Sideline Conversions 30 June (some news and information to start the new week)

Rams wing Daniel Schrijvers trucks it up against Johnsonville in the Maidstone Park drizzle on Saturday. Photo: Hugh Pretorius.

The home stretch of the 2025 club rugby season is upon us.

Opening weekend Jubilee Cup matches at a glance (the losers of the 6 v 7 and 5 v8 games drop down to the Hardham Cup for the following three weeks of the season):

Jubilee Cup

• Ories (1) v HOBM (4), Polo Ground
• Tawa (2) v Paremata-Plimmerton (3), Lyndhurst Park
• Upper Hutt Rams (5) v Johnsonville (8), Maidstone Park
• Petone (6) v Poneke (7), Petone Rec

Hardham Cup

• Old Boys University (9) v Avalon (14), TBC
• Marist St Pat’s (10) v Wellington Axemen (13), Evans Bay Park
• Wainuiomata (11) v Norths (12), William Jones Park.

Information on all other grades, including the opening Premier Ed Chaney/HD Morgan Memorial round to come in our full preview on Friday.

One match to look out for is the Tawa Colts v Upper Hutt Rams Colts fixture at Lyndhurst Park at 1.00pm. Both teams are on 44 competition points after nine rounds, so this last round Paris Memorial Trophy game is a virtual final. Update: HOBM can still win, but would require a low scoring draw between Tawa and UHR. 

It is school holidays now for the next fortnight so school rugby is quiet before ramping up again later in July. But Sideline Conversions understands that Wellington College travel to Palmerston North Boys’ High School on Wednesday. Details to be confirmed, although we here it is being played at Massey University.

+++++

Three of seven Swindale Shield matches on Saturday were decided on fulltime – all three making a difference to the finishing order and this coming Saturday’s games.

At Upper Hutt, the home team won the game with a penalty on fulltime to second five Ieti Campbell, breaking a deadlock and giving them a 20-17 win over Johnsonville.

At William Jones Park, home team Wainuiomata led champions Ories 32-14 with 7 minutes to go, before came back at the death to take a 36-32 victory.

At Ngati Toa Domain, Tawa trailed Paremata-Plimmerton 14-23 heading into the final 10 minutes before scoring two late tries to win, including the winner on fulltime.

+++++

In beating Johnsonville 20-17 on Saturday, the Upper Hutt Rams have locked away the Bill Brien Challenge Trophy for the off-season – as it is not contested during the playoff rounds.

+++++

It is a shame that the Andy Leslie Trophy is not awarded anymore. This was introduced in the early 2000s for the winner of the Jubilee Cup round-robin heading into the semis, but with the change of format these past few years it has become redundant. Perhaps it could be used for something else such as most team tries or best points for and against record at the end of the Swindale Shield round-robin? Often this will be the winner, but not always.

+++++

Ories finished the round-robin with a perfect 13/13 record with bonus points = 65 points. The first team to achieve this feat, including in the former 11-round competition which carried a maximum of 55 points. Two teams in the modern era that  have gone close were Norths in 2010 with 11/11 and 53 points and HOBM in 2019 with 10/10 and 49 points (it was a 10-round competition for one year).

++++++

Tipping competition – the top 10.

If you are in the top 3 please get in touch with us and identify yourselves if you want an end of Swindale Shield prize!

The competition rolls on for the next four weeks – and we are going to add another round (perhaps two) of wild cards where you can double your points for the remainder of the competition so if you are languishing down the leaderboard (that includes us) you can catch-up! We will have a grand prize winner after Finals Day.

+++++

+++++

Wellington club rugby top try scorers after 13 rounds (end of Swindale Shield)

Congratulations to Esi Komaisavai for breaking the single season first round Swindale Shield try scoring record on Saturday. He surpassed the previous record of 18 set by Northern United’s Buxton Popoalii in 2010 (although Popoalii scored his 18 tries in an an 11-round competition).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Paremata Plimmerton Rugby Football Club (@pareplimrugby)

+++++

What about the Horowhenua-Kapiti union following through on their threats and stopping all rugby this past weekend because of referee abuse? The general consensus from the local clubs and schools and referees and the public (see this thread here https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1132663982238746&set=a.459687486203069 is that this is a good thing that they actually carried out their threats.

