Club Rugby Awards 2026

One of the action shots of the year. Emmanuel Solomona crashes over to score for Wainuiomata against Paremata-Plimmerton. Pure determination and power to score in terrible conditions. Photo: Andy McArthur. 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The last comprehensive piece of our season are our annual awards, where we again highlight the best and irreverent of the year that was in 2026.

Club Team of the Year: Petone Premier 2. New coaches, a handful of departures, and a bunch of new faces. The result? An unbeaten season and claiming the Harper Lock-Ed Chaney double. Second sides are often disrupted week-on-week due to their very nature, but they clearly had things right at the Village in 2026.
Honourable mention: Petone Women

The Petone Premiers after winning the Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield. Photo: Tarn Styche.

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Men’s Player of the Year: Rupeni Raviyawa came from Feilding High with huge raps on him, and showed that even before the fifteens season got underway as he led HOBM to the National Club Sevens title on Waitangi weekend. Versatile enough to play anywhere across the loose trio he gravitated towards No. 8, and was a powerhouse across the middle part of the season. The only blot on his record was a silly red card against Petone in the first week of the playoffs.
Honourable mentions: Murphy Taramai, Elijah Solomona

Rupeni Raviyawa playing for HOBM early in the season against Avalon. Photo: Hugh Pretorius.

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Men’s Most Valuable Player: Once Jacob Waikari-Jones took on the Petone #10 jersey, the Villagers went to another level. That’s absolutely no knock on the others who played there (notably Rory Woollett), but to quote baseball great Reggie Jackson, Waikari-Jones became “the straw that stirs the drink”. Do Petone win the Jubilee Cup without him?
Honourable mentions: Raviyawa, Taramai, Esi Komaisavai, James Zino

Waikari-Jones enjoys the tryline for Petone in their 100-minute semi-final win over the Upper Hutt Rams (more on that below).  Photo: Andy McArthur.

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Women’s Player of the Year: Another year, and another St Mary’s schoolgirl playing for Petone makes their mark. Anastasia Kerr showed that the production line shows no sign of slowing up. Outstanding for the Villagers at centre, and carried that form into an excellent campaign for the Pride on the wing.
Honourable mention: Zoe Clark

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Women’s Most Valuable Player: Hear us out on this one. Poneke’s Keiana Roffey was outstanding for her club in the early weeks of the season and a big reason why the team were in the top flight for the second round for the very first time. Unfortunately, her commitments with the Poua took over, but when it came to meaning the most to their team’s success, no one meant more than she did.
Honourable mentions: Jackie Patea-Fereti, Te Arani Te Puni, Kim Coffey

Keiana Roffey playing for Poneke against Stokes Valley. Photo: Tane Nathan.

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Rookie Forward: Raviyawa. Have we seen a first-year forward make an impact like he has?
Honourable mention: Elijah Solomona

Rookie back: It’s probably fair to say that William Davis didn’t expect 2026 to turn out quite like it did. An ever-present for Petone’s Premiers on the wing from the start when he figured he might have to bide his time in the Colts, a Jubilee Cup in his first season, and winding up as the Lions first-choice number 11. He’s come a long way quickly.

William Davis on the charge up field during the Jubilee Cup final. Photo: Tane Nathan.

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Men’s Next Big Thing: How high is the ceiling for Archie Schrader? The Rathkeale product has done nothing but excel in senior rugby for Petone, firstly with their Colts last season and their Premiers this term. He continued this on with the Wellington U19s. A feature of his game is his work in the breakdowns where he has the knack of winning big turnovers and penalties. The one question to be answered though might be what is his best position; he was outstanding at lock but retains those flanker instincts, so is he a 5, 6, or 7?

Women’s Next Big Thing: Roffey. With the tendency moving back towards more mobile props she certainly fits that, and if her scrummaging continues to improve even higher honours could be in her future.

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Club Match of the Season: There’s nothing better than a pulsating playoff encounter and the Upper Hutt vs Petone Jubilee Cup semi-final delivered that in spades. A heaving crowd three deep around the sideline at the CIS campus, the Rams getting out to a two-score lead, Petone pegging that back with Jacob Waikari-Jones playing on a different level, extra-time, and finally two completely exhausted teams. In summary, incredible performances from both sides that restored faith in the local game after the referee strike.

Elsewhere, it would be hard to go past the South Canterbury final at the end of July. It was a 104-minute final, with Harlequins beating Temuka in the 24th minute of golden point extra time.

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Captain of the Year (tied): Two guys who do it right both on and off the field on Saturday’s. OBU’s Geordie Bean and Upper Hutt’s Murphy Taramai.

