Representative season just around the corner

Above: The Wellington Maori and Wellington Samoans clash at the end of August is one of many representative matches coming up to look forward to.

The 2013 ITM Cup season starts this week, with the Wellington Lions taking on the Counties Manukau Steelers in Pukekohe on Thursday. Thursday’s opener is the first of 10 round-robin fixtures for the Lions, including five home games at Westpac stadium.

But that’s not all. Several other Wellington representative teams are between a few days and a couple of weeks away from starting busy representative seasons, which run variously throughout the back half of August, September and October.

Starting this Saturday, the Wellington Development squad’s season gets underway. Their first game is a home match at the Petone Rec at 1.00 pm against Taranaki Development, and is the first of seven confirmed matches.

Wellington Development had its first deployment last weekend against the New Zealand Army team at Trentham,? so this will be its second match together. Their Taranaki counterparts are playing in the Chiefs region Development competition this year, so this is just a friendly. This Taranaki side have been unbeaten for over a year and over-ran the King Country Heartland side 40-19 a fortnight ago. Wellington will be out to reverse a heavy defeat to them when they met at a similar stage in the season in New Plymouth last year.

The Wellington Pride contest the Women’s NPC, which runs throughout September and October, culminating in the final on 26 October which is the curtain-raiser to the Men’s ITM Cup Premiership final.

The Pride join their counterparts from Otago, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Auckland, Canterbury, Manawatu and Taranaki in an expanded eight-team full round-robin series. This includes three home games at the Petone Recreation Ground, against Manawatu and new teams, Taranaki and Counties Manukau.

The Wellington U20s have a busy representative season coming up. Including their opening pre-season match this Saturday against the Wellington Samoans, they have 10 matches.

The U20s play non-competition matches against their Waikato, Auckland and Tasman counterparts and also contest the Hurricanes region U20 tournament alongside Taranaki, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay.? This is a three match round-robin series ahead of finals day in Palmerston North on 12 October.

The U20s are also scheduled to play matches against Wellington Development and Wellington Maori.

The Wellington U18s swing into action in September with the Hurricanes region U18 competition followed by a one-off match against Tasman U18. Like the U20s, the U20s play a three match round-robin series against Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Manawatu leading up to finals day in Palmerston North on 12 October.

The Wellington U18s Centurions squad (U18s Development) open their season in September with two pre-season matches against a Northern United team and Taranaki U18 followed by Hurricanes U18 Heartland division tournament matches against Wanganui, Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairrarapa-Bush and then finals days in Palmerston North.

The Wellington U16s A and Development teams play in the East Coast U16s tournament in the school holidays from 30 September - 3 October. The Wellington Maori programme has been expanded this year to include a Maori Colts team and as well as the Senior side.

The Maori Colts team will compete in the RDO Cup competition against the Wairarapa Bush B, Horowhenua Kapiti B and Wanganui B teams. Finals day is in Levin on 21 September.

The Maori Seniors play matches against local teams, the Wellington Samoans, the Wellington U20s, and Wellington Development. They also meet Manawatu Maori and Canterbury Maori.

In addition to the representative season, there are several club and representative Sevens coming up in and around Wellington and further afield.

There are the club rugby American Ambassador Sevens tournaments - with dates and venues yet to be confirmed. Looking ahead, the Wellington Sevens team competes at the Auckland Sevens in mid November and then at the Piri Weepu Sevens in Wainuiomata in early December.

?

Wellington representative teams schedules 2013 (to be finalised, venues and times to be confirmed if not stated):

Wellington Development XV
17 August v Taranaki Development at the Petone Recreation Ground at 1.00 pm
24 August v Wellington Samoans at Porirua Park at 1.00 pm
31 August v Wellington U20 at Porirua Park at 1.00 pm
14 September v Tasman at Porirua Park, time TBC
28 September v Wellington Maori
12 October v Bay of Plenty Development at Taupo
19 October v Canterbury Development at Renwick

Wellington Pride (Women’s NPC)
7 September v Otago in Dunedin
14 September v Manawatu? at the Petone Recreation Ground at 1.00 pm
21 September v Waikato in Te Awamatu
28 September v Taranaki at the Petone Recreation Ground at 12.30 pm
5 October v Counties Manukau at the Petone Recreation Ground at 12.30 pm
12 October v Auckland in Auckland
19 October v Canterbury in Christchurch
26 October Final TBC

Wellington U20s
17 August v Wellington Samoans (pre-season) at the Petone Rec at 2.30 pm
24 August v Waikato in Taupo
31 August v Wellington Development at Porirua Park at 1.00 pm
7 September v Wellington Maori at Porirua Park at 2.00 pm
14 September v Tasman U20s at Porirua Park, time TBC
21 September v Manawatu U20s in Palmerston North at 1.00 pm
28 September v Taranaki in Inglewood at 1.00 pm
5 October v Hawke’s Bay U20s at Porirua Park at 1.00 pm
12 October Hurricanes Finals Day in Palmerston North
19 October v Auckland U20s in Auckland

Wellington Maori Seniors
24 August v Manawatu Maori at Helston Park
31 August v Wellington Samoans at Helston Park
7 September v Wellington U20s at Porirua Park at 2.00 pm
14 September v Canterbury Maori in Christchurch
28 September v Wellington Development

Wellington Maori Colts
31 August v Wairarapa-Bush B in Masterton
7 September v Horowhenua Kapiti B in Waikanae
14 September v Wanganui B in Wellington (TBC)
21 September Finals Day in Levin


Wellington U18s
14 September v Manawatu 18s (pre-season) in Otaki
21 September v Hawke’s Bay U18s in Napier
28 September v Taranaki? U18s at the Petone Recreation Ground at 1.00 pm
5 October v Manawatu U18s in Wellington (TBC)
12 October Hurricanes Finals Day in Palmerston North

Wellington U18s Centurions
14 September v Taranaki U18s in New Plymouth
21 September v Wanganui U18s in Wanganui
28 September v Horowhenua-Kapiti U18s away
5 October v Wairarapa Bush? U18s in Wellington (TBC)
12 October Hurricanes Finals Day in Palmerston North

Wellington U16s and U16s Development
30 September - 3 October Hurricanes U16s East Coast Tournament

Club Rugby: The new home of Heartland Rugby

Coming soon: a new section on Club Rugby covering the Heartland and Women’s NPC competitions. Draws & Results, points tables and news and information.

?