Sideline Conversions 18 May (some rugby news and information to start the week)

A lineout scene in Saturday’s match between Petone and Ories. Petone won 39-10. Photo: Kinetic Images. Photos from the weekend at https://clubrugby.smugmug.com/2026

The Swindale Shield reached its halfway point on Saturday and the race for the first round title is heating up with several teams in the mix and no conclusive favourite at this point. A similar battle is starting to develop amongst the mid-table contenders. Standings after seven rounds at: https://stats.clubrugby.nz/table/2026-swindale-shield/

Matches at a glance this coming weekend – with four of seven being in town:

• Hutt Old Boys Marist v Wainuiomata, Hutt Rec
• Johnsonville v Upper Hutt Rams (Kerry Williams Cup), Helston Park
• Marist St Pat’s v Paremata-Plimmerton, Evans Bay Park
• Old Boys University v Poneke, Rugby League Park
• Tawa v Avalon, Lyndhurst Park
• Wellington v Petone,  (Bill Francis/Jack Taylor Trophy) Hataitai Park
• Oriental-Rongotai v Northern United (To’omaga Alex Iona Memorial Cup)

A college rugby theme on this website for some of this week. Wellington College host St Pat’s Town this coming Wednesday at WC #1 at 12.40pm. Look out for our coverage of the match later on Wednesday afternoon.

We will also provide a preview of the season for College Sport Wellington, and for our website here we have selected a First XV ‘Team of the Decade 2016-25‘. In fact, there were so many notable players that missed out there are two teams. Plus a recap and a couple of tweaks to past teams of the decades 1996-05 and 2006-15 to go with this one. This will be published on Tuesday.

There is also another midweek catch-up club rugby match at Porirua Park on Wednesday night at 7.30pm. This is the rescheduled Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield fixture between Paremata-Plimmerton and Avalon.

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Since steamrolling Nelson College in their special 150th anniversary match last month, Wellington College are coming off a four-game losing streak. But is must be said that these have been games against some of the best schools in the country. On Saturday they lost to National Top Four and Sanix World Youth Champions Rotorua BHS 20-12.

Town haven’t beaten Wellington College since a 2022 semi-final. After an injury crisis that sidelined at least 10 players and heavy pre-season defeats to Brisbane State High School (56-17) and Hastings BHS (64-29), things looked bleak for Town. But on Thursday at Evans Bay Park, they stunned Super 8 Champions Palmerston North BHS 34-24.

Wednesday’s season opener could be all on and is scheduled to kick-off at 12.30pm, but this could change so get there early.

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Louis Northcott played his 50th game for Paremata-Plimmerton on Saturday. He has scored 46 Premier tries – a decent strike rate.

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OBU’s Patches is a diehard Billygoats supporter,  but he was rocking a Warriors cap and not an OBU won one on Saturday – what’s going on there!

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Te Wehi Wright and Tomasi Palu combining in OBU’s backline like it was 2018. Both had seemingly retired but were back playing together off the bench in the final quarter.

OBU lock Harry Irving got a stirring reception when he was subbed late in the match against Avalon. It is understood this was his last game for the Goats before he heads to Dunedin.

A whale of a game by OBU No. 8 Folau Vea, but he got sin-binned so if we were giving the points he would miss out on best & fairest points, as per the policy back in the day.

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Tawa had the services on the right wing of Isi Saumaki, who played the last of his 21 Premier games for them in 2023. He has been living and playing in the USA.

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Congratulations to Kaide McCashin for playing his 100th match for the Upper Hutt Rams on Saturday. The halfback out of St Pat’s Silverstream is a former Wellington U19s player in 2015, and has come back from a serious injury in recent times.

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Tipping Competition Top 10 leaderboard after seven rounds:

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The Poneke Wanderers appear to be strong contenders in this year’s U85kg competition, and with such players in their line-up as 200-game Premier veteran Ben Huntley, New Zealand U85kg representative Pasia Asiata and recent Premier players Max Rodgers and Jimmy-Lee Hongara they could go places.

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There appeared to be an on again-off again default in the Colts grade on Friday/Saturday, with word received that the Paremara-Plimmerton Colts had defaulted to the HOBM Colts. But the game went ahead so numbers must have picked up on the morning of the match.

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Another massive score in Manawatu Premier/Senior 1 rugby on Saturday, this time with Kia Toa beating College Old Boys 105-0. This was also on COB’s Old Timers’ Day and they had Hurricanes squad member Mosese Bason playing for them too.

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Two out of three Premier games in Horowhenua-Kapiti on Saturday were draws – when was the last time that happened in the same round?

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The Billy Wallace Best & Fairest competition would be heating up as well, if only we knew what what was happening in it. Long gone are the days that you’d turn to the inside pages of the Dominion/Dominion Post on a Monday morning and see who got the points in their games.

