Reserve Grade heating up as OBU teams meet for the Ruru Shield this Saturday

• By Steven White

Almost half of all first round Premier Swindale Shield club rugby matches have an interclub trophy on the line, many involving Old Boys University, such as this Saturday’s Jack Lamason Trophy match against Marist St Pat’s.

The OBU club social teams have also contested the Ruru Shield amongst each other continuously since 1982. Prior to that it was played between Weir House and the Rest of the Halls of Residence from 1934-1961.

Throughout the 1980s and into the new century, the University and subsequently OBU club have had a number of social teams and the Ruru Shield was on the line whenever another side met the holder, excluding in semi-finals and finals.

In 2026 there are three OBU social teams that compete in the 13-team Reserve Grade, the Righteous Pink Ginners, the 69ers and the Mixed Veges who were affiliated with the Western Suburbs club for over 30 years until last year.

The Mixed Veges have recently returned to OBU after playing under the banner of the Wests club since 1994.

As such their challenge for the Ruru Shield this coming Saturday against the Righteous Pink Ginners will be a long-time between drinks.

The two teams square off at Nairnville Park at 2.45pm when they meet in Round nine of the Reserve Grade Mike Copeland Cup.

The Ruru Shield commemorates Jackie Ruru, who was a New Zealand University and Maori All Black in the 1920s and 1930s. Read about the life and tragic death of Ruru in the Pioneers of History profile linked at the bottom of this article.

The Righteous Pink Ginners are the holders, having held since last year when they beat the 69ers to retain it for the off-season.

Righteous Pink Ginners captain Harry Earl says that the intensity will be there from the start of Saturday’s match.

“Any game involving the Ruru shield is definitely one we circle before the season starts,” said Harry “Defending it a couple of weeks ago against the 69ers was definitely an awesome moment for our group, especially for a number of our boys who experienced their first Ruru match. This game will be a little different to the rest, seeing as this is the first time the Mixed Veges have contested it this century.”

Harry says the build-up will remain the same with every player focusing on his job in the lead-in to kick-off.

“Nothing will change for our boys this week, we like to keep it simple most weeks, everyone knows how important these games are so the messages to the boys are very clear.

“The brews always taste a little better when you can look across and see Jackie sitting there.”

Harry said that this season has already been filled with highlights for the Righteous Pink Ginners.

“This year has been really awesome for our team, after week two we had already exceeded last years number of wins, we have a really connected group this year, both on and off the field which I feel has helped us a lot this year, everyone gets along and its showing on the field with a number of awesome performances by our boys which is epic to be part of.

“Some personal highlights for the team would have to be heading to the Axemen home ground in week 2 and taking down their team who hadn’t lost a game since their inception, in the pouring rain too which made it a little more challenging.

“The next would be defending Jackie against the 69ers, our boys played an appealing brand of footy that day, managing to put on 10 high-level tries. The last highlight would be getting one over the MSP Internationals for the first time since 2021, and winning the Bouzaid-Coyle Cup [named after our current coach Bob Coyle and MSP Internationals sleading identity Aaron Bouzaid], for the first time which was special, and awesome for the boys. This was especially so from the players who were in the 2025 team, where we went down in a number of games on the last play, so to get through that one was special.”

The Mixed Veges coach is Mark ‘Coffee-Bean’ Caldwell, while co-managers and players are ‘Mango’ Morten and ‘Hashish’ Henry.

Hashish Henry played the last time the Mixed Veges challenged for the Ruru Shield in 1994, so on Saturday will be a direct root to that match.

Mango Morten added some thoughts on behalf of the team:

“Given our 41-year history the Mixed Veges have a lot of history with various teams across the reserve grade, and playing for the Ruru Shield is high on that list,” said Mango. “We have a competitive rivalry with the Righteous Pink Ginners and in recent years have had some close games, so adding the Ruru Shield into the mix will bring some extra intensity to this game.”

Mango also reflected on the grade in 2026. “I think for many in the Reserve Grade this year has been a struggle at times, with many teams short on numbers, a lack of referees, and several defaults each round. For the Mixed Veges we have also had a lot of injuries through the early games and are only now starting to see these players return to the squad, so that has presented some further challenges.

“The last two weeks have, however, seen some positive games against the Johnsonville Cripples and Paremata-Plimmerton Punters, both teams we have a lot of history with. While both games were tight losses for the veges, the 38-29 loss to the Cripples in particular is a game that we can build on as we head into the business end of the season.

“This game was also a return to playing for the Sandy Mounsey Memorial Cup, a trophy that recognises the association Sandy and her partner Darrin Rhubarb Roberts had with both the Veges and the Cripples.”

As we have highlighted in articles previously on this website, the Mixed Veges players each have colourful nicknames. A list of players in the current squad includes Horopito, Hummus, Navy Bean, Bell Pepper, Chutney, Shiitake, Sesame, Turmeric, Nashi Pear, Daikon, Arugula, Poppy Seed, Pomegranate, Basil, Climbing Bean, Buckwheat, Tarragon, Green Pepper, Pickle, Mango, Hashish and Coffee Bean.

There are also several players in this year’s squad yet to be named, as they have not got their ‘vege du jour’ (player of the day) and earned a vegetable name, as is tradition.

The Mixed Veges motto is Non Puls Estote – be not soup.

That is also the name of our own Vege haka – Kore te Hupa (be not soup), performed here by Radish and Walnut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U6sPhWIM5A

The two sides in Saturday’s clash have also recently repurposed an old cup into a new one called the Coyle-Korn Cup, which will be contested for the first time next year. This cup has been named in honour of two legends of the respective teams.

Ray Simpson (Aka Kernal Korn) was a long-time manager and stalwart of the Mixed Veges for many years and Bobby Coyle (sans nickname) is a legend for the Pink Ginners as a player and now coach/manager.

Meanwhile, the Pōneke Ruffnuts are setting a strong pace in this year’s Reserve Grade competition. The Ruffnuts are celebrating their 30^th anniversary this year and they are currently 8/8. This Saturday they play the Wellington Axemen who are fourth with a 6/7 record.

The Johnsonville Cripples are second and the Righteous Pink Ginners are a point back in third, both also with 6/7 records.

The Mixed Veges are eighth having won three and lost four and the 69ers are further down the table having won 2/7 games. The 69ers are at Prince of Wales Park this Saturday to play ninth placed Stokes Valley.

Following the first round Mike Copeland Cup which ends of Saturday 18 July, the teams split for the three-week Division 1 John Davies Cup and Division 2 Alan Seerup Cup competitions. There is a bye round on 25 July (also Club Finals Day for most other grades) so these knockout rounds are on 1, 7 and 14 August.

Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 048: Dick Pelham and Jackie Ruru