Sideline Conversions 28 July (some rugby news and information to start the new week)

Monday morning post – updates likely to come throughout the day: That’s not quite a wrap for Wellington club rugby for this year.

There is still the remainder of the Reserve Grade competition to play out and some National Knockout U85kg matches, involving five Wellington clubs. Games at a glance this weekend are: Wellington Axemen v OBU Scallywags, Hataitai Park 1.00pm; Avalon v Hutt Old Boys Marist, Fraser Park 1.00pm; Hastings Rugby & Sports v Pōneke, Hastings 1.00pm.

In Reserve Grade, there are two full rounds to play before the semi-finals in the Mike Copeland Cup Division 1 grade and one in the Alan Seerup Cup Division 2 grade.

This coming weekend is also the Premiership college semi-finals, with St Pat’s Silverstream (1) hosting Rathkeale College (4) and Wellington College (2) hosting St Pat’s Town (3).

In representative rugby, the Wellington U19s step out for the first time in 2025, playing Waikato U19s in New Plymouth at 1.00pm. The Wellington Māori Men’s side plays the Wairarapa-Bush Heartland squad in Masterton at 1.0opm.

The Wellington Lions host the Canterbury Lambs in the opening round of the Men’s NPC competition at Jerry Collins Stadium on Saturday at 2.05pm.

This website continues on for the next two months or more, so look out for more details of all of the above in our preview this coming Friday.

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In midweek First XV rugby, the Beard Trophy returns this coming Wednesday at Lyndhurst Park at 4.30pm for Tawa College’s final defence against Mana College.

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Kudos to the WRFU, and particularly the Community Rugby team under Emma Paisley, for pulling off a successful Finals Day and where to our observations things went off without a hitch.

There were plenty of knockers against using Kilbirnie and Evans Bay as the venue, but seemingly mattered little to the hundreds that filled the place.

Of course the weather played it’s part. But it’s worth noting that the of the only other rugby venues in the region with four fields Ngati Toa doesn’t have a stand either and while the Petone Rec does it’s currently out of commission.

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The inaugural Club Rugby Tipping Competition went down to the wire. Thanks to all those who participated, hopefully we can bring it back and build on it next year.

The top 10 finishers are below, and how appropriate perhaps the name of the winner!

Can the winner Stats2025 and second place TheHammer please get in touch with us to reveal their real life identity as there are prizes on offer if you wish to claim them! If not, you have the glory to bask in. 

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Tawa had the biggest presence in Finals Day on Saturday with four teams competing in eight of the finals. But they only achieved a one out of four success rate with their powerhouse Tawa Ducks side beating the Johnsonville Terrahawks to win the U85kg Division 1 Paul Potiki Shield. Paremata-Plimmerton had three sides and all three won their finals, Poneke two and both won theirs.

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A shout out to all those retiring players in Wellington club rugby who have played their last games. Some might not even know it yet! Others will have announced that they are hanging up their boots for the last time.

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Fulltime in the 2025 Jubilee Cup Final.

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Otto Rasch joined the esteemed list of people to have won Jubilee Cups as a player and a coach. Rasch played in HOBM’s front row in both their 2007 and 2014 wins and on Saturday was head coach for the 2025 win.

As well as Rasch, Lise Soloa played in the 2014 final. He left the field injured early in Saturday’s match on Saturday but was still able to savour Jubilee Cup success on fulltime.

The word is they are still partying at the Hutt Rec.

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Ponsonby defeated Marist 27-21 at Eden Park on Saturday, successfully defending the Gallaher Shield and completing an unbeaten season for the second consecutive year, totalling 26 games without a loss.

This marks the first time Ponsonby have achieved back-to-back unbeaten seasons since 1925-26. Prop Joe Royal won his eighth Gallaher Shield in his 150th game, while Brett Williams has an even better record, having won ten Gallaher Shields, eight Alan McEvoy Trophies, and seven doubles. The next best from his era has won seven. Mac Herewini from Otahuhu won seven Gallaher Shields, and Waka Nathan secured six. Bubs Tyler, representing City, claimed seven Shields between 1900 and 1911. Considering coaching accomplishments, George Nick is close to achieving 20 titles. He won eight as a player and effectively acted as a coach, although he was not formally appointed throughout most of World War II. During that time, Ponsonby added another 11 Gallaher Shields.

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If the Jubilee Cup had run another five or 10 minutes, would Tawa have won? And what if that conversion that hit the posts after the intercept try had gone over? Tawa still needed to score twice, but after So’oialo’s dropped kick they would have required just an unconverted try by any means to get the win without extra time. They will be talking about it for years in Tawa.

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Similarly, if Tawa had won, who would have got the Player of the Final from their side?

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Wellington Premier club rugby 2025 – End of season top try scorers:

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A heavy loss for a Wellington XV against Taranaki on Friday, going down 28-68 after trailing 14-35 at halftime.

Hard to read anything into this, but a 40-point loss for the defending NPC champions is still eye-catching for the wrong reasons. Taranaki had already played two full Ranfurly Shield defences recently and any game they play against the ‘bigger’ unions is like a World Cup final to them, whilst this was Wellington’s first match.

Wellington opens the NPC this coming Saturday afternoon against Canterbury at Porirua Park for the Harry Saundercock Memorial Trophy.

Canterbury beat Manawatu 43-17 after leading 17-12 in their pre-season fixture in Feilding on Friday.

Sideline Conversions understands some All Blacks will be ‘released’ to play in the opening round of the competition, which for Wellington could mean the likes of Peter Lakai and Asafo Aumua (if fit again) playing. Ruben Love was at club Finals Day on Saturday but it would be a welcome surprise if the likes of him, Billy Proctor and Du Plessis Kirifi were playing this coming Saturday. UPDATE: Ruben Love has been released to play for the Wellington Lions this Saturday, whilst Brodie McAlister has been for Canterbury.

