Off the Ball for 2 April

Above: Petone fullback Adam Simpson scored two tries against the Upper Hutt Rams on Saturday and five in the past two weeks. Photo by Peter Mcdonald.

Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max , Lovelocks Sports Bar,  Motor Doctors and Sarah Kilner Real Estate 

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.

Three weeks into the new Premier and Premier Reserve season and many of the talking points going into the Gala Day opener are still on the table.

Across both competitions, just four of 28 sides are unbeaten, all but five have won at least match and every club has had at least one win.

More in-depth coverage coming up later in the week, but interclub trophies being contested in the Swindale Shield this coming Saturday at a glance include the Cyril Collett Memorial Shield between Poneke and Northern United and the Bill Brien Challenge Shield, being put on the line by holder OBU for the first time this season against the Upper Hutt Rams in their opening home game.

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Want to know what is happening with the Women’s competition and all the lower grade competitions? Look out for a preview of the lower grade competitions, packed with key information, on the WRFU channels in the middle of this week.

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Two of the Sopoaga brothers got the 3 points in the Best and Fairest competition on Saturday, hooker Zeke for Old Boys University at Fraser Park and loose forward Tupou for Petone just up the motorway at Maidstone Park.

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Greg Foe was the clear Player of the Match for Poneke against Tawa Saturday, his play reminiscent of other Poneke openside flanker performances in recent years, such as Masefau Leuluniu and and Nili Latu.

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Two Wellington players will be wearing the black fern over the next fortnight or so in the sevens game. Avalon’s Kat Whata-Simpkins has been selected in the Black Ferns Women’s side that contests the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and the Upper Hutt Rams’ Dan Schrijvers will be with the All Black Sevens side at the Hong Kong Sevens.

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Former Upper Hutt coach and now mayor of Upper Hutt, Wayne Guppy, was admitted a life member of the union for his outstanding service to the sport in the region at the WRFU annual general meeting last week.

Guppy has served many roles within the union, including as president and vice-president, an assistant coach to the Wellington Lions, coach of the sevens team, a selector as well as fulfilling an important role as a coaching representative with major partner Ricoh.

The WRFU announced a second successive financial surplus, posting a $204,000 surplus. The 2017 surplus followed a similar result in 2016 when the union had a financial surplus of $191,000.

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Hutt Old Boys Marist prop Simon Malaeulu played his 189th premier game on Saturday against Oriental-Rongotai.  He came off the bench to score his 50th and 51st Premier tries.

Chase Tiatia has scored 19 tries in 23 matches for Hutt Old Boys Marist.

Hutt Old Boys Marist have scored over 40 points in each of their three wins this season. When Norths won the Swindale/Jubliee double in 2010 they scored over 40 points in their first four games.

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Michael Findlay added a new dimension to scoring back-to-back for the Marist St Pat’s Premier Reserves on Saturday in his side’s 79-0 win over Wainuiomata. Findlay scored a try off a lineout drive and then he caught the ball of the next kickoff and ran through untouched to score a quickfire brace.

Veteran Faatonu Fili also played 60 minutes of this match at second five-eighth for MSP to help mentor the young bloods in the backline.

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Tawa club officials are hoping to eradicate a wasps nest that has set up base on the hill immediately to the left of the scoreboard at Lyndhurst Park. The area was best avoided on Saturday. However, it was both Tawa teams that were stung on Saturday, their Premier Reserve teams going down to Poneke 20-28 and their Premier team missing out 20-25.

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Teariki Ben-Nicholas has scored 22 tries in 51 matches for Old Boys University.

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Former long-serving Paremata-Plimmerton fullback Ryan McLean made his Premier Reserve refereeing debut on Saturday, in the Upper Hutt Rams – Petone Harper Lock Shield fixture at Maidstone Park.

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In Hawke’s Bay club rugby, Napier Old Boys Marist extended their long-running winning streak by beating Napier Tech 35-25, Mike Buckley scoring another try. Hastings Boys’ High School’s star fullback from last year Danny Toala scored a hat-trick and kicked four conversions in Hastings Rugby and Sport’s 66-21 win over Clive.

