Off the Ball for 31 July

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.

It’s the calm before the storm before finals weekend, and let’s hope the current erratic weather swings favourably for players and supporters of the 12 teams and seven clubs involved at the Petone Rec on Saturday.

Finals day on Saturday sees Colts (Division 1 and 2), Women’s (Division 1 and 2), Premier Reserve and the championship Jubilee Cup final between Old Boys University and Hutt Old Boys Marist.

For both clubs, this will be their second visit to the final in recent years, with HOBM beating Wainuiomata 14-11 in 2014 to claim victory (also winning in 2007) and OBU defeating Marist St Pat’s 30-27 in 2015. In their previous two meetings this year, OBU have won by a combined score of 57-53.

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It’s the last round of the WelTec Premiership First XV competition coming up, before semi-finals on 12 August. The semi-finalists – St Pat’s Silverstream, Scots College, Wellington College and St Pat’s Town – have been found so it’s just the order of finishing that needs deciding. The current top four points table after eight rounds is: Silverstream 40, Scots College 39, Wellington College 29, St Pat’s Town 26. Scots v Silverstream for top spot is this coming weekend’s feature game, while Town plays fifth placed Rongotai and Wellington College plays sixth placed Porirua.

One striking result was the St Pat’s Silverstream second XV beating the Wellington College second XV 90-0 on Saturday in the Premier 2 competition. Has a competitive Wellington College team ever been thrashed by this many points?

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The Premier 2 Wellington club rugby Hardham Cup has two rounds to play before its conclusion. On Saturday, the Upper Hutt Rams beat Johnsonville 24-13 in the Maidstone Park mud, giving them an 8-point lead at the top of the standings with two rounds to play. The Rams are on 37 points, ahead of Johnsonville on 29 and Poneke on 26, and they will wrap up the title if they beat the Avalon Wolves this Saturday.

Lower grades also still have a few weeks to run – details of the remainder of their competitions to come.

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OBU have won 12 of their Swindale Shield/Jubilee Cup games this year by 15 points or more. In 2010 Northern United won 14 of their 20 games (including the final) by 15 points or more.

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Before Saturday, only Norths since the inception of the Club Rugby website in 2005 have scored 50 points in a semi-final, ironically that game was also at Jerry Collins Stadium. The top five high scoring semi-finals in this period have been:

2006: Norths 56 – Petone 17
2017: OBU 50 – Tawa 22
2012: Ories 45 – Wainuiomata 17
2014: HOBM 43 – Ories 26
2010: Norths 38 – HOBM 13

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Marist St Pat’s beat Tawa twice in the round robin last year but lost the final. Will OBU suffer the same fate on Saturday, after beating HOBM 38-36 and 19-17 in their two matches already this year?

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How many nations are represented in the final? Players with Samoan, Tongan, Scottish, Kiwi, South African and Argentinean backgrounds could potentially play and we are sure there are other countries represented too.

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One thing that won’t be at stake in Saturday's Jubilee Cup Final is this year’s Billy Wallace Best & Fairest title. That will be shared between Wainuiomata's Ben Tupuola and Tawa's Hemi Fermanis with the pair deadlocked on 23 points and neither involved in this weekend's decider. It will be the second Best & Fairest honour for Tupuola with the big No.8 having claimed the crown outright in 2014 and he becomes the first repeat winner since Avalon's Scott Waldrom won it back-to-back in 2000 & 2001, and the seventh overall.

While its Fermanis' first, he's not the first in the family with older brother TJ having won it in 2015 (shared with Wellington's Adam Deck), and the two join Brian (twice) and Don Cederwall as the only pairs of brothers to win the award.

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There are three Wellington players in the Cook Islands national squad to face Tahiti on 4 August at BCI National Stadium in Rarotonga. The match acts as a RWC2019 qualifier. The winner of this match meets the top ranked team of the Asian Rugby Championship (excluding Japan) in June 2018. The players in the Cooks Islands squad are: Teara Henderson (Oriental Rongotai), Greg Mullany (Pōneke) and Mat Mullany (Johnsonville).

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Former Marist St Pat’s and Wellington College prop Solomona Sakalia enjoyed a good day out in Bay of Plenty Premier rugby on Saturday, bookending his Mount Maunganui team to an emphatic 41-8 win in the final over Rotoiti.

Tawa affiliated and Hurricanes squad member Ben Lam scored five tries for his Eden club team in their Jubilee Trophy (consolation final) decider against Grammar TEC on Saturday. The national club sevens champions won 75-28.

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Two University clubs won their respective club rugby titles over this past weekend. University won the Gallaher Shield title in Auckland and Lincoln University won the Hawkins Trophy in Canterbury. Will Old Boys University make it a third this coming Saturday?

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Most unions have wrapped up their club competitions, with just Wellington and Hawke’s Bay finals to come this coming weekend.

In Napier, top qualifier Napier Old Boys Marist will beat third placed qualifier Clive in next weekend’s Maddison Trophy final at McLean Park, after a pair of tightly contested semi-finals. NOBM won their 33rd consecutive match, with former St Pat’s Town First XV halfback Zac Donaldson the Player of the Match. Word is that several players – mostly Clive players – will be ineligible for the final as they will be playing for the Hawke’s Bay Magpies in a pre-season match against Waikato. This used to happen in Wellington regularly (David Holwell being pulled from Poneke at finals time about 15 years ago as one example), so not fair on local fans if it's still happening elsewhere.

Closer to Wellington, the Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa Bush club rugby competitions have concluded, with Gladstone beating Martinborough 25-12 to win in Masterton on Saturday and Waikanae beating Paraparaumu 11-6 last weekend to win in Levin.

Waikanae lifted the Ramsbottom Cup off Paraparaumu, who had held it for five straight seasons. Meanwhile, in Timaru, the Celtic club won their ninth straight South Canterbury Hammersley Cup title. This is a modern day record for most winning streaks in NZ club rugby. The record is 16 in a row set by Star in Southland from 1888.

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The Hurricanes are winging their way back from South Africa, having finished second, first and third in consecutive Super Rugby seasons. The players will no doubt be rested now, before joining their Men’s NPC squads. If not in a playing capacity (Wes Goosen for OBU), several could be involved with their club sides in the finals.

Congratulations to Poneke hooker Dane Coles for becoming the 11th player to reach 100 appearances for the Hurricanes. The other 10 players to have reached this milestone are Andrew Hore, Cory Jane, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Rodney So'oialo, Jeremy Thrush, Neemia Tialata, Tana Umaga, Victor Vito and Julian Savea.

Beauden Barrett kicked a conversion and a penalty against the Lions to reach 1,000 career points for the Hurricanes.

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The Wellington U19s squad has its first tentative hit-out this Wednesday night at Jerry Collins Stadium, against a composite side.

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A Wellington XV takes on Manawatu this coming Sunday at Otaki in a Men’s NPC warm-up fixture. Details to be confirmed. With just a handful of players involved in the Jubilee Cup final in the squad, it could be a Wellington team that closely resembles the NPC one in a couple of weeks (minus Hurricanes players).

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