We will reserve commentary on the Lions team until we see the first team line-up.

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Rugby at the top ends might be increasingly younger man’s game these days, but four grizzled 40-somethings took the field the HD Morgan final; Pare-Plim prop Danny Herewini and Tawa trio Jon Masaga, Jeff Makapelu, and Peni Tokakece, the latter of who might have started playing in the 19th century and had his ever trusty vape keeping company. And what odds all four will be back out there next season?

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Jeremiah Avei-Collins lined up in midfield for the Norths Colts in their late loss to Pare-Plim. A wildcard option for the NPC perhaps?

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Two players in losing teams scored two tries on Saturday – and they were both their team’s captains and both midfielders! Petone Premier 2 centre Josh Styche scored a double in vain in his side’s Ed Chaney Cup loss to Pōneke, whole Upper Hutt Rams second-five Emmanuel Solomona scored a brace in his side’s Hardham Cup defeat to Pōneke’s top team.

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Wellington Premier club rugby end of competition 2025 top points scorers:

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College chat

The First XV Premiership concluded with a heavily lopsided round-robin, where 25 out of 44 games were decided by a margin of 20 points or more. The season ended with the largest defeat recorded and a predictable lineup for the semifinals.

League leaders St. Patrick’s College Silverstream obliterated last-placed Tawa College 113-0 – a record victory for the Upper Hutt Catholic school founded in 1931.

Silverstream will host fourth-placed Rathkeale College, which suffered an even more disturbing 71-12 hiding at the hands of second-placed Wellington College.

Third-placed St. Pat’s Town steamrolled Hutt International Boys’ School 58-0. Town has the size and capability to challenge Wellington, although they will need to improve from their lacklustre performance against Silverstream on July 16.

The only discussion points from Silverstream’s landslide were the absence of serious injuries and the historically large stat line.  Silverstream scored 17 tries and successfully converted 14 kicks while leading 45-0 at halftime. Remarkably, there were 11 different individual scorers, with prolific Year 11 first five-eighths Fletcher Cooper contributing 38 points.

Previously, Silverstream’s largest win occurred during the era of four-point tries, when they destroyed a Pōneke Under-19s team 108-14 in 1982. In that match, despite conceding three pushover tries from scrums, Jeff Karam, related to All Black Joe Karam, scored ten tries, while Dennis Tocker, Silverstream’s first New Zealand Secondary Schools representative, accumulated 36 points.

In 10 round robin matches, Silverstream scored 601 points, while Wellington College and Town each scored 399, although Wellington played one less match due to Scots’ shocking second-round default.

In college rugby elsewhere this coming Saturday, Palmerston North Boys’ High School host Rotorua Boys’ High School this coming Saturday in the final of the Super 8 competition. PNBHS comfortably beat Napier Boys’ High School at home last week in their annual Polson Banner match.

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There was a strong Old Boys University connection in Marist Albion’s breathtaking 27-25 victory over defending champions Linwood in the Canterbury Metro final on Sunday with two former Premier players on the Marist coaching staff. Head coach Ross Kennedy was partnered by Sam Chamberlain, who also co-coaches Christ’s College First XV, which upset St Thomas of Canterbury College 46-24 on Saturday to reach the Crusaders region Premiership First XV semi-final.

The winning try in the Metro final was scored after the siren following 30 gut-busting phases by Shun Miyake, who has played in the NPC for both Tasman and Canterbury. Kennedy’s father Adrian was part of the 1985 Marist winning team captained by future All Blacks Rugby World Cup winning coach Sir Steve Hansen (93 wins 107 Tests). Marist also won championships in 2023, 2021. In the late 1910s and early 1920s they won five titles in a row. In the early 50s they won three championships and then again in 85, ‘88, ‘89, ‘91 and 94. Marist’s record in 2025 was 13-1.

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With the start of the upcoming NPC, how viable financially is the competition?

An article here (not pay-walled) looking at the Premiership in the UK. Wales is also making significant cut-backs.

All Gallagher Premiership rugby clubs, including Bristol Bears, are operating at a loss, with financial experts warning that the sport is reaching a “crisis” point.

The collapse of Worcester Warriors, Wasps, and London Irish highlights the instability, and more clubs could face closure unless the financial model changes.

Read more in the link below:

“Crisis” – Two more Prem Rugby teams are in deep in financial trouble

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Check out Club Rugby’s photos website – loads of galleries from the season to review. More galleries being loaded all the time. Not all galleries go on Facebook.

Link here: https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2025

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HOBM hooker Harry Press became the first hooker to win the Jubilee Cup Player of the Final Jim Brown Plate. But the fourth forward in the past six years to win it.

These players have been (in reverse order):

• 2025: Harry Press (hooker, Hutt Old Boys Marist)
• 2004: Callum Harkin (First-five, Old Boys University)
• 2023: Dom Ropeti (loose forward, Oriental-Rongotai)
• 2022: Boston Hunt (lock, Northern United)
• 2021: Hemi Fermanis (lock, Tawa)
• 2020: Dale Sabbagh (first-five, Old Boys University)

Jim Brown was a Wellington and Petone second-five who tragically broke his leg after being picked for the 1972 All Blacks tour of the UK and France. He was fitted in a team suit and photographed as an All Black before the injury. He died in 2004. His son Mark Brown was a professional golfer. Brown’s teammate and friend Andy Leslie presented Press with the award after Saturday’s final.