The A-Z of Wellington Club Rugby for 2016

Above: Old Boys University supporters in the stands at Porirua Park last August watching their side win the Jubilee Cup. 

The 2016 Wellington club rugby season kicks of this coming Friday with a full round of Premier Swindale Shield and Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield fixtures. Here is our inaugural A-Z looking at the season ahead:

A: Avalon
Much like Fraser Park around them, Avalon are in a state of redevelopment having only returned to Premier last year and enduring a tough and winless Swindale campaign before going on to make the Hardham Cup semifinals. With a new coach in Aaron Falloon (Scott Waldrom having stood down from that post), and adding destructive NZ Schools hooker Asafo Aumua from Silverstream to their ranks, the Wolves will look to take a step forward in 2016 and at the very least claim their first Swindale win since they beat Wests 31-3 way back in round two in 2011.

B: Basin Reserve
Wellington’s oldest rugby venue predates the formation of the WRFU, but in recent times its availability has been doubtful at least. The main rugby users – Old Boys-University – remain confident that they will have use of the ground from the Jubilee Cup round at the latest, but even that could be a week-to-week proposition.

C: Cups
Everything in the Premier grade points towards August 6, and the Jubilee Cup final. The Holy Grail of Wellington club rugby will be fought for by the last two teams standing, and for them it will be their 22nd outing of the season. The Cup itself has spent each of the last five summers in a different location – Miramar, Hataitai, Lyndhurst, Woburn, and the base of Mt Victoria – so will it be back in one of those places again or will it see its sixth different holder in as many years?

D: Delaney Park
It may be several years since Premier Rugby was played in Stokes Valley, but the local club remains optimistic that one day they’ll be able to return to that level. For now they toil away in the third-tier First Grade competition, where they’ll aim to go one better than last year’s runner-up finish.

E: Eagles
Soaring to the top in claiming the Jubilee Cup in 2014 and then following that up by winning the Swindale Shield last year, the Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles crashed back to earth in their title defence, winning only their final game against Wellington in the Jubilee round-robin. One of the stronger clubs in recent years, they will be expected by the Hutt Rec faithful to be contenders again though with the ground unavailable owing to its annual maintenance period it won’t be until round 8 on April 30 that they’ll play at the Nest.

F: First XV
Preparations are already underway for the season ahead at the college level as well, where St Pat’s Town will look to defend the title they won after stunning Silverstream and Scots in successive weeks to claim their first crown since 1995. Those latter two will be challengers again, Wellington College will look to reassert themselves as the preeminent local school, Rongotai will look to break back into the top four, while other sides will look to make the Premiership and mix with the big boys for 2016.

G: Goats
Old Boys-University go into the season with the Jubilee Cup holding pride of place at the Cambridge Hotel for the first time, after ending the drought that dated back to University’s 1966 triumph. The Goats might face a tough ask to repeat though with numerous departures from the title-winning side, particularly in the back division. That however gives others a chance to shine, and they will still possess a forward pack that will be as grizzled and stubborn as their namesake.

H: Hill
By Wellington standards the Wainuiomata Hill is a decent-sized geographical obstacle. The Hill Road is the only way into the suburb, and if the local side has anything to say about it one opposing sides will have to dread. Many of the players who almost won the club’s first Jubilee Cup in 2014 are still involved, and the hope is those experienced heads blend with their young talent into a winning mix. A healthy and available TJ Va’a will likely be critical to that.

I: Isaia Walker-Leaware
Some interest will fall on Poneke’s biggest recruit, mammoth lock Isaia Walker-Leaware. Rated one of the best schoolboy players in the country last year and part of the NZ Schools team, the Gisborne Boys’ High School standout has moved to Wellington on a WRFU contract. He follows the path to Kilbirnie Park previously trodden by another from that productive fine rugby school, Charlie Ngatai.