However, why should junior rugby have been affected? It could appear harsh in some quarters that junior players have been caught up in this, and that they perhaps could have still played their games this weekend. If junior rugby is about participation and developing the next generation of senior players and supporters then let them play, given that their games are prone to being the first getting cancelled when it rains during the week and fields get closed.

The logistics of all the catch-up games across the union are to be confirmed – we await their announcements around this.

+++++

MSP also shared this reel from Hataitai Park: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AhCbrD2pQ/ 

Saturday was perhaps the first truly dark day of the winter out there for photographers, with plenty of ISO and shutter speed adjustments and editing going on to get the shots out there!

+++++

All you need to know ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championship 2025, including teams, format, dates and kick-off times: https://www.world.rugby/u20/en/news/1000825/world-rugby-under-20-championship-2025-all-you-need-to-know

Pool fixtures:
Sunday, 29 June: New Zealand U20 v Italy U20 (Calvisano, 20:30 local time) – that’s this morning. 
Friday, 4 July: New Zealand U20 v Georgia U20 (Viadana, 18:00 local time)
Wednesday, 9 July: New Zealand U20 v Ireland U20 (Calvisano, 18:00 local time)

++++

Tomasi Connor cracks the ton – Wellington club rugby top points scorers after 13 rounds (end of Swindale Shield 2025):

+++++

A hat-trick for Kienan Higgins for Taradale in their final round-robin 60-42 win over Napier Pirate on Saturday in the Hawke’s Bay Maddison Trophy.

Another name on the scoresheet in the same game for Pirate was Drew Berg-McLean, Higgins’ fellow HOBM teammate having transferred to Hawke’s Bay in recent weeks.

Another former St Pat’s Silverstream and HOBM openside flanker Sam Morgan became a Wellington Firebird contracted player last week.

+++++

On the subject of former St Pat’s Silverstream players, the NZ Herald ran a story this past weekend with Joel Hintz who has retired. It is behind a paywall so we can’t link it here but it says the following:

Hawke’s Bay Magpies prop Joel Hintz says his sudden retirement has come after one too many “head knocks”.

A Nash Cup club match for Central in front of the home Waipukurau crowd in April was the 28-year-old’s last game.

While he’d never been “knocked out”, there’d been several concussion… issues over the years – which he attributes to tackles that morphed into “head-highs” due to his lack of height.

On doctor’s advice 10 weeks ago, Hintz decided to retire and take up coaching instead, as well as focus on the Napier franchise of MTF (Motor Trade Finance) he and wife Beka – “the boss” – bought last year.

We did a story with him in 2018 when he played for Old Boys University: https://clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/story.php?id=2865

+++++

Club Rugby’s Wairarapa-based arm continued his grand tour of that province’s clubs on Saturday with his first trip out to East Coast, based at Wharema on the road out to Riversdale Beach. In Wairarapa terms the “Coasties” are a young club, formed in 1953, but before that were their own sub-union with its own clubs; Homewood, Tinui, Mataikona, Anneadale, Kaiwhata, Whakataki, and Black Swamp being some of the names. The new club made an impression on debut in the Wairarapa comp, beating 1952 champions Masterton in their first match. Like many clubs it’s fortunes have waxed and waned, spending considerable periods in the 80’s and 90’s in the unions second division, but finally claimed their sole Wairarapa-Bush championship in 2008. They currently hold the Hodder-Steffert Cup, played for by the bottom four sides from the championship round-robin. Their players often travel great distances just to train, with some coming from Riversdale, others from Castlepoint, some from Masterton itself, and all points in between, and like other rural clubs field teams in others sports in their case hockey and netball. There’s a genuine old-school charm about the place, even down to the lack of internet coverage!

+++++

This is a good signing, if a little out of left-field for supporters (from the media release below):

The Hurricanes have announced the signing of Japanese international, Warner Dearns, for the 2026 season.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to join the Hurricanes and take on a new challenge in Super Rugby. I’m looking forward to continuing to grow as a player and giving everything I have for the jersey,” Dearns, who plays for the Toshiba Brave Lupus club in Japan, said.

