Sideline Conversions 27 April (some rugby news and information to start the week)

Scene at Kilbirnie Park on Saturday in a high scoring match between Tawa and Poneke. Photo: Kinetic Images.

We are into the fifth week of the club rugby season and the Swindale Shield and other competitions are just starting to heat up.

A look at Premier Swindale Shield fixtures this coming Saturday in Wellington (Premier 2 games the same draw, look out for our full preview on Friday):

• Tawa v Old Boys University, Lyndhurst Park
• Johnsonville v Oriental-Rongotai (Ash Pointon Cup), Helston Park
• Wainuiomata v Petone (Darren Larsen Cup), William Jones Park
• Avalon Wolves v Poneke, Fraser Park
• Paremata-Plimmerton v Northern United (Ivan Hardgrave Trophy), Ngati Toa Domain
• Hutt Old Boys Marist v Marist (Father Cleary Shield), Hutt Rec 1
• Wellington v Upper Hutt Rams (Hineki-Mei Axe), Hataitai Park

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An announcement on the details of the rescheduled third round Swindale Shield match between Paremata-Plimmerton and the Avalon Wolves is due any day now.

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A bit of a pinch for Swindale Shield competition leaders Old Boys-University with it confirmed that both of their starting props on Saturday – Gareth Ward-Allen and Laurence Jarel-Lim – suffered Achilles ruptures within minutes of each other. While their Premier 2s suffered a hefty defeat, their scrum was one of the bright spots which suggests there’s some depth available to them. But has the signal already gone out to club legend Jonathan Fuimaono to step into the breach?

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Has Wainuiomata ever beaten MSP by more that 34-17 (margin of victory 17 points)? It was 26-13 in their win over them in the 2014 semi-final.

It’s Wainuiomata’s Old Timers’ Day this Saturday, so a big day at William Jones Park hosting Petone teams.

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A couple of notable exceptions aside, goal-kickers collectively left a lot of points out there on Saturday. It was fine and sunny, but was the breeze that deceptive, or were most of the tries being scored out wide?

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In the modern era, does the traditional media give far too much weight to covering professional sport?

What if they changed their thinking to saying pro sports teams and competitions you can go and generate your own content and publicity and we will go and cover community sport? Particularly publicly funded sports media.

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Opening weekend for the new Christchurch Stadium. Looks impressive (presuming there will be temporary seating for an extra several thousand for big games and All Blacks tests etc).

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A notable default in Horowhenua-Kapiti club rugby on Saturday, with the Rahui Premiers pulling out of their match Foxton, allowing the leaders to extend their lead at the top of the standings without leaving their clubroooms.

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Hutt Old Boys Marist, Marist St Pat’s and Petone are the three unbeaten teams in the Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield competition. HOBM and Petone have four bonus point wins, MSP is a point back on 19. HOBM v MSP this coming weekend.

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Some alarming results continue in some Premier club competitions, with 100-point scorelines being posted in both Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay club rugby on Saturday. If you scratch the surface below Premier level in Wellington it could happen there too one of these seasons soon, once some of the many veterans playing in the Harper Lock Shield retire and there are fewer players sticking around and fewer coming through to replace them. That’s when the tide goes out on a 14-team Swindale Shield.

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What’s going on at Petone? The ground, not the club. A month into the new season and no home ground, to go with their stand being out of action.

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A shoutout to Alex Fidow. Former schoolboy star and professional tighthead prop has transformed himself into a hard-working loose forward. He is not flashy and doesn’t run with the ball like he once did, but he’s a hugely valuable member of the Paremata-Plimmerton forward pack and if they go far this year he will be a key reason why.

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On the subject of Petone, is their match in a fortnight against Northern United going to be disrupted? The Phoenix Women have a home semi-final on Porirua Park Number One at Porirua Park Stadium on Sunday 10 May. Norths are hosting Petone in Round Six of the Swindale Shield for the Henderson Shield the previous day. Will this be bumped?

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A popular try for the Upper Hutt Rams Premier 2 No. 8 Peni Taupau running on to the inside pass by Koli Feaunati against his former Paremata-Plimmerton teammates on Saturday. The Rams pulled away late to win 38-21.

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Swindale Shield Top Try Scorers after four rounds (Paremata-Plimmerton v Avalon Round 3 match still to be played):

• 5 Tries: Mika Alaifatu (HOBM), Calum Koebergh (OBU), Jacob Kennedy (Johnsonville), Campbell Cowie (Wainuiomata).
• 4 Tries: Twelve players with four tries
• 3 Tries: Eleven players with three tries

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Swindale Shield Top Points Scorers after four rounds (Paremata-Plimmerton v Avalon Round 3 match still to be played):

• 62 Points: Tomasi Connor (MSP)
• 54 Points: Jordan Soli (Ories)
• 35 Points: Dawson Smith (Upper Hutt Rams)
• 29 Points: Malo Tevita Manuao (OBU)
• 28 Points: Malin Mosedale (Wellington)

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Commentary gold on the Ories livestream on Saturday:

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A study in contrast. A good friend of the column found himself amongst the Hurricanes players in Christchurch on Sunday morning and got chatting to a few of them. One Wellington-contracted player was all over the goings-on of the Swindale Shield, both his club and others. Another player had no idea his club lost on Saturday.

