Sideline Conversions 12 May (some news and information to start the week)

Above: The dying stages of a high-paced Swindale Shield fixture at Ngati Toa Domain on Saturday. Photo: Stewart Baird.

Updated. It’s come along just like that, but the halfway stage of the Swindale Shield arrives this weekend, which means that the race to make the top eight Jubilee Cup for the start of the second round starts to heat up.

The Swindale Shield points table (unofficial) is Swindale Shield Points after 6 rounds  sees seven points separating current second placed Petone and eighth placed Johnsonville : Ories 30; Petone 26; Paremata-Plimmerton 23; Hutt Old Boys Marist, Poneke, Upper Hutt Rams, Tawa 21; Johnsonville 19; Wainuiomata 15; Marist St Pat’s, Northern United 11; Old Boys University, Wellington 7; Avalon 2.

Swindale Shield Round 7 matches at a glance this coming Saturday are (Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield replicate this draw):

• Wellington v Paremata-Plimmerton, Hataitai Park, 2.45pm
• Poneke v Upper Hutt Rams (Alby Makeham Shield), Kilbirnie Park, 2.45pm
• Wainuiomata v Marist St Pat’s, William Jones Park, 2.45pm
• Northern United v Old Boys University (Ken Douglas Trophy), Porirua Park, 2.45pm
• Tawa v Hutt Old Boys Marist, Lyndhurst Park, 2.45pm
• Oriental-Rongotai v Petone (Jim Brown Trophy), Polo Ground, 2.45pm
• Johnsonville v Avalon, Helston Park, 2.45pm

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It is the last round of the Women’s Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy, with Norths, Petone, and Ories all in the mix to take the spoils. Ories and Petone meet this Saturday at the Polo Ground and Norths host Wainuiomata at Porirua Park.

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School rugby this week.

On Wednesday, the St Pat’s Town First XV hosts the Hastings Boys’ High School First XV. Kick-off at Evans Bay Park is 3.30pm. Moving into the evening session on Wednesday, the opening Beard Trophy game kicks off at Porirua Park 1 at 6.00pm, with holders Tawa College opening their 2025 defence against Aotea College.

St Pat’s Silverstream hosts Palmerston North Boys’ High School at their school grounds on Saturday at 12.00pm.

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Old Boys University‘s Premiers are 0/6 in the Swindale Shield and 6/0 in the Harper Lock Shield – has this happened before?

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Rugby Xplorer is a total lemon – is anything being done by NZRU techies and administrators about this situation?

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Louis Northcott, Paremata-Plimmerton: 36 games, 25 wins, 35 tries.

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Most tries in a Swindale Shield, Jubilee Cup or Hardham Cup match (since 2005 when this website’s records began):

6 tries

• Mike Kingsbeer (Marist St Pat’s) 2009 Swindale Shield Round 5. Marist St Pat’s 88 – Wainuiomata 3
• Tauaosi Tuimavavae (Poneke) 2013 Swindale Shield Round 3. Poneke 102 – Rimutaka 0

5 tries

• Brendan Watt (Marist St Pat’s) 2009 Swindale Shield Round 3. Marist St Pat’s 55 – Tawa 3
• Julian Savea (Oriental-Rongotai) 2009 Swindale Shield Round 4. Oriental-Rongotai 78 – Old Boys-University 17
• Ajay Va’alepu (Northern United) 2011 Jubilee Cup Semi-final. Northern United 29 – Poneke 3
• Dean Brunsdon (Northern United) 2013 Swindale Shield Round 11. Northern United 85 – Rimutaka 0
• Faresa Tasele (Marist St Pat’s) 2019 Hardham Cup, Round 7. Marist St Pat’s 74 – Avalon 7
• Louis Northcott (Paremata-Plimmerton) 2025 Swindale Shield Round 6. Paremata-Plimmerton 51 – Poneke 22

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Wellington Swindale Shield Top try scorers after 6 rounds 2025:

Wellington club rugby top points scorers after 6 rounds 2025:

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Congratulations to Poneke’s Megan Tulili for reaching her 150 game milestone for her Poneke women’s team on Saturday. Her day finished early with a knee issue, but hopefully she will be back soon to add to her caps.

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When they are on song, the Johnsonville Premiers are one of the more exciting teams in the competition. Second five Olly Paotonu was particularly impressive on Saturday as their backs looked to open it up at any opportunity. It is unclear if they have actually fielded their full strength backline all year, with Jacob Kennedy missing from their line-up on Saturday. Plenty of unsung players coming into form at Hawksville too, such as the man with 0 on his back, Lucas Aukuso,  No. 8 Regan Herbert and lock Tahana Firmin, who knows how to pick ’em (see post immediately below).

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Club Rugby Tipping Competition Top 10 after 6 rounds

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Positional flexibility is a little more prevalent in the Women’s game than the Men’s, but Pare-Plim’s Mele Kupa-Cummings has taken it a little more extreme than most so far this season having started matches at all three loose forward spots, plus second-five and fullback.

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Hard not to have some sympathy for Poneke prop Moses Tuifao-Galuvao on Saturday. Already being given a tough outing by his Pare-Plim opposite Werdna Maligi-Leota, he could have thought he’d get a break when the Hammerhead tighthead went to the bin. Not so, as he found himself confronted with having to scrum against All Black Pasilio Tosi instead!

