Off the Ball for 14 August

Above: Upper Hutt Rams second five-eighth Tyler Tane pushed what would have been his 20th consecutive conversion to the right of the poles on Saturday in his side’s season ending win over Poneke. After landing all 14 kicks the week before and his first five on Saturday he went on to kick three more after his missed kick.

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.

The weekend just gone saw the last round of all the lower grade competitions before semi-finals start this weekend, the conclusion of the Premier Reserve competitions and the First XV semi-finals.

There are more semi-finals coming up this weekend, these being:

First Grade Johnsonville Centennium Cup:
Northern United Usos (1) v Petone Brotherhood (4)
Hutt Old Boys Marist Barbarians v Old Boys University (3)

First Grade Division 2 Paul Donoghue Memorial Cup
Avalon Wolves (1) v Tawa (4)
Johnsonville Cripples (2) v Upper Hutt Rams Pirates (3)

Paul Potiki Memorial Shield U85kg Division 1
Wellington (1) v Eastbourne (4)
Avalon Wolves (2) v Tawa Titans (3)

Tony O’Brien Shield U85kg Division 2
OBU Bunnies (1) v Upper Hutt Rams (4)
Marist St Pat’s Red (2) v Wests Roosters (3)

A tight finish to the First Grade Division 2 competition, with three teams finishing tied on 12 points and chasing two spots available. As per the WRFU bylaw (6.7), it came down to points differential and consequently the Upper Hutt Rams (-4) were determined to have finished third, Tawa (-14) fourth, and Poneke (-59) fifth.

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Johnsonville host President’s Day this coming Saturday, with a number of matches centred around Helston Park, Newlands Park and other nearby fields, and food, drink and entertainment in the clubrooms into the evening hours.

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The Upper Hutt Rams collected two titles on Saturday in the space of two hours, winning the HD Morgan Memorial Cup Premier Reserve Division 2 spoils and the Hardham Cup.

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Just prior to that, Wellington College had emphatically beaten Scots College in the first of the WelTec Premiership semi-finals. It was game on early in the second half when Scots College wing Jack Gray scored an intercept try to put them ahead 14-13. Wellington College’s forwards were well on top by that stage and they closed the semi-final out well in winning 27-14. St Pat’s Silverstream beat St Pat’s Town 41-7 in the other semi-final.

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Unbeaten Silverstream will go into next Sunday’s final as favourites, but will the curse of the top qualifier return? The top qualifier has lost six of the previous seven finals, with Wellington College breaking the drought last year in beating St Pat’s Town 12-9 in a tryless final.

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This Wednesday night sees the Wellington Secondary Schoolgirls final between St Mary’s College and Aotea College at Jerry Collins Stadium at 6.30pm. This is the same final as last year, won by St Mary’s, who also won 17-0 and 41-5 in their two previous round-robin matches this season. Porirua College and the St Mary’s College second XV meet in the Division 2 final curtain-raiser at 5.10pm.

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It’s College Finals Day on Saturday at St Pat’s Silverstream, featuring finals of all the other boys secondary school grades. In the main final at 1.30pm, home school the Silverstream second XV takes on the St Bernard’s College First XV.

Silverstream has seven teams in colleges finals this Saturday. Last year they had five wins out of five in the lower grades.

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Dave Meaclem (Rongotai College) celebrated his last game as coach with a 20-17 win over Kapiti College in the fifth versus sixth placed playoff.

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Lots of representative games coming up throughout September, with Wellington Pride, Development, Maori U19s and U18s teams all in action, along with Centurions, Wellington Samoans and Wellington Catholic Colleges teams taking the field for games.

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Two Poneke outside backs finished the season as the joint leading try-scorers in 2017, with Michael Sage and Nick Robertson both scoring 15 tries. Both Sage and Robertson started in all of Poneke’s 23 matches in the Swindale Shield and the Hardham Cup.

Their teammate Cole Stewart was the leading try-scorer amongst the tight forwards with 10, although Stewart also played three games at flanker.

HOBM pop Joe ‘Apikotoa was the leading try scorer amongst the front-rowers with nine tries including seven in the first round.