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Several more players spotted not wearing mouthguards in Premier games again on Saturday. We don’t mind, but good luck with ACC claims, dentist bills and time off should your chompers go chip or crack and its preventable to some degree.

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Ories wing Ayesha Leti-I’iga had a blinder for the Black Ferns in their 40-5 win over Australia that wrapped up the successful defence of the Pacific Four championship. She charged for more metres (110) than any other player and scored two tries. Seven of her 21 Test tries have been scored against Australia. She is sitting on 198 club rugby tries for Ories, should she get to play a club rugby game this year. Justine McGregor also got on the scoresheet in her starting debut.

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The Wellington College First XV couldn’t back up its big win last week over Nelson College with an away victory over Napier Boys’ High School on Saturday, missing out 12-31. Meanwhile, St Pat’s Silverstream beat Hastings Boys’ High School 50-12.

A full opening round of college grading matches this coming Saturday, as the school season gets underway in full swing.

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Depleted by forward injuries, the Crusaders’ Leicester Fainga’anuku switched from wing to openside flanker. In the 49th minute, he scored a try and they went on to win. Swapping a winger to flanker isn’t without precedent in New Zealand. On June 9, 1956, crafty coach Dick Everst deliberately selected flanker Rex Pickering on the wing for Waikato’s match against the formidable 1956 Springboks. Expecting a physical onslaught, the experiment worked. Pickering, educated at Nelson College six decades before Fainga’anuku, scored a vital try in a 14-10 Mooloo win. Pickering later became an All Black.

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With at least 14 local vendors, there was an abundance of food at the new Christchurch stadium opening this weekend, and its quality represented a significant step up from other stadiums in New Zealand. Wellington has long been significantly underwhelming with soggy chips, lukewarm, mid-strength beer and a lack of variety. Korea House Chicken and Bacon Bros Burgers were a smash. A cousin of Ruben Love, who worked for Little Fish Co, was a delightful chap. The Fish n’ Chips were tasty and plentiful, and the lad even timed his break to catch the All Black set up a try. Other highlights were hot cinnamon doughnuts drizzled in chocolate sauce and audaciously spicy jalapeno poppers. As per, in New Zealand, it was very expensive – $17 for a pie in a sandwich is steep.

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After just six appearances in three years for the Hurricanes, Daniel Sinkinson has found his feet at the Chiefs. The Waikato winge who’s scored 19 tries in 32 games for the Mooolo has been elevated from the wider training group and thrived scoring tries in consecutive matches.

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We had some correspondence as to who was the first try-scorer when the Wellington Stadium was opened in early 2000. Not counting the sevens tournament that opened the stadium, we think the first 15s try-scorer was none other than Jonah Lomu.

The report in the front page of the Dominion newspaper on the front page the morning after opening night on 26 February 2000 (credit Jim Kayes):

A DOUBLE ACT by All Blacks Jonah Lomu and Christian Cullen helped the Hurricanes christen their new home in style last night when they- beat the Sharks 40-23 in Super 12 action in Wellington.

The win came on the back of a sellout crowd of 34,500. who jumped and screamed so much in the second half that the WestpacTrust Stadium shook. They adopted Lomu as their new favourite wing, with a sign near the players entrance proclaiming “Jonah’s Corner”.

The spectators flowed into the stadium early and despite traffic jams most were seated before the start of the match. Guards confiscated a lot alcohol but few people took their own ‘food’ and drinks compared with previous events.

The much-maligned stadium catering finally performed, with waiting times for service before the kick-off and at halftime less than the 15-minute target time, due to more outlets being open.

Musician Dave Dobbyn provided pregame entertainment but he was hard to hear over the expectant chatter.

The crowd erupted when the Hurricanes ran on to the field and then spent the game playing with beach balls and unleashing Mexican waves. In the second half, hardly anyone sat and the noise was deafening eat time the Hurricanes scored.

Fans described the night as fantastic and most could not wait till the ne match. Police spokesman Inspector Errol Brown said the crowd was very well behaved and no one was arrested though two people were asked to leave.

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Congratulations to Jerome Va’ai for playing his 150th game on Saturday for the Northern United Premiers.

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PHOTOS 2026: As well as social media all our photo galleries are put online here: https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2026  Not all photo galleries are posted to our social media

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This column is a collaborative effort, to share news and information and help to keep people informed in one place please contribute by emailing editor@clubrugby.co.nz or contacting us via social media.