“I’m also incredibly grateful to Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo for supporting me in taking on this challenge in 2026.”

The Wellington-born, 2.02m and 124kg lock, who has made 21 appearances for Japan, adds height and strength to the Hurricanes forward pack.

“It’s really exciting news for the club to sign an international lock in Warner,” Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw said.

“He’s a young Kiwi guy who’s plying his trade in Japan. His family moved up there, he’s qualified for Japan, and he’s taking a sabbatical from Toshiba. He had a lot of interest, not just in New Zealand, but around the world, so for him to choose to join the Hurricanes is really exciting.

+++++

Should the McBain Shield have a trophy for player of the match? If it did, it would be hard to go past evergreen lock Teofilo Paulo.

++++++

Kemara Hauiti-Parapara came off the bench for the New Zealand Māori side in their runaway win over the Japan XV on Saturday night and scored a try. A contracted Auckland player, it has been a bit of a mystery where he has been playing. Some say in the Shute Shield this season, others say Auckland club rugby. But because the latter gets zero coverage you wouldn’t know.

His former Tawa teammate and another former Wellington College player, Pepesana Patafilo is headed to Japan – so the Lions might be looking an extra player to fill that gap when their squad is announced in the next couple of weeks.

+++++

What about the recent trend of the Super Rugby franchises signing players so early in their off-season and throughout the National Provincial Championship?

This was a trend of many last year, announcing signings for the following year’s Super Rugby season before and during the NPC. We see this as a problem from a supporters, fans and marketing perspective – by doing this they are basically telling everyone that the NPC is irrelevant, and they are not rewarding strong or compelling from the NPC, which is what fans of that competition talk about around the water cooler. Sure, sign these guys behind closed doors, but some of the timings of their releases are tone deaf to the rugby fan who also supports the NPC as well as Super Rugby. We understand the days of all the franchises naming their squads together in one day are gone, but our thoughts here are around how and when they announce their new players.

+++++

Reports surfaced late last week that some $8,000,000 of public money had been given to Moana Pasifika. From a purely rugby perspective, could that public money have been better spent? If it was sent evenly to every NPC union in the country that is $571,000 per union. In turn it could have been spent on things like internal tours and travel and sevens tournaments. Super Rugby is the elite level and should be able to pay its own way.

+++++

Including a handful of ‘penalty tries’ there were 301 different try scorers in the 91 matches of the Swindale Shield this season.

+++++

The All Blacks play France B this coming Saturday in Dunedin.

++++++

Half of the 30 matches in the First XV Premiership have been decided by 20 points or more.

Last Wednesday, unblemished leaders St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, crushed Hutt International Boys’ School 78-12. Is second-placed St Patrick’s College, Wellington, a contender? On Saturday, Town overpowered St Bernard’s College 43-15 on a muddy pitch. First-five Gia Johnston continued his impressive form. Captain and openside Ethan Lepou was influential, as were front-rowers Anesi Taliau and Herman Tuia-Va’aua, who repeatedly made powerful runs. Speedsters Zack Kimmins and Ashton Hamer were active and each scored tries.

Rathkeale College defeated Tawa College 75-12 after leading 46-0 at halftime. In their first Wellington season, Rathkeale have won four of six matches and, with fixtures against lower-ranked Scots College and St Bernard’s College, they have a strong chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Hutt Valley High School celebrated an Old Timers’ Day gathering on Saturday with a resounding 41-7 victory over Porirua College. HVHS are unbeaten in the Premier 2 Murray Jensen Cup and players making a growing impression are prop Keelan Amopiu, winger Gus Neilson and loose forwards Ropeti Ogotia-Fa’atagi, Leo van Krimpen.

+++++

One thing we saw being talked about this weekend was the Springboks through their coach Rassie Erasmus introduce the hybrid player to international rugby. They had a back play loose forward and it appears this player is interchangeable between the two. So that could open the way for an 8/0 bomb squad off the bench and a starting flanker or two (who is a back) can drop back to the backs later on as replacements.

This is something we have previously thought that a few club rugby teams could do as well.

+++++

This column on a Monday is a collaborative one, so if you have news or information or any insight please send through. editor@clubrugby.co.nz