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Dropped goal watch. We almost had one last Wednesday night, with Paremata-Plimmerton’s Mika Cooper-Finau taking one on a penalty advantage that didn’t miss by much. We await our first droppie in Wellington Premier rugby this year. They are still kicking them elsewhere and there was a match-winning one in Dunedin club rugby on Saturday.

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Is there scope for scheduling more midweek games under lights? There could be merit in every side having a ‘Storm Week’ and there being midweek games every Wednesday at Porirua Park. But we suspect more clubs than not wouldn’t be keen for squad depth reasons.

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On the subject of midweek rugby under lights, the 2026 Beard Trophy schedule was revealed late last week. Games are (all games are at Porirua Park and kick-offs at 5.00pm):

• Game 1 – Tawa v BVC – Wednesday 27th May
• Game 2 – Holder v Aotea – Wednesday 24th June
• Game 3 – Holder v Mana – Wednesday 1st July
• Game 4 – Holder v Porirua – Wednesday 22nd July

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Which Premier 2 match on Saturday was this quote afterwards attributed to:

“Buckets of tries, but both teams might need a defence coach.”

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It is said that, amongst other parallels, President Lincoln’s assassin ran from a theatre to a warehouse and that JFK’s [alleged] assassin did the deed from a book warehouse and was caught in a theatre.

On Saturday at Fraser Park, the Avalon Premier 2s came back from 0-5 down to beat the OBU Premier 2s 50-5, and that OBU’s first try was from a tap penalty and dart at the line by the halfback, and the halftime scored was 17-5 to Avalon. Then the OBU Premiers came back from 0-5 down to beat the Avalon Premiers 50-5, and that OBU’s first try was from a tap penalty and dart at the line by the first-five who also plays halfback and that the halftime scored was 21-5 to OBU (close)!

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A 47-47 draw in the early game at William Jones Park on Saturday – has there been a higher scoring draw in Wellington club rugby before? If so, let us know!

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There seems to be a steep rise of content creators on social media out there covering club rugby this year. This is great, the more the better, but curious to know who is doing something different to stand out and get cut through?

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Auckland University beat Marist 29-19 in a top-four Gallaher Shield clash in Tamaki on Saturday. Tasman and New Zealand Under-20s hooker Eli Oudenryn scored three tries, including a 65 metre runaway. Former Marist St Pat’s halfback Luke Donaldson, now working for Nestlé, played at halfback. With the win, University claimed one of Auckland’s oldest interclub trophies, the Dave Evans Memorial trophy, dating back to 1976. University holds a 31-19 head-to-head advantage.

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Staying in Auckland, 1,500 wins for the Ponsonby club. Are there any club teams in Wellington with the same? Perhaps Petone?

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We’ve just about got our ‘No Mouthguard’ XV selected on paper, a formidable team.

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The Hurricanes are the pace setters in Super Rugby, with their latest win over the Blues on Saturday steering them towards the playoffs.

Wing Fehi Fineanganofo scored a competition single season-equalling record 16th Super Rugby try in the win.

This was their first win over the Blues at Eden Park in seven years.

They are back at home this coming Saturday night to host the Highlanders.

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Scotland great Scott Hastings has died at the age of 61, his family announced on Sunday.

The British and Irish Lions centre won 65 caps in an 11-year Test career that began in 1986 and was part of the most recent Scotland team to win the Grand Slam in 1990.

A statement released by his son Corey and daughter Kerry-Anne said that he died due to complications arising from cancer treatment. Hastings announced in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Read more HERE

Hastings was at centre and his brother Gavin was at fullback when Wellington played Scotland in 1990 – and it was a 16-16 draw.

Wellington’s team was: 1. Laurence Hullena, 2. Glen Fraser, 3. Phil Proctor, 4. Chris Tregaskis, 5. Marc Verhoeven, 6.Gavin Hill, 7. Scott Keith, 8.Doug Power, 9. John Bradbrook, 10. Steve Pokere, 11.Timo Tagaloa, 12. Dave Rennie, 13. Mike Umaga, 14. Nigel Geany, 15. Marty Berry. RESERVES: Tim Mannix, Len Mason, Tasi Vildani, Tracey Smith, Simon Mannix, John Hainsworth.

Read about that game here: http://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/story.php?id=1697

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More century scorelines being racked up in club rugby competitions throughout the country. As well as the entry above from the Manawatu competition, another example from Saturday is in Southland where Pirates-Old Boys beat Blues 106-0.

Blues are over 150 years old and have won multiple Southland Galbraith Shield title, and just a few seasons ago were amongst the strongest clubs in Southland.

In the same game, Pirates-Old Boys lock Craig Smith played his record 264th Premier game for his club.

With a bit of legwork, it could be possible to compile a list of the most capped current Premier players in New Zealand. Feilding Yellow’s Brad Carr (over 400 games) would surely be the first pick.

This Monday column is a collaborative effort – please get in touch if you have news or information or any tidbits or anecdotes to include. 

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