J: Johnsonville
The Hawks were slow starters in 2015 with their only Swindale wins being over fellow strugglers Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton, but found the Hardham Cup more to their liking winning six from seven before falling to the Upper Hutt Rams in the final. 2016 is a season of change at Helston Park, with coach Mason Lawrence and player/assistant Roy Kinikinilau having moved on to Ories and well-regarded former Upper Hutt and Tawa coach Logan Ili running their Premier side. Look out for some French, American, South African and Fijian accents in their team this year too. 

K: Kilbirnie
Another place where hope springs anew is Kilbirnie Park, where Poneke looks to shrug off the malaise of recent seasons. Usually regular contenders for the Jubilee Cup, last year they missed out by a single competition point and were consigned to the Hardham for the third time in four years, winning it in 2014 but falling short in their defence last year. One of the most combative sides at the breakdown, they’ll be looking for more of that abrasiveness across the park.

L: Ladies
As recently as 3 years ago the Women’s competition comprised just 5 teams. Last year there were nine, and this year there could be more again, the growth testament to those putting in the hard yards on and off the field. Club Rugby will run a separate Women’s preview next week leading up to the start of their competition next Friday night.

M: Marist St Pat’s
If there’s one certainty about Wellington club rugby it’s that MSP will be there or thereabouts at the business end of the season. Runners-up in both the Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup last year their clear aim is to go one better in each and add yet silverware double to the club’s roll of honour, and claiming the Marist Spillane Cup to start the term is a clear sign of intent. The season ahead could see one of their favourite sons - Fa’atonu Fili - notch his 200th Premier outing (including the 17 matches he played for Ories in 2013).

N: Night Rugby
Premier rugby under lights has been an occasional event in Wellington, and this year a pair of full rounds (Round 3 on 6 April and Round 7 on 27 April) will be contested midweek as the WRFU squeezes a full 14-team round-robin into 11 weeks. Twelve of the matches are scheduled for the region’s artificial turfs, with the other two at the Hutt Rec and Porirua Park. Premier Reserve will also get two nights out, with those happening in differing weeks to Premier.

O: Oriental-Rongotai
Another club with title ambitions can be found at the Polo Ground where returning prodigal son Roy Kinikinilau takes charge, assisted by Mason Lawrence and swapping the roles they held at Johnsonville with several of their players there having followed them. The Magpies have made it to the Jubilee Cup semi-final stage at least in each of the last five seasons and at minimum would want to keep that streak intact; and they’re likely to be as big, physical, and bruising as ever.

P: Paremata-Plimmerton
Before last year, Paremata-Plimmerton hadn’t played in the top-flight since 1985-87 and never at any other time since their formation in 1959. It was something of a baptism by fire, as their Premiers won only two games – a shock 12-8 triumph over Poneke and a 24-7 result over Petone B, both in the Hardham Cup – and endured several tough days. The Ngatitoa club is confident that more of those better days are just ahead, with the appointment of John Schwalger as RDO something of a coup.

Q: Quality
If there’s one way – albeit slightly perverse - to measure the quality that is found on show in Wellington club rugby it’s the rate at which players are snapped up by other provincial unions. That aside every match you’ll see players on professional contracts, those aspiring to reach that level and some of the very best amateurs you’ll find anywhere.

R: Resurrection
The glory days aren’t that far in the past, but for the Norths faithful that line out in their blue and white each match it might seem like an age. A mainstay of the Jubilee Cup for a decade when they were always contenders if not winners, they haven’t even made the top 8 for the last three seasons and last year didn’t even make the Hardham Cup semis. Former player Gerard Faasavalu takes the reins after a stint coaching Parramatta in Sydney’s Shute Shield with the task of rousing the giant from its slumber.

S: Swindale Shield
Before the Jubilee Cup comes the Swindale Shield, returned to a full round-robin this season after last years ‘balloted-out’ version. The midweek night rounds become a necessity to make that happen, adding a different element to proceedings. While teams would rather win the Swindale than not despite the maxim that you can’t drink out of it, only Tawa and Norths have achieved an outright Swindale/Jubilee double in the last decade (plus MSP's share of the Jubilee Cup in 2008s drawn final after winning the Swindale). 

