Off the Ball for 9 April

Above: Perry Hayman is awarded the try amongst a sea of red and black On Saturday. Poneke won 40-35. 

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.

UPDATED: The Premier and Premier Reserve competitions are into their fifth week but enter stage left for the Colts and Women’s competitions that start this coming weekend.

The first round of the Women’s competition, formerly the Fleurs Trophy, gets underway on Saturday with a Gala Day at Ngati Toa Domain. The Oriental-Rongotai Women are looking to defend both their first and round titles against eight other teams this year. They have the bye first up though. More details of this competition coming up this week, including a preview on WRFU channels.

The seven-round Les Mills Colts Division 1 John E Kelly Cup and Division 2 JRD Cup competitions feature 16 teams in the two grades. All 14 Premier clubs have a side, plus Old Boys University have two more teams this year. Petone won both Les Mills Colts competitions last year and they start their season against Hutt Old Boys Marist Green at home.

The President’s Grade kicks off this coming Saturday as well.

In the Swindale Shield, the big match of the next round is the McBain Shield between Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist, while Wainuiomata host Northern United for the Alf Keating Memorial Trophy and Old Boys University defend the Bill Brien Challenge Cup against Oriental-Rongotai.

Pre-season school rugby is underway as well. This week, St Pat’s Town hosts Nelson College on Thursday at 5.00pm, while Nelson College also play Rongotai College on Saturday, while Scots College play King’s College from Auckland and St Pat’s Silverstream play Taranaki’s Francis Douglas Memorial College.

All the rugby above comes hot on the heels of the Hurricanes hosting the Chiefs this Friday night at Westpac Stadium, the first of three consecutive home matches. In pipping the Sharks, the Hurricanes have won five and lost one so far in 2018.

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Saturday was a busy day for those making their first Premier starts, with no fewer than 14 players by our count making their run-on debuts. Some, like MSP duo Jayden McCarthy and Jay Hawkins, have toiled away in the B-teams for a few seasons behind established players, while others like OBU’s Taine Plumtree and Tawa’s Kyle Preston are in their first season out of school. Both McCarthy and Hawkins got on the scoresheet, as did Upper Hutt Rams halfback Greg Te Kura and HOBM winger Patricio Taafua

Of interest, however, were Paremata-Plimmerton debutants Dre and Broadus Melvin. With names that nod towards American rap musicians (Dr Dre and Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus) the two became the latest set of brothers to make their Premier debuts in the same game. However, they aren’t even the only set of brothers to make their first run-on starts in the same game this season, with Tawa pair Adam and Ryan Preston (Kyle's older brothers) doing that in the first round against MSP at Awakairangi. Notably, both sets of brothers are all products of Tawa College. 

The other players to make their run-on debuts on Saturday were Axemen loose forward’s Ryan Duncan and Ranui Burchett, Johnsonville halfback Sean Winter and prop PJ Sheck, and Tawa winger Mark Lalatoa and No. 8 Brad Riley.

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2017 Wellington College Captain Naitoa Ah Kuoi played his first game of the season in MSP’s Premier Reserve team. He is joined in the side by 2017 St Patrick’s College Captain Xavier English.

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Isaia Petelo scored in his 99th Premier game for MSP and looks set to play his 100th match this coming weekend against Johnsonville, who he played a handful of games for a few seasons ago.

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Those needing some sustenance at Old Boys-University’s first home game of the year at Nairnville Park against the Upper Hutt Rams would have found a familiar face in charge of the BBQ with Former All Black Dave Loveridge running the show. No word yet on whether Trapper will be back at that post this coming Saturday when Ories visit.

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At the top end of town, the new Hub at Poneke upstairs in the old Kilbirnie Park clubrooms is nice, well worth a visit on game day or during the week.

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The 2018 Best & Fairest competition for the Billy Wallace Trophy is heating up.

