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The Wellington Lions gather in one of their last huddles of the year on Saturday at Porirua Park. Photo: @Braydzmedia_
That is the end of the 15s season for 2025 for rugby in Wellington and most players. The exception being those who are still involved in the Heartland Championship.
The Wellington Lions lost seven out of ten games in the NPC which is their second worst performance ever. Only the 2014 team that lost nine out of ten games was worse.
Questions will have to be asked as to what went wrong and why.
The nature of Wellington’s 26-33 loss to Bay of Plenty on Saturday perhaps perfectly encapsulated their season. They played well early and flew to a 21-0 lead after about 25 minutes. Then were run down on the back of errors and ill-discipline, and it was perhaps ironic that former Rongotai College and Northern United midfielder Reon Paul scored the winning try for the Steamers with several minutes to play.
For the visitors, whatever coach Richard Watt said in the changing room at halftime worked. Many readers of this could guess much of it!
How many players have played their last games for the Lions? Will Brad Shields and Matt Proctor (both injured) be back in the future? Julian Savea? What about Jackson Garden-Bachop – he is only some 20 points off breaking Wellington’s all-time points scoring record, will that be a carrot for him to return? If so does Callum Harkin look to play elsewhere as in our opinion he is a first-five at club and NPC level, not a second-five, wing or even fullback.
How much of a difference did losing a couple of key players for the season make? Perhaps the biggest two losses were midfielder Riley Higgins (season injury) and Du Plessis Kirifi (All Blacks). Obviously, others too like Billy Proctor, Peter Lakai and Ruben Love (All Blacks) and others like Kyle Preston and Asafo Aumua for much of the campaign was the single biggest reason why they went from champions to 10th.
Positives were that some new players were brought in and made their NPC debuts, all of whom will be better for it. The latest of these was David Leota-Johnson who made a second half cameo off the bench in the second half on Saturday and he picked up from where he left off in recent Centurions games with a tigerish performance.
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Counties-Manukau secured the eighth and last quarter final place in the NPC with their i 49-41 win over Tasman on Sunday. The Steelers won five games in a row for the first time since they were in Division II in 1993. Counties won the NPC in 1979 with nine successive victories and a 14-2 record for the season.
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The WRFU awards are coming up (details to be confirmed). Who would be your Wellington Lions Player of the Year?
Also, some interesting nominees in at least a couple of other awards categories. We await the celebration of the winners.
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The annual Manawatu Pacific 10s tournament is being played at Bill Brown Park this coming Saturday.
Two pools of four teams and played on two fields. Plus a scheduled four-team women’s section between the Fullsend Wanganui team, the Wellington Shewolves, the Manawatu Pacific Wahine and one more side.
For more information follow the tournament’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569771234117
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The All Blacks finished their TRC year with a win.
James Slipper played 35 of his 151 Tests for Australia against New Zealand. He only won four times with two draws.
Avalon’s George Bower took 24 Tests to score his first try. Bower has played 89 games for the Crusaders, 31 for Otago, 2 for the All Blacks XV and one for the South Island without scoring a try. Who in Wellington club rugby has played many matches without scoring a try?
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SOCKtober 2025
It’s a special time of year for the Ahuru Mowai Trust with their annual sock fundraiser SOCKtober.All funds raised go to support the creation of safe spaces and places for families raising children with extra and special needs. “You might not be able to walk a mile in their shoes, but you can wear some socks to show your support” To check out the range, visit:
https://dynastyteamstore.co.nz/collections/ahuru-mowai-trust
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A good weekend on and off the field for former St Pat’s Silverstream No. 8s.
Peter Lakai started at No. 8 for the All Blacks and celebrated with a win.
Former student and First XV No. 8 Toby Crosby has signed with the Penrith Panthers for 2026. This was news a month ago, but it is understood it is now official.
Taking into account their two current rugby league players, Crosby and Warriors centre Rocco Berry, what would a former St Pat’s Silverstream First XV team of players who are still playing look like? This could be a formidable side if you were to select a paper starting XV of old boys currently still playing.
How would that stack up against similar sides from Wellington College and St Pat’s Town, for example?
These would go well on social media.
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Thomas Umaga-Jensen has played 16 games over the last two years for Otago, more than he had in the previous three combined. The former Scots College prodigy finally appears to be free of the injuries that have hindered his promising career.
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Xavier Numia finishes the year having played 81 matches for the Wellington Lions. How does that stack up amongst the props in the all-time Wellington appearances list?
Most capped Wellington props:
- Al Keown 149
- Ken Gray 125
- Kevin Phelan 111
- Scott Crichton 106
- Brian McGratten 103
- Ivan Vodanovich 99
- Gareth Head 96
- Mike Edwards 88
- John Schwalger 84
- Lawrence Hullena 81
- Xavier Numia 81
- Neemia Tialata 73
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Ben Hunt after 355 Premiership games at last won an NRL Premiership on Sunday night with the Brisbane Broncos. What’s the longest Jubilee Cup wait you’ve come across? Which players have played 150+ Premier club rugby matches before lifting the Jubilee Cup for the first time?
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The 7s season is not far away.
We await details of all these tournaments, but the tournaments and dates we have are:
- Monday 25 October: Wellington schools Condor 7s
- Saturday 15 November: Feilding Yellows tournament
- Saturday 22 November: WRFU tournament leg one
- Saturday 29 November: WRFU tournament leg two
It is understood that the Condor 7s will still go ahead at Naenae College this year, despite the tournament HQ building being demolished.
Details of the Feilding 7s tournament are being released this week.
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The All Blacks won a record 11th Test in a row against Australia in Perth on Saturday. England have won all 32 Tests against Italy.
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Another heavy defeat for the NZ Schools this past weekend, going down 55-33 to Australia Under-18 after trailing 36-0 after 29 minutes.
There were 10 players from 1A Auckland Schools in the first test (the one they conceded 80 points in), seven in the next. An Auckland school has not won the National Top Four since 2018. In fact, an Auckland school has only appeared in the Top 4 once in the past three years, with North Harbour’s Westlake Boys’ High School having been there twice in a row. There were no Westlake BHS plyers in the team. Similarly, there were only a couple of Rotorua BHS players in this side, the form team of the competition. Is this NZ Schools side actually the best they could have picked?
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The Hurricanes U18s beat the Crusaders U18s 47-12 in their one-off fixture in wet conditions in Christchurch last week.
No other details available from this match to report.
Palmerston North BHS No. 8 Alex Palazzo was named Player of the Hurricanes U18s Camp and Captain for the Crusaders game.
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This column is a collaborative effort. It is almost over for this year, but will return weekly on Mondays from early 2026. To contribute or if you have news and information to share please get in touch.
This month’s Rugby News is out now, see Ardie Savea on the cover:
