The 2011 club rugby season is coming!

It might be high summer in Wellington but the clock is fast counting down to the start of the toughest week in-week out amateur rugby competition in the land.

With the start of the Swindale Shield just under two months away and only a few short weeks before the pre-season starts in earnest, fans can be rest assured that their favourite players are not remaining idle at present. Tins are being shifted and treadmills are getting pounded right around the gyms of Wellington, Hutt Valley and Porirua as the players get ready to pack down hard and explode into action when the season gets underway.

From Dunedin in the sourth to Albany in the north, to Melbourne in Australia and to the Vodafone Wellington Lions in between, Wellington’s Premier Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup is now a breeding ground for some of New Zealand and world rugby’s hottest stars.

The 2011 season is also shaping up as one of change amongst the coaching and playing personnel of several clubs as each jostles to gain supremacy over their rivals.

Key among them already is the loss of last year’s record breaking try scoring sensation, the Poriria Flash Buxton Popoalii, off to Otago, and the departure to Japan of Marist St. Pat’s first five-eighth talisman and the king of Evans Bay Park Fa’atonu Fili. Other high profile departures include Old Boys-University duo TJ Ioane and Hanipale Galo and Poneke lock Daniel Ramsay, all to Otago as well.

In confirmed administrative changes, former Bay of Plenty Development coach Clayton McMillan has joined MSP as their new head coach, while former Samoan and Wests Rooster halfback Steven So’oialo has joined the coaching staff at Tawa.

Watch this space in the coming weeks for details of draws and fixtures.

Do you have any news? Please email editor@clubrugby.co.nz and help share it with others.

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