Off the Ball for 22 May

Vince Aso scores one of his three tries for the Hurricanes on Saturday, taking his season tally to 13 tries. Will he catch the Super Rugby single season try-scoring record of 15 jointly held by held by Joe Roff in 1997 and Rico Gear in 2005.

Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max , Lovelocks Sports Bar  and Harcourts Johnsonville 

Looking at some of the news in briefs, milestones, happenings, statistics and observations from the weekend of rugby just gone and what’s coming up this week.

Another full-on weekend of local senior rugby is in the can, with near continuous action on Saturday from 11.30am to 9.30pm. Club and college rugby is now in full swing, as the Hurricanes depart for their two-week overseas tour.

For the neutral supporter, Saturday’s Swindale Shield results have set the competition up to go down to the wire over the final two rounds. One of five teams could win the first round title, while at least four teams are in a dogfight to seal one of the final two places in the upcoming Jubilee Cup.

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Hutt Old Boys Marist and Old Boys University are tied on 50 competition points at the top of the Premier Reserve competition. These two teams meet this coming Saturday in the penultimate round in a likely Harper Lock Shield decider.

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Saturday’s round was dedicated to Daniel Baldwin, the Wellington Axemen Colts player who passed away last week. There was a moment’s silence before all games on Saturday. As reported previously, the game between his team and the Avalon Wolves Colts was called off early after another injury scare. The player involved was okay. Daniel’s funeral will be held at the Wellington Football Club’s clubrooms at 11am on Tuesday. Note to media that this is a funeral not a news event so please stay away.

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Five teams are on maximum points in their competitions. The Petone Colts have had five bonus point wins in the division one competition to be on 25 competition points, the Paremata-Plimmerton Colts are on 20 points after four rounds of division 2, the HOBM Barbarians are on 20 points after four rounds of the First Grade competition, the Tawa Titans are on 20 points after four rounds of the U85kg JC Bowl, the Upper Hutt Rams are on 20 points after four rounds of U85kg division 2.

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The lowest scoring match of the weekend was First Grade match between Old Boys University and the Stokes Valley Chiefs, with OBU prevailing 9-8.

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If they all took the field, there were nine players on debut in the Swindale Shield on Saturday. Four of those players were OBU Goats, who have had 22 Premier Debutants overall so far this season.

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After losing 7 tries to 2 to Marist St Pat’s on Saturday, Northern United have been overtaken by OBU as the leading try scoring team in the Swindale Shield. OBU have scored 58 tries and Norths 57. Tawa (51) and HOBM (50) are the two other sides to have scored 50 tries.

Up until last year, the Swindale Shield only went for 11 rounds, so comparisons can be made to previous years. At this stage last year, winners OBU had scored 51 tries, but went on to score 16 in their last two matches against Avalon and Johnsonville to finish the first round with 67. The most tries in the 11-round Swindale Shield was Norths with 76 in 2010. The fewest by a winning team in the last 10 years was 38 by MSP in 2014.

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Two locks are leading the Billy Wallace Best & Fairest competition after 11 rounds. Poneke’s Cole Stewart has joined Tawa’s Hemi Fermanis at the top of the standings on 12 points after 11 rounds. No movement amongst the rest of the frontrunners, with Norths flanker Antony Fox and Wainuiomata No. 8 Ben Tupuola in joint second on 11 points. Sam Gard'ner(Wellington) and Ben Peni (Avalon) have moved up the ladder, but will be discounted once Jubilee Cup starts and the Dominion Post rejects the Hardham Cup.

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Last year’s Best & Fairest winner Peniasi Tokakece returned from injury on Saturday to play for Tawa against Paremata-Plimmerton. He had been nursing a broken arm sustained against Ories in round three.

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Marist St Pat’s wing Mike Buckley continued his reputation for finding the chalk, scoring his seventh try of the season against Norths. He's now scored 25 tries from 39 games for MSP.

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Billy and James Proctor became the latest set of brothers to play together this season with James making his debut for MSP after a long injury layoff. In their first ever official game of rugby together they each found their way over the tryline.

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Lots of interchange referees on Saturday, adding to the flavour of the competitions. The ‘Three Amigos’, AKA Richard Gordon, Vincent Ringrose and Nick Hogan, were at National Referees Squad camp in Christchurch over the weekend.

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In the Reserve Grade, the MSP Internationals are celebrating 10 years since their inception. Founding members Cameron Bath and Aaron Bouzaid are still going strong and each bagged a five pointer on the weekend in their 34-19 win over Upper Hutt Rams J8s.

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Wellington’s teams didn’t fare too well in the recently completed three-match Tranzit Coachlines pre-season First XV series. Combined, they won one match in 11 encounters against their Super 8 opposition. Saturday’s games saw Rongotai College miss out to Hastings Boys’ High School 0-55, Wairarapa College go down to Gisborne BHS 15-33, St Pat’s Town lose to Napier BHS 5-20 and Wellington College slip 13-22 to Palmerston North BHS. Hastings wing Kini Naholo scored a hat-trick on Saturday and he has now scored 22 tries in 8 games this season.

The 10-team WelTec Premiership starts this coming weekend. The four schools above are joined by St Pat’s Silverstream, Scots College, Tawa College, Kapiti College, Hutt Valley High School and Porirua College. Draw and previews all out this week.

The St Pat’s Town First XV hosts Central North Island competition First XV St John’s College, Hastings, this Wednesday at 12.00pm at Evans Bay Park.

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Former Petone/Old Boys University/Wellington/Hurricanes player Jimmy Gopperth swept the board in English rugby's top awards by being named the Premiership player of the season. Gopperth added the Premiership crown to his player of the season gongs from both Wasps and the Rugby Players' Association.The 33-year-old also collected two more trophies at the Premiership's annual awards ceremony in London on Wednesday - taking home silverware for the golden boot and also the try of the season. He helped Wasps finish top of the Premiership's regular-season table for the first time.

Gopperth and Northern United’s Alapati Leiua helped Wasps beat Leicester 22-21 in their English Premiership semi-final over the weekend. Avalon No. 8 Thomas Waldrom’s Exeter Chiefs beat Saracens 18-16 in the other semi-final.

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Former Petone first five-eighth Tamati Samuels, now with Napier Technical, made his debut for the New Zealand Sevens team over the weekend. Unfortunately, the Al Black Sevens were run down by Scotland in their quarter-final after leading 21-0 at halftime and then being penalised for having eight players on the field. New Zealand then lost 7-40 to Australia in their playoff for fifth, finishing fourth overall in this year’s World Rugby series.

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Tawa midfielder Shaun Treeby will miss the next three weeks of Super Rugby after being suspended for a high shot against Blues first five-eighth Piers Francis. He will miss their upcoming games against the Sharks, Cheetahs and Sunwolves.

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Norths first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop fared little better for the Rebels against the Waratahs, his side losing 23-50 to the Sydney contenders on Sunday evening.

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Closer to home, Vince Aso’s hat-trick against the Cheetahs on Saturday puts him on top at the Hurricanes’ leading all-time single season try-scorer. The full list is: Vince Aso 13 (2017), Tana Umaga 12 (1997), Ngani Laumape 11 (2017), TJ Perenara 11 (2016), Lome Fa’atau 10 (2006), Andre Taylor 10 (2012).

Beauden Barrett kicked five conversions against the Cheetahs and sits on 992 career Super Rugby points.

The Hurricanes’ 61-7 win was their third biggest victory ever when ordered by the winning points margin. The top two were both achieved this year as well. This list is: 2017: Hurricanes 83 v Sunwolves 17 ( winning margin of 66 points); 2017: Hurricanes 71 v Rebels 6 (margin 65 points); 2017: 2017 Hurricanes 61 v Cheetahs 7 (margin 54 points); 2009 Hurricanes 56 v Brumbies 7 (margin 49 points); 2012 Hurricanes 66 v Rebels 24 (margin 38 points).

The Hurricanes are the competition’s leading try scoring team with 72 tries, head of the Crusaders with 65, the Lions with 56 and the Highlanders with 47.

The Hurricanes headed to South Africa last night to play the Bulls this coming weekend and then play the Force in Perth in a fortnight. The Hurricanes play the Bulls, in Pretoria on Sunday, May 28 at 1:05am NZT, and the Force, in Perth on June 3, at 11:55pm NZT. The next home match is at Westpac Stadium is against the Chiefs on Friday, June 9. Injured players Dane Coles, Matt Proctor and Nehe Milner-Skudder remain in New Zealand to continue their respective recoveries.

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Any word on Reggie Goodes as well? Goodes was running water for Wellington College on Saturday against Palmerston North Boys’ High School in the Hurricanes’ curtain-raiser.

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Which would you prefer? The Hurricanes to win Super Rugby again this year or for the All Blacks to sweep the British and Irish Lions 3-0 in their upcoming Test series?

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Bolters for the All Blacks? Discuss.

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Big news out of NZRU headquarters this morning, with Hamilton being announced as the host of the international sevens for the next two years, relieving Wellington of this event.The demise of the Wellington tournament and the reasons for it have been well documented, but if the fun police are all over Hamilton much of the problem will remain. Same overly regulated, over-priced event, different city.