T: Tawa
The 2013 champions came close to making the final again last year, pushing MSP in the seim-final a week after the two sides fought out a pulsating match to conclude the round-robin. Another side with a clutch of exciting outside backs and a grizzled veteran forwards unit they expect to be contenders once again, and have plenty of depth with their second side having qualified for last year’s Hardham Cup after running undefeated through the first round Harper Lock Shield.

U: Upper Hutt Rams
After making the Jubilee Cup in the first year of the merger between Upper Hutt and Rimutaka, last year was something of a disappointment as, like Poneke, they fell a point short of the eight. They did rebound to beat Johnsonville for the Hardham Cup, though this year the obvious expectation is that the 7’s provincial champions and national runners-up will be contenders for the major prizes in the 15’s game.

V: Villagers
Petone managed to win three Jubilee Cup matches last year, the first time they achieved that since winning four in 2010. That was the last time they made the playoffs though, and redressing that five-year drought will be an aim this year. It could be exciting times at the Rec with a backline full of the cream of the talent from the past two seasons of the college game ready to take off behind what should be a gritty and experienced forward pack.

W: Wellington
The Axemen finally made their return from the wilderness, reaching the Jubilee Cup for the first time since 1995. The challenge for them now is to get into the playoffs, and then push for their first title since 1987, though making that all the more difficult will be the absence of three players central to their efforts over recent seasons in Vaea Fifita (Hurricanes), Hoani Matenga (Blues), and Hilton Mexted (Manly), though James So’oialo has swapped one brother (Steve) to join another (Rodney) from Tawa.

X: X-factor
You know them when you see them, players who have that little ‘something’ about them and able to inspire their teammates or break open games with a bit of magic. Some of these you know – MSP’ Fili, Wellington’s So’oialo, Ories’ James Proctor and OBU’s Joe Hill – and others you might not. So keep an eye on flyers Mike Buckley (MSP), Paddy Hughes (Wellington), and Max Pearson (Upper Hutt), midfielders Jackson Garden-Bachop (Norths), Lester Maulolo (Petone) and Pepesana Patafilo (Tawa), and halfbacks Sheridan Rangihuna (HOBM) and Ken Kapeli (MSP). Amongst those up front are Tawa duo Telea Seumanutafa and TJ Fermanis, fellow loose forward Ata Langilangi (Avalon), and front rowers James O’Reilly (HOBM) and Finbarr Kerr-Newell (OBU).

Y: Youngsters
Every year a crop of school leavers take their talents from the college game to the club one, and 2016 is no different. Aside from the aforementioned Aumua and Walker-Leaware others who played in the NZ Schools side last year include the NZ Rugby Bronze Boot winner prop Alex Fidow (Scots, now Ories), hooker/No. 8 Ben Power (HIBS, now HOBM), No. 8 Marino Mikaele-Tuu (Hastings Boys, now OBU) halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Wellington College, now Tawa), and outside backs Losi Filipo (Silverstream, now Petone) and Peter Umaga-Jensen (Scots, now Wainuiomata). Two other local schoolboy standouts, locks Jarimar Schuster and Henry Mexted (both Scots) join Wainuiomata and MSP respectively, while physical winger Connor Fuli (Wellington College) joins Poneke.

Z: Zoom lenses
Every weekend a hardy bunch grabs their cameras and takes to the region's grounds to capture the on field action, which is regularly shared by this website. Their efforts largely go unrecognised, so thanks to Russell ‘Chainsaw’ Potts, Mike Lewis, Dave Lintott, Hugh Pretorius, NZ Lenz, Stewart Baird, Dave Brownlie, Masanori Udagawa and others, for your ongoing contribution to this game.