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Congratulations to Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Te Wehi Wright and Will Mangos for their selections in the New Zealand Universities XV to tour Japan and Singapore. The NZU team play three matches in Japan with Kumamoto RU in Kumamoto on 28 April, Kansai University in Nishi –Kyogoku on 3 May and traditional opponents Kanto University in Tokyo on 6 May. They then travel Singapore to play the Singaporean national side on 9 May.

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Upper Hutt Rams duo Hayden Schrijvers and Salesi Rayasi made their All Black Sevens debuts over the weekend at the Hong Kong Sevens. The All Black Sevens were beaten 21-12 by Kenya in the Cup final, a day after being tipped over 50-7 by tournament champions Fiji. South Africa finished third after beating New Zealand 29-7 in the Cup playoff match.

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It’s been a blustery last two Saturdays, but the amount of time spent collectively retrieving balls when kicked out must add up considerably. Balls kicked over fences, into creeks and down into wide spaces. Lineouts are formed for 30 seconds or longer while the hooker waits for a ball.

Given the weather, there were still 64 tries scored in the seven matches played on Saturday, including 16 to midfielders. Nine teams of 14 secured try-scoring bonus points, although Tawa failed to score a try at all.

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In Mike Buckley news for Marist St Pat’s supporters, Buckley scored 4 tries in Hawke’s Bay club rugby on Saturday for his Napier Old Boys Marist side. The rampant NOBM team defeated Central 74-5 in Waikpukurau. Joe ‘Apikitoa crossed the chalk for Taradale but they went down 28-49 to MAC. In Manawatu club rugby, former OBU fullback Jono Ihaka scored another try for Kia Toa in their 22-17 win over College Old Boys.

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Last week, halfback TJ Perenara played his 100th match for the Hurricanes, on Friday night he didn’t return to the field after halftime with a knee injury. Updates on this will no doubt be forthcoming. Beauden Barrett also didn’t play but is expected to be fit to play the Chiefs.

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The Hurricanes Development team soared to a 40-10 win over the Chiefs Development side in Napier on Friday night in the Super Rugby curtain-raiser. In a classic game of two halves, the Chiefs led 10-0 at the interval, with several clear missed opportunities for the Hurricanes story of the first spell. They took their chances after halftime, with tries scored by Peter Umaga- Jensen , Billy Proctor ,Te Rangatira Waitokia,Danny Toala, Sione Asi and J.J Tualangi. Lincoln McClutchie kicked a conversion and Danny Toala four.

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More angst for Blues supporters in their late loss to the Chiefs over the weekend - they haven't beaten the Chiefs since 2011, that's 14 games ago.

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New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is entering the retail sector with the opening of the first Official All Blacks Store at Auckland Airport. The eye-catching 80sqm store opened its doors at 4am this morning in what will be a one-stop shop for licensed All Blacks merchandise.

The McBain Shield match is preceded by the McBain Shield dinner at the Angus Inn on Friday night. With proceeds to the Te Omanga Hospice. There will also be a bucket collection for the Te Omanga Hospice at the Petone Rec gate on Saturday.

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New Zealand referees are set to take centre stage in the coming months with a record number of International appointments across several series.

For the first time New Zealand will have six Test referees officiate matches in the June Internationals as well as assistant referee and TMOs appointments. Glen Jackson, Ben O’Keeffe, Mike Fraser, Brendon Pickerill, Paul Williams and Nick Briant will all control one Test match each and perform assistant referee duties in other fixtures. Jackson and O'Keeffe will both take charge of Tests between England and South Africa, with Williams overseeing Australia v Ireland.

Cam Stone, a member of the National Referee Squad, has three assistant referee appointments while Ben Skeen, Aaron Patterson Shane McDermott will all complete TMO duties.

Sevens referees Richard Kelly and Rebecca Mahoney are currently in Australia preparing to take charge of sevens matches at the Commonwealth Games while Jamie Nutbrown has been named in the refereeing panel for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship.

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