Off the Ball for 16 October

Above: Piri Weepu and Ma’a Nonu tussling in the 2012 Jubilee Cup semi-final. Weepu has announced his retirement from all rugby (more below) while Nonu returned from injury overnight to help Toulon pip Scarlets 21-20 in the opening round of the European Champions Cup competition.

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.

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One of Wellington’s favourite players of the modern era, Piri Weepu, has retired from all rugby after playing his last game on Saturday for Wairarapa Bush in the Heartland Championship.

Weepu started his club rugby career at Hutt Old Boys Marist, before shifting over the hill to Wainuiomata in 2006 where he stayed with them, playing his last game for the green and blacks at the end of 2012.

His rise to the top was rapid, the Te Aute College old boy going from club player, Wellington Lions to Hurricanes back-up to starter to the All Blacks at the end of 2004. In 2005 he played for the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand Maori and the All Blacks and as each occasion grew so did Weepu’s level of performance. He suffered set-backs in his career, such as being omitted from the 2007 RWC squad, and highs, such as captaining Wellington to the Ranfurly Shield in 2008, winning the Tom French Memorial Maori Player of the Year award and of course winning the RWC in 2011.

The former New Zealand U21 indoor netball team player ran on for his 71st and final test against France in 2013. As well as playing for the Blues in 2012 and 2013 – playing his 100th Super Rugby game for them in his final year - he had stints in Europe for London Welsh and Wasps and two seasons in France.

He has a sevens tournament named after him, which takes place at William Jones Park on 25 November.

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This American Ambassador’s sevens three-tournament series could prove to be a cracker.

The question is can the Upper Hutt Rams be stopped? If they win the second leg in a fortnight at Mary Crowther Park then they will surely wrap up a three-peat of titles.

But throw a blanket over some several clubs out to lower them, with beaten finalists from Saturday Tawa, Marist St Pat’s, Hutt Old Boys Marist, Northern United, Wellington, Old Boys University and Oriental-Rongotai all looking good, and others such as Paremata-Plimmerton and Johnsonville super-competitive.

Look out for last year’s runners-up Wainuiomata to quickly bounce back in their home tournament on the 28th and for an improved showing by both Poneke and Petone.

With the added prospect of a sizable contingent of Wellington Lions, Wellington Development players and school leavers being injected into the various squads, the second and third tournaments should be really exciting.

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The ducks at Lyndhurst Park know their rugby. They seem to know when fulltime is up and when the next match is about to start, even if they are 50 metres away from the nearest person and undisturbed. They tend to waddle on to the field for an inspection just prior to the fulltime hooter being sounded and, satisfied, head off just before the next game is about to get underway.

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Also on 28 October is the fourth annual Hurricanes Schools Sevens Championship in Masterton, so far featuring a field of 17 teams (12 boys and five girls) from five of the region’s eight Provincial Unions are set to take part, with some more entries still to be confirmed. For more read here

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Prior to that, there are two tournaments coming up this weekend.

The Wellington Samoan Rugby Union’s Village Kings 10s tournament on Saturday at Jerry Collins Stadium will feature 12 teams. For more information follow the WSRU’s Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/WellingtonSamoaRugbyUnion/

Labour Day Monday sees the Wellington Condor 7s qualifying tournament at Naenae College. Numbers are down again this year, but the quality should remain high. There is an added incentive for the girls with a second team invited to join defending champions St Mary’s College at the National tournament in Auckland in early December. More details later in the week.

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The Wellington Development team finished their three-match programme on a high on Saturday, defeating their Auckland counterparts 50-28. Details of the match, how it panned out and who scored the tries are unavailable.

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More Premier coaches for 2018 to be announced soon, following recent announcements at OBU (Jamie Williams with Michael Barnes, Rua Tupoki and new signing Greg Halford) and Poneke (Mason Lawrence and Roy Kinikinilau). Petone are set to announce new coaches in the near future.

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Eight days after beating Northland 36-18 in their final round-robin match of the year, the Wellington Lions are back at Westpac Stadium this coming Friday night to host the Northland Taniwha in the semi-finals of the Championship division.

Bay of Plenty will host Otago in the other semi-final, while Hawke’s Bay saved their best to last by beating Manawatu 36-31 and knocking the Turbos out of the running.

Wellington will want to dispatch Northland then beat either BoP/Otago in the final to replace Waikato in the Premiership division next year.

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The Wellington Pride will be playing in the Women’s competition Championship division next year after their final round loss and Waikato’s win over Auckland pushed them to the bottom of the standings.

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Piri Weepu's Wairarapa Bush had a poor season in the Heartland Championship, but nearby Horowhenua-Kapiti have finished second after the round-robin. Tawa's James So'oialo has played a big hand in putting them in the posiiton where they will host Buller in Levin on Saturday in their Meads Cup semi-final. Another Hurricanes region side, Wanganui, finished fourth and they play top qualfiier South Canterbury.

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Five tries to North Harbour wing Tevita Li against Taranaki on Sunday, shooting him to the top of the NPC try-scoring list with 11 in total. When was the last time a player has scored five tries in a Men’s NPC match? Has anyone ever scored six?

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Ben O’Keeffe has been appointed to referee two of the biggest matches on the November Test schedule.  On 11 November he has Ireland v South Africa in Dublin, followed a week later by England v Australia at Twickenham. Additionally, regular Wellington visitor Shuhei Kubo will referee the French Barbarians v Maori All Blacks match in Bordeaux on 10 November.

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The Crusaders are taking schoolboy recruiting to the next level – moving from the North Island to the west island and signing Australian Secondary Schools lock Nick Frost for the next two years. Read more here

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As well as Nonu’s Toulon beating Scarlets in the weekend, Vitor Vito’s La Rochelle defeated Harlequins in London 34-27 in their European Champions Cup match over the weekend. No. 8 Vito led a powerful forwards effort.

Vito is a former Wellington Lions Player of the Year. The Wellington Lions are preparing for their awards dinner so the overall winner this year will be a worthy recipient. 

Contributions to Off the Ball to editor@clubrugby.co.nz