Geordie Bean leads the OBU Goats out on to Nairnville Park. Photo: Andy McArthur. 

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College Player of the Year: There’s seemingly no limit to what Fletcher Cooper can do on a rugby field, and it’s hard to believe he still has another year at school ahead of him. Led Silverstream to another Wellington title and onwards to a maiden Hurricanes crown and top-four berth, capped off by selection in the New Zealand Schools side and the relative rarity of being a Year 12 in the #10 jersey. Even missing matches he topped 300 points – annihilating his own record from last year – and scored all four ways in the Premiership final.
Honourable mentions: ZK’deus Schwalger, Julius Toimata, Decodah Silva, Ryder Thompson

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College Most Valuable Player: Yes, you could argue this should be Cooper as well, but Silverstream can and did win without him, notably in their Traditional clash with New Plymouth. Instead, we’re going for his teammate and fellow co-captain Ryder Thompson, with the blindside’s consistent high-quality form on show game-in, game-out. Do Silverstream have the season they did without him?
Honourable mentions: Silva, Connar Gregor, Brandon Matthews, Jaxon Ropitini

Ryder Thompson leads Silverstream out for their traditional against New Plymouth BHS, which Silverstream won 34-33. Photo: Andy McArthur. 

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Scott MacLean’s College Match of the Year: Our refereeing roving reporter was in the middle of the Silverstream vs New Plymouth BHS encounter, a high-quality match only decided in the dying moments. But his pick came from one he controlled in the Premiership season proper. Rathkeale were semi-finalists in their first season win Wellington last year, but lost to each of the Big Three. They changed that this year when they defeated Town 27-26, validating their standing. Town might have been without a couple of key players, but Rathkeale held out their vaunted opponents for the last 10 minutes with captain and loose forward Brandon Matthews having a stormer.

Andy McArthur’s favourite match was the St Pat’s Town – St Pat’s Silverstream Traditional in late July. Town pipped Silverstream 38-36 in an epic to win the Old Boys Cup for just the fourth time since 1997 and the first time since 2022.The colossal contest produced a dozen tries, six lead changes, and was tied twice in the second half at 24-24 and 31-31. It was the highest scoring game in 94 matches between the schools since 1931. Silverstream had only once scored more points in a losing traditional fixture, 37 against St Bede’s College in 2021. Town’s highest score previously against Silverstream was 27 in 1996.

Steven White reflected on Aotea College’s first Beard Trophy defence of the year, which was also almost their last! Aotea came back to score two tries in the dying minutes, including the match-winner on fulltime to beat challengers Mana College 36-32 in front of a large, noisy midweek crowd at Porirua Park. Aotea lock Kody Kahu was the hero at the end, slicing through the defence after almost a minute of committed attacking play near the line. Only five minutes earlier, victory appeared improbable for the holders. Mana College had broken a 22-22 deadlock by kicking a penalty to fullback and captain Nate Baker and then scoring a try under the posts to second five Ayden Iti to go up 32-22.

Another was Rongotai College‘s 38-33 win over Scots College in the Premiership, with Rongotai’s winning try coming after about 30 phases with perhaps every player on the field at the time handling the ball.

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Some tries of the season: There were many fantastic tries scored this season. Below is a selection of some of our ‘favourite’ ones – of the ones that either Steven White or Mike Lewis captured during the season.

Long-range/counterattack #1: Shohn Hunt, Upper Hutt Rams v Wainuiomata, Week 11:

 

Long-range/counterattack #2: Jacob Kennedy, Johnsonville v Upper Hutt Rams, week 8:

 

From the kick-off: Caleb Robson, HOBM v Tawa, week 6:

 

From the set-piece injection: Jordan Soli, Ories v Johnsonville, week 5:

 

A popular college try: Anaru Siohane-Hune, for St Pat’s Town v Wellington College Traditional:

 

Another college try that was an absolute barnburner was Josh Kleyne’s for Tawa College in their 12-65 Beard Trophy relinquishing defeat to Aotea College. Down by 30+ points at halftime, Kleyne rushed through to collect his own team’s second half re-start and poured through half the Aotea team to score.  Unfortunately, our camera operator missed this as he was still scrolling his phone at halftime and forgot to look up and press record when the second half kicked off!

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Player Milestones of the Year: There were several popular 100, 150 and more game milestones reached in Premier rugby. Including Tawa’s Randall Bishop who played his 200th Premier match in April. Bishop has been playing for Tawa (mostly) since 2011 and showed few signs of slowing down right to the end of the season. A teacher at his old school Mana College, he also helped their school’s girls basketball team to local and regional success this year.