Livewire winger Ayesha Leti-I’iga is never afraid to roll up her sleeves. The Oriental Rongotai pocket rocket scored the first two tries on Saturday for the Black Fenrs, each resembling the failed catching of a rat in a drainpipe in the Black Ferns 38-12 win over Australia in Newcastle. In the 13th minute, Leti-I’iga was floored by three defenders but shot back to her feet to flash clear (as seen in club rugby over the past several years). A dozen minutes later, Kaipo Olsen-Baker came steaming around the corner from a lineout secured at the back. The 2024 Black Ferns Player of the Year was grounded inches short of the paint. Leti-I’iga lurked at the ruck and squirmed through a pile of bodies. Leti-I’iga has 17 tries in 25 Tests.

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From leading sports journalist Dylan Cleaver in his e-newsletter on Friday afternoon:

You cannot gloss over the fact NZR+ and its future is at the heart of the financial issues. The amount of money poured into it — $12m in 2024, and $18m across two years — is truly staggering when you consider the paucity of quality content they have created with that. NZR’s argument that every major sports organisation is doing it so they have to as well is facile unless it is paired with a coherent strategy. The messaging and marketing around NZR+ has always been muddled. Initially, NZR were happy to brief off the record that NZR+ was more a data-harvesting platform than a content producer. That lasted until the 2023 World Cup when it went all in on content production with notably unspectacular results. Now it is being positioned as a baited longline, capable of hooking the biggest sponsors. There is no doubt a direct-to-consumer streaming platform can work, particularly with access to live matches, but that creates issues when negotiating broadcast deals. As it stands, NZR+ appears to be trying to be a number of different things without being very good at anything¹. Meanwhile, if you’re the CEO or chairman of a provincial union, you look at that outgoing and say to yourself: “Wow, for the smallest fraction of that cost, a six-figure sum even, the NZR could have struck up meaningless partnerships with existing New Zealand media that have proven distribution channels, and we might have been able to get the NPC and even club rugby covered.”

Let that sink in when you are battling away!

And because we have just lifted all that content above from someone else, subscribe to Dylan Cleaver’s e-newsletter the Bounce HERE 

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Tighthead prop, Pasilio Tosi has recommitted to the Hurricanes and New Zealand Rugby through to 2028, it was announced last week.

Hurricane #295 debuted for the Hurricanes against the Crusaders in 2022 and made his All Blacks debut in 2024 becoming All Black #1211. The 26-year-old attended Rotorua Boys’ High School where he excelled in multiple sports. Tosi, has gone through the New Zealand rugby pathways, representing Bay of Plenty in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC, before breaking into Super Rugby, and then ultimately donning the black jersey.

Tosi is known for his powerful scrummaging and ability around the field and the extension is great news for the Hurricanes as they head towards the business end of the 2025 DHL Super Rugby Pacific season and beyond. He is a fan favourite on and off the field as his relatable personality connects with followers of the sport. He resonates well with all ages and loves interacting with fans whenever he can.

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Hawke’s Bay club rugby chat

Taradale Rugby Club in Napier is in strong shape. The premiers have won 24 matches in a row and on Saturday edged Napier Old Boys Marist 22-17 in a gripping top of the table tussle. The score went from 7-0 to Marist, 14-7 to Taradale, 14-14, 17-17, and finally 22-17.

Marist scored the try of the match, a 65-metre runaway for Will Tremain. Blindside Josh Eden-Whaitiri had a huge game for Taradale with some immense tackling and a late breakdown steal. Eden-Whaitiri played 11 games for Hawke’s Bay between 2016 and 2017. Right winger Flynn Allen passed 50 games for the club a fortnight ago and showed no signs of slowing. Former Old Boys University tighthead Sam Combs anchors the scrum.

Taradale has won the Maddison Trophy ten times since 1993. Their most famous All Blacks include Bill Davis, Norm Hewitt, and Dallas Seymour. With a spacious clubhouse, $12 burgers, quarts of beer, and a small grandstand, 295 Guppy Road is well worth a visit.

NRL showing on the big screen at the Taradale Rugby Club when the Black Ferns are on. Where is Alice Soper when you need her?

“I saw the barracuda at the dump. He’s looking good.” Quality sideline chat at Taradale with one spectator awe-struck by his encounter with former Hawke’s Bay Magpie and Highlanders Rugby winner Richard ‘Barracuda’ Buckman.

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Kienan Higgins played for Taradale last year. Another two tries for him on Saturday and five in the past fortnight for the HOBM second-five.

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Manawatū first five-eighth Brett Cameron feels ready to make his Hurricanes return after an eight-month injury layoff.

Cameron made a rare appearance in club rugby on Saturday, getting through 60 minutes for Te Kawau in their 50-19 loss to Varsity at Massey University.

It was his second game back after having knee surgery last year to repair an anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered at Manawatū Turbos training.

Read more HERE

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The Hurricanes are back in action this Friday night, hosting the Highlanders at Wellington Stadium.

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New Zealand held on to beat the Junior Springboks 48-45 in front of 14,835 spectators at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Sunday to retain the U20 Rugby Championship in dramatic fashion.

Having to play with 13 players in the final minutes, the NZ team just managed to hold on as they overturned a fast Junior Springbok start to the match, with the home side scoring 19 unanswered points in the opening 15 minutes and leading 26-24 at the break.

Fifteen tries – which includes a penalty try – resulted in a high scoring match that were dominated by the home side in the first 20 minutes, before the defending champions took control, only to have their effort almost derailed with ill-discipline in the final 10 minutes.

Read more HERE

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