Sideline Conversions 7 July (some rugby news and information to start the week)

Held up. Some tense moments at Maidstone Park on Saturday with a healthy crowd in the stand. Photo: Peter McDonald.

UPDATE: Welcome sunshine on Sunday and Monday is drying out the grounds ahead of this weekend, but will the weather be stable on Saturday for another crucial set of club matches?

Premier games at a glance this coming weekend are:

• Jubilee Cup: Tawa and HOBM byes. Paremata-Plimmerton v Petone and Ories v Johnsonville
• Hardham Cup: Upper Hutt Rams v Avalon, Pōneke v Axemen, Old Boys Unviersity v Wainuiomata, Marist St Pat’s v Norths.

Full preview here at the end of this week, but some notes on the state of play in the lower grades is in the content below.

The First XV Premiership and Premier 2 resumes this coming Saturday. All other grades are back the following week. CSW have scheduled all games early this week owing to the internationals in town, so any game scheduled for 2.30pm is now 1.00pm or earlier.

Update: In a ‘thank you to photographers round’, the club rugby men’s games are also an hour earlier this week when the light is better. Hardham Cup and Jubilee Cup matches all kick off at 1.45pm, while earlier games are from 11.30am and 12.00pm.

A number of college rugby camps and a couple of games related to these being played at Ngati Toa Domain on Tuesday, but other than that midweek rugby falls silent again this week – back into it next week.

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Only four Swindale Shield winners have gone on to win the Jubilee Cup since 2010.

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With nine wins in the Swindale Shield compared to four last year, are the Hardham Cup-bound Pōneke Street Kids still the biggest improvers in the Premier ranks in 2025?

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Marcus Roil from Petone switched from tighthead prop to loosehead prop seamlessly over the last fortnight. Who are the other leading “both sides” exponents in Wellington Club Rugby?

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Some notable spectators at William Jones Park on Saturday. Chase Tiatia was in the crowd having recently come back from his first campaign in Japan, as were the two Umaga-Jensen twins. Peter has already signed to play in the Land of the Rising Sun next season, with Thomas giving indications he might be headed that way as well.

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And speaking of Japan, word around the traps is that is where Tjay Clarke was this weekend and not playing for Petone – signing a deal – rumours say with Toshiba – to take his immediate playing future offshore. If true, Wellington Lions fans might be interested in this, and questions could be raised as to how a current Hurricane whose stocks are on the rise can be let go so easily.

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With several backline players from last year not returning to the Wellington Lions this year for various reasons, i.e. Peter Umaga Jensen, Pepesana Patafilo (Japan, confirmed), TJ Clarke (Japan, unconfirmed), Riley Higgins (injured), Billy Proctor (All Blacks), the Lions could be looking at some midfield backs about now. We looked up Ma’a Nonu, but it appears he has just signed a contract extension with his current French club Toulon.

An announcement on the Lions squad will also be imminent, perhaps they are importing several players. For example, last year they had two Japanese props, this year the Manawatu Turbos have two Japanese wingers flying in and a couple more from other countries (not including their own local players coming in from overseas) It all defeats the purpose of what the NPC is about a bit though.

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Their numbers might have dwindled somewhat from the days when they presented a blue wall at the north end of Porirua Park, but good to see the Norths 100 Club in fine form on Saturday. And credit to whoever it was who reminded referee James Taylor that “there’s two teams on the field” after Norths conceded a penalty a whole three minutes in!

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Also amongst the Norths supporters was 200-game Women’s stalwart Patsy Schwalger, currently on crutches and with her left leg in plaster after surgery to repair the Achilles tendon she ruptured in the team warmup before the Tia Paasi Memorial final. And in true Patsy fashion, she wasn’t giving anything away about retiring just yet.

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Same goes for Petone’s supporters, who are cruelly shut out of their own stand, and a group of whom were sitting at the southern end somewhat sheltered from the biting southerly.

Will the Hutt City Council end up spending more money trying to keep people out of the Petone Rec Grandstand before they replace it?

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14 tries for OBU in their romp over Avalon on Saturday. Four of those were scored by Reece Plumtree who had a vastly better day than his younger brother Taine did watching from the stands as Wales lost yet again, this time to Japan. Mitch McLeod scored a hattrick, as did last year’s NZ Schools lock Johnny Falloon who scored the final three tries and also kicked a conversion for good measure.

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New Plymouth will be bracing for a cow-cockie invasion this weekend as the country comes to town for their Premier final, the feature game of seven deciders being played at Stadium Taranaki. Defending champions Stratford-Eltham will look to retain their crown in the face of challengers Coastal after both beat city sides on Saturday. Stratford-Eltham overcame Tukapa at home, while Coastal ventured to Vogeltown Park and beat New Plymouth Old Boys.

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A bit of a public service announcement about the finish to the season for the lower club grades.

With only 10 teams finishing the Colts season, the format has been tweaked. The top six proceed to the championship John E Kelly Cup with the top two – Paris Memorial winners Upper Hutt and runners-up HOBM – getting byes to next week’s semi-finals. Tawa face Poneke and Ories take on Petone to determine who advances. The remaining four sides; MSP, OBU, Pare-Plim, and Norths, all have the week off and play semifinals in the Vic Calcinai Cup next week.

In the Under 85s, the Division 1 Paul Potiki Memorial Shield concludes their round-robin this coming weekend ahead of semifinals, while the four Division 2 Tony O’Brien Shield sides have two rounds left in their double round-robin with the top two after Saturday week heading for the final.

The Reserve Grade conclusion is out for consultation having lost two rounds to the weather in recent weeks.

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A successful weekend for the Rayasi family. Fritz Rayasi scored two tries for HOBM in their win over first round winners Ories on Saturday.

A fine Test debut on Sunday for former Hutt Old Boys Marist and Upper Hutt Rams outside back Salesi Rayasi for Fiji against Australia. Playing fullback, he scored a try and looked assured in a narrow 21-18 defeat, departing before Wallabies captain Harry Wilson scored the winning try. Raysai played for the All Blacks Sevens and for Samoa at Under 20 level.

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If it rains again this week, will the Reserve Grade be cancelled again? What are the ramifications of these grades being cancelled so often in an already shrinking grade that is a shell of what it used to be? Further dwindling player numbers perhaps?

Here is a thought for city competitions such as Wellington’s. Why can’t the club season for non-representative aligned grades keep going into August and September and even October? If these players can’t get on the field in June and July because of constant ground closures, then what about a springtime competition in Wellington?

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Wellington club rugby top try scorers after 14 weeks:

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Just throwing this one out there. Should public money be used for professional sports sponsorship?

If a publicly funded organisation can afford to drop hundreds of thousands of dollars and sometimes more on sponsoring professional sports teams, then are they receiving too much in the first place?

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Hawke’s Bay Maddison Trophy Finals Day this coming Saturday.

Taradale will play Napier Pirate in the final. On Saturday top qualifier Taradale beat Napier Old Boys Marist 41-35 and Pirate beat Hastings 27-15.

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Despite the absence of British and Irish Lions, Finn Russell, Pierre Schoeman, Blair Kinghorn, Ben White, and Duhan van der Merwe, along with seasoned internationals Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge, Darcy Graham, and Tom Jordan, Scotland upset the Māori All Blacks 29-26 at Toll Stadium in Whangarei. It was a heck of a win for Scotland, who were forced to make 69 more tackles and defend until the 86th minute with 14 players. What’s going on with the Māori? A disappointing defeat to an understrength Scotland side follows a shocking loss to the Japan XV in 2024. The performances are a long way from the halcyon days of the early to mid-2000s.

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The All Blacks 31-27 win over France on Saturday was their 500th in a Test. At the end of all internationals on the weekend the top ten winners in rugby were.

Most Test Wins

• New Zealand – 500/652
• France – 460/829
• England – 450/807
• Wales – 406/803
• Ireland – 366/863
• South Africa – 354/556
• Australia – 348/698
• Scotland – 336/760
• Romania – 278/495
• Argentina – 252/504

Note: It’s understood Argentina counts their recent 28-24 win over the British & Irish Lions as a Test, whereas the Lions don’t (of course it was).

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Wellington club rugby top points scorers after 14 weeks

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Palmerston North Boys’ High School first-five Jamie Viljoen has been signed by Taranaki and the Chiefs. He didn’t play against Wellington College last week because he was either at or was saving himself for a Chiefs U18 camp. Another one gets away. Plus Hamilton Boys’ High School is literally the Chiefs Academy by another name so what is going on there?

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Pirates Old Boys and Woodlands will meet in Southland’s famous Galbraith Shield final after winning their Southland premier club semifinals on Saturday.

Pirates Old Boys beat Marist 56-26 in their semi-final on Saturday and will be hot favourites to beat Woodlands who defeated The Eastern-Northern Barbarians 15-5 in their semi-final.

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