Honourable mentions: Leah Conley for bringing up her 200th match for the Northern United Women’s team, and scoring a try in her milestone match in a win over Ories. Tane McMillan-Parata for playing his 200th Premier/top team match for Paremata-Plimmerton.

Ed Griffiths for playing his 350th match for the OBU Righteous Brothers/Righteous Pink Ginners (more on the Major below):

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Jackie Patea Fereti’s try for Petone in the Tia Paasi Memorial Cup final against Ories was the ‘Turning back the Years’ award. Her longevity and love of the game truly remarkable, and her try was an absolute crowd pleaser.

Jackie Patea Fereti scoring her try in the final. Photo: Andy McArthur.

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Veteran Injection of the Year: Taleta Tupuola returned from almost 14 seasons playing professional rugby overseas, in France to slot back into the HOBM Eagles Premier line-up for much of the season and he made a dozen appearances in the Eagles midfield. As a young man, Taleta was a leading player in the Wellington competition as far back as 2011 and he was a leading try-scorer and Swindale Shield winner in 2012.

Honourable mention: Hayden Smith (OBU – last seen in Premiers in 2012)!

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Still rocking it in other competitions: Hayden Schrijvers, who recently won the Wairarapa-Bush Premier club rugby Best & Fairest competition, playing for Greytown. He entered senior rugby in Wellington in 2012 and spent several years as a leading player for Upper Hutt/Upper Hutt Rams, along with his younger brother Daniel.

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Turnaround of the Year: Tawa were abysmal in their first Swindale Shield game, trounced 48-3 by Petone. The scoreline could have hit 80 if the Villagers had caught better. There was a 26-year gap between Tawa’s youngest (17) and oldest (43) player that day. Tawa aren’t renowned as fast starters, but this was sloth-like. Tawa eventually finished four points short of a sixth Jubilee final since 2013.

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Upset of the Year: Wellington ran Pare-Plim close last year at Hataitai, and probably should have won. They made no mistake in this year’s fixture at Ngati Toa Domain, which at the time kept the Axemen’s hopes of sneaking into the Jubilee places intact and dealt a fatal blow to the Hammerhead’s own top-four ambitions.

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Falcon of the Year:  Ethan Jefferson was sensationally falconed by Manukura’s Gabby Wright in their 19-14 National Top Four semi-final win against Christchurch Girls’ High School on Central Energy Trust Arena’s windswept back field in Palmerston North.  Wright, while taking a conversion, barely lifted the ball 2m off the ground. It skewed sideways and hit Jefferson in the head, temporarily wiping the impish grin from his angelic face. Jefferson battled on to control possibly the best girls’ First XV game in 2026.
Honourable mention: Another referee, Sam Landers, copping one in the Premier 2 Ed Chaney final. Bonus points for finishing the match with his head bandaged, plus a late entry last weekend at the women’s 7s, an assistant referee falcon.

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Sideline participation award. Witnessed at the Wanganui Collegiate vs Christ College game… a young girl in the 3-4 years old age group repeatedly yelling at the top of her voice “Taaaackle! Get the ball!” Super cute with the added benefit of being sound advice.

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Let’s Not Do That Again: Despite the disruption it caused, we still back the decision of the Wellington Rugby Referees Association to withdraw their services for a week. There is no place for abuse in our game, let alone at volunteers giving up their time so that others can play the game we love. The message is clear: Be Better

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Erase that from the memory please: Remember the “memory-erasures” used in the “Men In Black” movie franchise? We all need one to bury the debacle of the Wellington Lions’ NPC season. No wins, and penthouse to outhouse in two years.

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Goons of the Year (I): Hutt City Council. When rates of anxiety, loneliness and depression are soaring, investing in a community structure with a long history of bringing people together might be a good idea. Instead, after five years of squabbling, Petone’s grandstand is condemned to become a car park.

Goons of the Year (II): Upper Hutt City Council. When the big storm early in the season forced the Avalon and Stokes Valley women to reschedule their game, midweek at Maidstone Park seemed ideal. UHCC knew, the person who was meant to switch the lights on did not.

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Controversy Corner: Who really runs Wellington club rugby? By rule, Oriental Rongotai should have been excluded from the Jubilee Cup for not meeting the minimum number of senior teams. Farcically, the matter then went to a vote of clubs. What’s the point of rules when they’re not going to be enforced?