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The leading try scorers this year were:

Michael Sage (Poneke) 15 
Nick Robertson (Poneke) 15 
Teegan Minkley (Old Boys University) 14 
Mike Buckley (Marist St Pat’s) 14)
Lester Maulolo (Petone) 13 
Mitchell Markov (Upper Hutt Rams) 13 
Parakura Lalaga (Northern United) 12 
Brandyn Laursen (Hutt Old Boys Marist) 12

OBU first five-eighth Dale Sabbagh was the only player to pass 200 points this season, setting a new club record 241 points. The top 10 leading points scorers were:

Dale Sabbagh (Old Boys University) 241
Joyner Key (Upper Hutt Rams) 199
James So’oialo (Tawa) 190
Andrew Wells (Marist St Pat’s) 178 
Adam Deck (Oriental-Rongotai) 154
Blake Neve (Paremata-Plimmerton) 153
Tiwi Davies (Johnsonville) 143
Pakai Turia (Poneke) 140
Brandyn Laursen (HOBM) 136
Sheridan Rangihuna (HOBM) 135

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A quick glance at James So’oialo’s all-time Wellington club rugby points scoring tally has him ending this season on exactly 1500 career points, spread out over three clubs Northern United, Wellington and Tawa. Of other players currently playing, Marist St Pat’s and one-season Ories first five-eighth Fa’atonu Fili has scored 1860 points since this website started in 2005 (he started playing in 2001).

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[As above] Upper Hutt Rams second five-eighth Tyler Tane pushed what would have been his 20th consecutive conversion to the right of the poles on Saturday in his side’s season ending win over Poneke. After landing all 14 kicks the week before and his first five on Saturday he went on to kick three more after his missed kick.

What have been some of the other hot kicking streaks? One that springs to mind is from the early 2000s when Peato Lafaele got on a similar role for Northern United, landing some 20 kicks in a row spread out over a few games.

Lock Taine Plumtree kicked a penalty for Wellington College in Saturday’s WelTec Premiership semi-final. Upper Hutt Rams lock Vern Sosefo kicked 7/7 for St. Pats Silverstream versus Gisborne BHS in 2014. Last year hooker Oliver Shepherd kicked for National Top four winners Mount Albert Grammar School.

Other goal-kicking tight forwards in Wellington club rugby include Ories Premier Reserve loosehead prop Lauina Faatau and former OBU hooker Daryl Gore, while Poneke flanker Chris Brightwell kicked goals 10 years ago and Wainuiomata flanker Matt Jacobs is currently a regular goal-kicker for his team.

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Two current Wellington players and the former captain of the St Pat’s First XV are part of the NZ Marist Colts side touring the Waikato/Bay of Plenty next week. Elisaia Fonoti (HOBM) and Elijah Fonoti (MSP) are joined by Jack Nelson-Murray (now Napier Old Boys Marist). The team plays Te Awamutu Marist next Sunday, Greerton Marist next Tuesday, Marist St Michael’s next Thursday and then the New Zealand U21 Harlequins team the following Saturday.

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Another one of Wellington’s Premier Referees ticked up 50 matches in the local top-flight on Saturday as Daniel Mangin reached the milestone with the final round Hardham Cup match between Johnsonville and Paremata-Plimmerton at Helston Park on Saturday. His next assignment is a high-profile one, as he’ll take charge of this Sunday’s WelTec Premiership decider between St Pats Silverstream and Wellington College at Jerry Collins Stadium.

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That same match also saw what might be the first of a number of retirements following the season with long-serving Johnsonville prop Hemi Remuera hanging up his boots. The sort of no-nonsense player that you’ll find throughout Wellington club rugby Remuera was sent out a winner by his teammates with the 41-9 win - even if his attempt at converting the final try was somewhat astray – and a rousing haka in the clubrooms afterwards.

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Has there been a more low-key build-up to the start of the Men’s National Provincial Championship that starts this week?

The competition starts this coming Thursday night with last year’s Division 2 champions North Harbour hosting Otago, the first of seven opening weekend rounds.

Wellington plays Manawatu in the last match of the first round on Sunday at 4.35pm in Palmerston North in their season opener.

Wellington supporters can hope their side climbs out of Division 2 this year, and there’s sure to be plenty of early enthusiasm amongst supporters.

Off the Ball had a number of emails and messages asking about the composition of the Wellington Lions. The three questions that came through loudest were: 1. Who is going to play fullback? 2. Sitiveni Paongo a hooker, when he’s played two full seasons at loosehead prop for Tawa? 3. A ‘loan’ player – what’s all that about?

With the Men’s NPC starting this weekend, the Heartland Championship starts next weekend and the Women’s NPC for the Farah Palmer Cup kicks off on Saturday 2 September.

Follow the Men’s NPC, Women’s NPC and Heartland Championship Draws & Results all in one place on our National page 

Club Rugby’s Adam Julian spoke with Asafo Aumua at the Wellington Lions season launch on Friday, so we will have that story up tomorrow.

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Another blow for Dane Coles, ruled out of the All Blacks Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney with further head troubles.

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