders.
Perhaps a six-team Super Rugby women’s competition involving two squads from Australia and a Fiji or a Pacific combination is a better competition for both countries. The Force and the Brumbies have struggled in Super Rugby W, but there is strength in Queensland and New South Wales.
Ayesha Leti-I’iga and Ayesha Leti’L’iga, both shone brightly in Super Rugby Aupiki in an off the pace team.
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Sevens Chat
In January, it was reported that since World Rugby assumed ownership of operating a centralised World Sevens Series model in 2023, the sevens circuit lost between £15-£25 million ($33-55m).
Those attending events cite excessive World Rugby staff, who travel first class and stay in five-star accommodation, as a major contributing factor in those deficits, whereas locals used to largely run the events.
Though ‘SVNS’ is more competitive than ever, hemorrhaging that amount of cash is unsustainable – some quick ideas for a revival:
- Cut staff, many of whom stride around looking important but do nothing. Five-star hotels are not necessary. What about utilising Rugby club networks?
- Argentina has won the Men’s league title in the past two seasons, yet there is no tournament in South America. Instead, the league series concludes in an almost empty stadium in Singapore, which doesn’t have a team in the competition. Look at the crowds the Fijian Drua attract! Play in places where the game is relevant.
- Hong Kong remains the marquee event. Why isn’t it the last tournament? Anything that follows seems anticlimactic.
- The Cape Town and Singapore tournaments saw the elimination of quarter-finals, which put a greater emphasis on pool games, creating more immediate tension and excitement. Pool matches are determined by seedings in previous tournaments. Instead of seeding teams have random draws otherwise the Black Ferns Sevens end up with Brazil and China in their group on consecutive weekends which are essentially guaranteed wins.
- The regular Sevens professionals are fine players, but they lack ‘star power.’ What possibility of a Sevens tournament outside the Olympics with a big cash sponsor that attracts the best players in rugby? This is similar to the old Hong Kong tournament, where it was common for All Blacks, David Campese, and the like to show up.
- Long, festive days have become formulaic. How many times do we need to hear Sweet Caroline? Perhaps host cities need to provide a backfield, and only those games that draw a crowd are played on the main field in more compact sessions. There would be some scope here to mix the draw up to avoid showing the same teams every time, but Uruguay v Kenya for ninth, five hours into day two, doesn’t have much box office appeal.
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Photos website. View our photos website where all galleries are uploaded at https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2025