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You Got To Be Kidding Me Award: When lightning struck twice in a matter of minutes for Old Boys-University in their clash with HOBM at the Hutt Rec, as props Gareth Ward-Allen and Laurence Jarel-Lim both ruptured Achilles tendons. Just two of the slew of injuries the Goats had to endure in 2026, but it did indirectly lead to…

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Debut of the Year: Ed “Major” Griffiths is an OBU lower-grade legend, having racked up over 350 games for Righteous Brothers/Righteous Pink Ginners over the years. But he plays in the front-row and for his Goats – “his” is right because he’s OBU’s current Chairman – that counted for plenty. So at the tender age of 43, he made his Premier debut in their round 10 win over Wellington. Special mention to Megan Tulili, who after 150-plus games for the Poneke women made a couple of cameos for the Pride in their FPC campaign.

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Sevens Team of the Year: The HOBM Eagles won the tw0-leg American Ambassador’s series late last year and then backed it up with an emphatic win in the National Club 7s final in February, meaning they will host the tournament at the Hutt Rec on Anzac Day 2027.

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Representative Team of the Year: The Wellington Pride’s 2026 Farah Palmer Cup Championship season was a story of resilience and revival. Competing in the second tier, they topped the table and claimed the title with a 39-15 final win over Northland. Their first Championship crown in eight years restored pride to the capital and signalled brighter days ahead for Wellington women’s rugby as they move up to Division 1 for 2027.

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O for Awesome Award: In early May, Ayesha Leti-I’iga came on as a second-half replacement for Oriental Rongotai in their Rebecca Liua’ana Trophy match against Pōneke.Ahead 19-12 at halftime, the more highly fancied Magpies needed an injection of energy and got it. Leti-I’iga scored four tries in the 56-17 win. Her second try was her 200th for Ories in 82 appearances, a stratospheric statistic unlikely to be repeated. “I just caught the ball and put it on the line,” Leti-I’iga said with almost self-deprecating modesty.

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Fond Farewells: There will be a number of people who call time on their rugby involvement over the summer; but two we know of already. Petone’s “Silver Fox” Tamahou Waikari did so before their Premier 2 final triumph, while long-serving referee Steve Newson hung up the whistle after a career including 101 Premier matches.

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Team Announcement of the Year: Pare-Plim’s Lano Isaako has been a stalwart of the Ngati Toa club’s Premier 2 side for several seasons, but he’s also a rather gifted graphic designer who has taken on the job of the team posts for the Hammerhead’s top sides. Setting the benchmark was this Fortnite-themed version that was several weeks in the making.

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Sporting gesture award. It was noted that in many games involving the Wellington College First XV that the majority of their players would shake the hands of the Referee’s and touch judges on fulltime. It’s common to see captains do this after games but not the whole team.

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Legend of the year. Ma’a Nonu: for lining up against the All Blacks and performing a solo haka for the Sharks, and for continuing well into 2027 with him signing up for a ‘mentorship’ role (and we all know he will keep playing)!

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The Livestream Commentary Gold Award: The Oriental-Rongotai commentary after Daniel Tafili had scored in the corner with the final play of the game and Jordan Soli’s conversion shaved the uprights leaving it a 34-34 draw for Ories against Old Boys University at the Polo Ground : “That is like kissing your sister here at the Polo Ground. No one looks happy out there – both teams should be ashamed of themselves!”

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Initiative of the Year: Wellington Rugby Academy Manager Dion Waller grew up around Lake Taupo and when he wasn’t up river tickling trout he attended unheralded rugby school Tauhara College and then went on to play some 80 NPC games, win the title with Wellington in 2000 and play for the All Blacks. So he knows what it takes to succeed as a player away from the bright lights of big schools and traditional First XV pathways. He was instrumental in helping get the new Co-ed Schools Representative team off  the ground. This team played three matches, and it is hoped it can be an annual rep team and it can play more matches. It could join the Hurricanes Youth Council’s U18s tournament B Division?

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Breaking the Duck Award: The Avalon Wolves beat the Wellington Axemen 22-20 at the end of May for their first win in 49 Premier matches going back 1,126 days to their last Premier victory on 29 April 2023, also against the Axemen. In that time, they had scored 566 points and conceded 2,446 and had drawn 26-26 with Wainuiomata later in 2023, before losing their next 42 games on the trot before this win.

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Try scoring celebration photo of the year: There were many, but here is one below that encapsulates the glory that is Premier club rugby that no amount of lopsided NZRU promotion of professional rugby or sycophantic coverage of professional rugby by the mainstream media can replicate. Paremata-Plimmerton score against MSP in their Swindale Shield match last year (MSP in throwback jerseys), by Tane Nathan/Kinetic Images: