Sideline Conversions 25 May (some rugby news and information to start the week)

General Swindale Shield action from Lyndhurst Park on Saturday, where competition leaders Tawa beat bottom placed Avalon. Like all their recent matches, Avalon were in the contest throughout much of the first half before falling away. Tawa won 47-7. Photo: Stewart Baird. 

Monday afternoon edition: The settled weather rolls on, but we don’t want to discuss winter rugby as then we will jinx it. Nevertheless, the hard part of the season with injuries and outside commitments is upon us as we enter this coming weekend’s King’s Birthday Weekend round.

We are up to round nine of the Premier Swindale Shield and Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield competitions, so with five weeks to play the spotlight will start falling on some crucial games coming up. This Saturday’s Premier games at a glance (full preview on Friday):

• Hutt Old Boys Marist v Johnsonville, Hutt Rec
• Paremata-Plimmerton v Old Boys University, Ngati Toa Domain
• Petone v Marist St Pat’s (Bill Elvy Memorial Trophy), Petone Rec
• Poneke v Oriental-Rongotai (Jimmy Grbich Memorial Shield), Kilbirnie Park
• Upper Hutt Rams v Northern United (Bill Brien Challenge Shield and Terry Farrow Memorial Cup), Maidstone Park
• Wainuiomata v Tawa (Chris Stirling Cup), William Jones Park
• Wellington v Avalon, Hataitai Park

The Colts, U85kgs, Reserve and President’s Grades all have this weekend off.

The Tawa Ducks and Eastbourne are playing their catch-up U85kg match this Saturday. Tawa just need  a point from the match against the winless Gulls to be awarded the first round JC Bowl. The championship rounds start the following weekend.

There is a Colts catch-up match on Saturday between the Poneke and MSP Colts.

A full round of Women’s games this weekend, and there are three weekend’s to play to reach the conclusion of the first round Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy.

Some lower grade college rugby not being played this weekend but the Premiership and Premier 2 second round matches are all being contested on Saturday.

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Wainuiomata are holding their 80th anniversary celebrations this weekend.

Over the hill, the Greytown club is holding its 150th anniversary celebrations.

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The Swindale Shield points table after eight rounds of 13 is here: https://stats.clubrugby.nz/table/2026-swindale-shield/

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Monday afternoon update: Riley Higgins has undergone surgery for a shoulder injury. His return to play is expected to be six months, meaning he will miss the rest of the 2026 season for the Hurricanes and the Wellington Lions.

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The Beard Trophy competition starts this coming Wednesday, with holders Tawa College defending it against Bishop Viard College. With Tawa College having opened its Premier 2 season by defaulting to Porirua College on Saturday, will the Beard Trophy change hands in the first game?

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More problems with the Rugby Xplorer app on the weekend, which apparently crashed nationwide on Saturday. Bring back paper?

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The All Blacks – their first squad of the year is being named today so look out for that.

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MSP hooker Cazna Logavae-Sale enjoys playing against Paremata-Plimmerton. He scored two tries against them this past Saturday, to go with his match-winning death-knock try against them out at Ngati Toa Domain in this same game last year.

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Tipping Competition – Top 1o leaderboard after Saturday’s eighth round – more at: https://www.faceyoursfears.com/games/WGTN2026

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Welcome back to Wellington and the Swindale Shield to Zane Ainslie. He scored a terrific solo chip and collect try for HOBM against Wainuiomata on Saturday.

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Callum Watts-Pointer also played his first game in Norths colours on Saturday for a long time, coming off the bench.

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Skivi Va’a, from midfielder to No. 8 – filling an injury crisis but evidently having a top game against Norths.

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Peter Lakai – Hutt Valley Sportsman of the Year.

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The HOBM Premiers – Hutt Valley Sports Team of the Year, at the same awards dinner held last week.

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Massive win for HIBS to start the First XV Premiership, rallying from 27-7 down to beat St Bernard’s College. HIBS have three players back from 2025, St Bernard’s 20. Yet HIBS prevailed with a last-play try to hooker Beau Gallagher and three tries to winger Ben Park.

A brace to rampant No.8 Jone Ralulu was the highlight of a 35-5 romp by Rathkeale College over Rongotai College. Ralulu was big for the 2025 semi-finalists who also produced the quality Ed Weatherstone. Weatherstone scored three tries alone in a memorable display against St Pats Town.

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The Hurricanes – have qualified first. They could sit this week’s final round-robin game out, or at least play their B team and rest and rotate their top dozen or so players to keep them fresh for their home quarter-final that is confirmed in Wellington next Friday night.

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Raviyawa scores two more, as does Kennedy:

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What about famous ‘Tries that Weren’t’. Superstar Ron Jarden scored the most famous non-awarded try of all when he ran 50 metres through and around the Springboks defence for the New Zealand Universities in their win over the touring South Africans at Athletic Park in 1956. Only to put a foot in touch back in front of the Main Stand crowd. On a local level, Mika Alaifatu scored one on Saturday, slicing through on a 50 metre angled run for HOBM against Wainuiomata but knocked on over the line in the corner in the tackle of his opposite Braydon Soi.

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The Kapiti College First XV beat Paraparaumu College 29-14 in their Premier 2 opener on Saturday – their first win over them in five years.

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Great to see Stanley Solomon get his long-awaited debut for the Highlanders on Saturday, coming off the bench to play much of the second half.

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Connor closes in on the ton:

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Special day for Jack Kirifi, father of All Black and Hurricanes co-captain Du’Plessis Kirifi, who received his Ponsonby blazer for 100 games. Kirifi debuted in 1982 before official records were kept and finished with 98 official appearances. He was adamant he’d played more games and, through his own scrapbook records, verified he played 115 games. He was presented with his centurions blazer by All Black and fellow centurion Joe Stanley, flanked by 17 other centurions. The most memorable side Kirifi was part of was the 1986 team that won the Gallaher Shield with a 20-0 record. It was a good day for Ponsonby’s senior men, who beat Marist 42-26 to extend their unbeaten run to 32 successive games. Ponsonby’s women beat Marist 40-17 to extend their unbeaten run to 25 games. There was also a reunion of the first Ponsonby women’s team to win the Auckland championship in 1986. The official Wellington competition started in 1990.

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Are Ireland’s Leinster the Chiefs of European Rugby? They’ve lost their last five European Rugby Champions finals since the 2018/19 season. In that time their record is 181 wins, 2 draws and 41 defeats. French teams have won the last six European championships. Bordeaux Bègles won the latest final 41-19. Former Upper Hutt, HOBM and Hurricane Salesi Rayasi started the final at fullback. He’s scored 15 tries and won 18 of the 25 games he’s played in this season. Superstar Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored twice on the opposite wing.

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The new South Island Boys Schools Network First XV competition is producing some exciting rugby with five games this week producing 59 tries, three games decided by less than five points and two last-minute wins.

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What’s happening at Manawatu rugby’s social media updates? they have stopped reporting their own Premier/Senior 1 results on their Facebook page in the weekends. Why? With the newspaper now having gone full paywall it is as if the competition has gone dark.

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New Zealand Rugby has released the draw for the 2026 Heartland Championship season, setting the stage for another year of grassroots rugby played with pride, passion and strong community spirit.

The Heartland Championship brings together 12 provincial unions from across the country and celebrates provincial identity, travelling supporters and the strong connections between teams and their local communities.

We have long advocated that Wellington should go amateur and join the Heartland Championship. This is mostly in a lighthearted way, but it’s actually an increasingly logical step going by a couple of matters we have been told off the record for now in regards to general finances and upcoming lower tier Wellington Lions players contracts. But it won’t be this year.

Read more and see the draw at: https://www.nzrugby.co.nz/news-and-events/latest-news/heartland-championship-schedule-released-marking-20-years-of-this-competition

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In the most recent Men’s XV test match on May 22, 2026, the Japan Select Team defeated Hong Kong China with a score of 80–0. HK will face NZ and Australia next year. Could Marc Ellis’s try-scoring record be under threat?