Off the Ball for 29 May

Defending Jubilee Cup champions Tawa quaified for the championship round with a week to spare with their 37-12 win over the Upper Hutt Rams on Saturday, while the Rams have missed the top 8 and are heading for the Hardham Cup in a fortnight. Photo: Hugh Pretorius. 

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.

The first of the midweek First XV traditional fixtures, the crowning of the first round Wellington club rugby champions and the arrival of the British and Irish Lions marks this coming week of rugby.

If their teams overcome the Avalon Wolves, Old Boys University will win the first round Premier Swindale Shield and the Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield , while the Petone Colts will lock away the Colts Paris Memorial Trophy on Saturday.

Petone have already won the Paris Memorial Trophy, having a 7-point lead at the top of the standings with a round to play.

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When was the last time a club won both the Swindale Shield and the Harper Lock Shield in the same season? By our records, the last time this was achieved was in 2010 by Northern United. This website only started covering both competitions in 2009 so it is unknown how frequently and by whom this was achieved previously.

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Those two OBU games this Saturday were scheduled for Kelburn Park, but OBU have transferred all their remaining Premier and Premier Reserve fixtures back to Nairnville Park.

The Kelburn Park experiment didn't work, with ground renovations incomplete and a substandard viewing experience for the Goat faithful. So it’s Back to Nairnville where their Premiers haven't lost since Swindale Shield Round 7 2015 when they fell to Hutt Old Boys Marist, the team they edged on Saturday to put one hand on the Swindale Shield.

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On form at least, many followers of the competitions will pick the two OBU teams to beat Avalon opposition thus annex both the Harper Lock and Swindale Shields. The Swindale Shield is OBU’s to lose after they defeated HOBM 38-36 on Saturday with a late penalty. Should they win, OBU’s 350-person dinner on Saturday night to celebrate the 25-year merger between Victoria University and Wellington College Old Boys will taste nicer.

What if HOBM had beaten OBU on Saturday? If Dale Sabbagh had missed that penalty then the points table heading into the last round would be: Wainuiomata 47, OBU 46, Ories 46, Norths 45, HOBM 45.

In that scenario, you'd back OBU and Ories to get 4 tries and wins over Avalon and Johnsonville respectively in the last round. But would Wainuiomata have won away at Tawa, and got the 4 tries as well to win outright?

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The eighth and final spot for the Jubilee Cup will also be confirmed at the end of the 13th and final weekend of the Swindale Shield. Petone will take eighth place should they beat the Upper Hutt Rams, with or without a bonus point, which would put them clear of Poneke. But should Petone lose to the Rams and Poneke beat Paremata-Plimmerton to either draw level with or surpass Petone on points then they will clinch the final berth for the Jubilee Cup.

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This week’s rugby all starts on Wednesday at 1.30pm at Evans Bay Park when St Pat’s Town and Wellington College clash for the Centennial Shield in Wellington’s oldest traditional college fixture.

Head to head, Wellington College has won 79 of their previous clashes and St Pat’s Town 45. The Centennial Shield was created to commemorate the 100th match played between the colleges in 1984. The first match was played on Saturday, 22 August 1885. The Shield is currently held by Wellington College, with this fixture rounding out the opening set of games of the Weltec Premiership.

This is followed by the second round of division 1 secondary school girls matches at 4.00pm Wednesday. Defending champions St Mary’s College and Wellington East meet at Te Whaea and Sacred Heart and Aotea Colleges clash at Fraser Park.

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On Saturday, MSP No. 8 Matt Peni crossed for four tries against Paremata-Plimmerton. This is the second four-try individual haul in the Swindale Shield this season after OBU wing Te Wehi Wright scored four tries, also against Paremata-Plimmerton. The last time a No. 8 scored four tries in a Swindale Shield match was last year when OBU’s Teariki Ben Nicholas scored 4 against Wellington in a match at Westpac Stadium.

Records aren’t easily searchable for tries scored, but it’s fairly safe to say that Peni’s four tries are the most by a MSP forward in the past 10 years. Other big try scoring sprees by MSP players (backs) in recent times include 6 tries by Mike Kingsbeer vs Wainui in 2009 and 5 tries by Brendan Watt vs Tawa in 2009.

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Poneke fullback Michael Sage score a hat-trick on Saturday in his team’s 70-14 win over Avalon, to now be the leading try scorer with 11 tries in 12 rounds. MSP wing Mike Buckley is second with nine tries.

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Tawa lock Hemi Fermanis was awarded 3 points in his side’s 37-12 win over the Upper Hutt Rams on Saturday, to move to the top of the Billy Wallace competition standings. Fermanis is on 15, ahead of Wainuiomata’s Ben Tupuola on 14 and Poneke’s Cole Stewart and Petone’s Lester Maulolo, both on 12.

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The Hurricanes achieved a bonus point win in Pretoria over the Bulls to keep the pressure on the Crusaders as the business end of the Super Rugby competition draws nearer. The Hurricanes also had to battle through with injuries during the match, such as to Ardie Savea and Mark Abbott, while Beauden Barrett was a late scratching due to precautions over headaches leading up to the fixture.

The Hurricanes won despite the Bulls having more than 65 percent possession and being camped in their opposition’s 22-metre area four times as much as the Canes did in theirs. But five tries to two tell a story, especially when the Bulls' second try came only three minutes from the end.

The Hurricanes are fifth overall on the Super Rugby points table. On the current standings in the Chiefs are seventh and wouldn’t make the playoffs, following their 16-16 draw with the Blues on Friday night.

The Hurricanes hit Perth this coming weekend to play the Force. Perth has been the scene of a few epic battles between the Hurricanes and Force since their first clash there in 2007, won 18-17 by the Force. In 2009 fullback Cory Jane scored a fulltime match-winner in a 28-27 victory. TJ In 2012 halfback TJ Perenara scored a hat-trick in a 46-19 win in his starting debut for the Hurricanes.

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The U20 Junior World Championship gets underway this week in Georgia. The New Zealand U20s open their account against Scotland at 9.00pm NZT on Wednesday. They play their second pool game against Italy on Sunday night and their third against Ireland next Thursday.

Several Wellington players are involved in the tournament, with Alex Fidow (Ories), Asafo Aumua (Avalon), Isaiah Walker-Leaware (Poneke), Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Tawa) and Thomas Umaga-Jensen (Wainuiomata) representing New Zealand and Losi Filipo (Petone), Ivan Fepuleai (MSP) and Grayson Whitman (MSP) representing Samoa. Whitman has been called up as a replacement for the Samoan team.

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Former Petone/OBU first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth scored 15 points but his Wasps team lost the English Premiership final 20-23 to Avalon’s Thomas Waldrom’s Exeter Chiefs on Saturday. Northern United’s Alapati Leiua also featured in the final, coming off the bench for Wasps.

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The British and Irish Lions arrive in New Zealand this week, touching down in Auckland and then heading north to Whangarei for their first match against a New Zealand Provincial Barbarians side on Saturday.

The local team is coached by former MSP and Wellington U19 coach Clayton McMillan and includes Tawa loosehead prop Tolu Fahamokioa.