In the Manawatu, the Feilding Yellows side celebrated its 140th anniversary by beating Old Boys Marist 31-11. After being sent off and serving a one-match suspension on debut for them a fortnight ago, former MSP hooker Valentine Meachen played in this match. Former Ories lock Liam Hallam-Eames was in the OBM line-up. Elsewhere, former Old Boys University fullback Jono Ihaka scored two tries at centre in Kia Toa’s 45-10 win over Linton Army.

Taranaki club rugby started on Friday and Saturday, with two-time defending champions Tukapa beaten by Coastal 18-16 in the opening round.

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Looking forward to the return of the Saturday Rugby Club on Radio Sport hosted by Damian Collins, with commentary and around the grounds updates? The start to their season on the airwaves has been delayed owing to cricket commentary. Fair enough (except when it’s raining as it was in Auckland last Saturday). It will be delayed further this weekend owing to the network’s Commonwealth Games coverage. Fair enough? Massive respect and good luck to the men and women representing the country over in Australia, but would a local audience for a couple of hours this coming Saturday afternoon prefer to listen to local ruby and other local sports updates or commentary of: mixed team quarter-finals badminton, women’s preliminary basketball , men’s boxing quarterfinals , swimming heats, women’s table tennis team quarter-finals, the men’s 77kg weightlifting final, the men’s individual all-round gymnastics and women’s singles and men’s triples bowls section play?

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After scoring 31 points in their previous two matches on their current tour, the Sharks beat the Blues 63-40 on Saturday in Super Rugby.

Robert du Preez scored 38 points for the Sharks against the Blues the second highest tally in a Super Rugby match. The record is also held by a Shark. Gavin Lawless scored 50 points against the Highlanders in 1997.

No Auckland rugby team (including their NPC team) had conceded more than 60 points until Saturday. The previous worst effort by an Auckland side was in 2004 when the NPC side leaked 59 points against Waikato.

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TJ Perenara has scored 17 tries against Australian Super Rugby which is tied for the most with Bryan Habana.

Ben Lam became the first player to score four tries in a match for the Hurricanes. There have been 15 previous hat-tricks by Hurricanes players in Super Rugby. Tana Umaga scored three of them (two in 1997 and one in 2000), Julian Savea two (2012, 2016) and Vince Aso two (both in 2017). Hooker Andrew Hore is the only forward to score three tries for the Hurricanes, against the Chiefs in 2006.

The Hurricanes host the Sharks this Friday night in Napier. The Hurricanes have played on McLean Park 10 times previously, winning seven and losing three of these. Last year they beat the Brumbies 56-21 there.

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The Hurricanes Development and the Chiefs Development sides meet in the curtain-raiser on Friday night. This is the Hurricanes Development’s penultimate scheduled match of the season, with a fixture against the Sunwolves Development in Levin on 26 April to follow.

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Sad news late last week that former All Black prop Keith Murdoch has died at age 74. Murdoch, played 27 matches for the All Blacks from 1970 to 1972 - including three tests and is the first All Black to have ever been sent home from a tour for disciplinary reasons. After scoring the only try in the All Blacks' win over Wales in 1972, Murdoch was involved in a fight at a Cardiff hotel, being sent home from the tour by All Blacks management. Instead of returning to New Zealand he disembarked in Australia and subsequently spent much of his life living there away from the limelight.

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Overheard at a mild Jerry Collins Stadium on Thursday night in two separate conversations: “wouldn’t it be great if the Wellington Lions played here later in the year.”

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Can Sky TV survive losing the Rugby World Cup rights? This article on Radio NZ from a few days ago is worth a read and asks this question http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/353608/has-sky-suffered-a-breach-in-its-defences

One consequence if Sky TV lose the All Blacks could be more people unsubscribing or not joining up in the first place, meaning fewer people watching Super Rugby and NPC rugby and general interest declining. The same goes for other ‘fair-weather’ sports that people watch and take an interest in whilst on but will take or leave if there is no coverage for them and thus interest and popularity in these will wane too. The same for the bigger mainstream sports such as netball and cricket. So international coverage of sports could also have a case for being free to air too.

Have a story or some news or information? Email editor@clubrugby.co.nz