Above: Ngani Laumape returns to the midfield for Friday's game against the Chief after scoring four tries against the Blues.  It's a great little game to play ahead of the real game. Of course it’s the question of how seriously to take this weekend’s final round-robin match, given that the Canes and Chiefs will face each other in the first quarter-final. The only thing in doubt is who will be hosting. If the Canes lose by a BP and 23 points margin, then it will be the Chiefs, otherwise, it’s yellow and black time at the Cake Tin...More

Michael Lealava'a famously caused the early postponement of a match when he tackled Matt Procter so heavily the former was injured and couldn't be moved quickly from the field. Peter Umaga-Jensen witnessed the incident and frequently reminds Lealava'a of his awe. The rookie Hurricane and the veteran Wainuiomata midfielder share a lot in common. Lealava'a was once a prodigy himself, but a combination of ill-discipline off the paddock and untimely injuries prevented a longer professional career. In 2005 at St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, Lealava'a was selected for the New Zealand Secondary Schools while in Year 12...More

Above: The University team of 1928 that won their maiden Senior A club title. Most of these players returned the following season to win the inaugural Jubilee Cup.  Rugby was roaring in the late 1920s. By the end of the decade, the game was at peak popularity with 178 club teams taking part in Wellington Rugby Football Union competitions (compared to some72 today), plus the new standalone secondary school competitions in Wellington and Hutt Valley were healthy and growing fast. In 1928, the All Blacks had embarked on their inaugural tour to South Africa, there was huge interest in representative rugby with the Ranfurly Shield as its centrepiece and in club rugby, the University club had beaten then 13-time champions Poneke 16-12 in front of 12,000 people to win their maiden club rugby championship...More

Above: The Norths Women's side beat Paremata-Plimmerton on Saturday to record their 11th straight win of the season. Elsewhere, the Avalon U85kg team won their 12th consecutive game in the first round of the Paul Potiki Shield. Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max, Lovelocks Sports Bar,  Motor Doctors and Sarah Kilner Real Estate  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...More

Above: Brett Goodin in action for Coastal in a recent match against Old Boys, that saw him play his 200th Premier match. His experience in the final will be invaluable.  Taranaki’s Premier club rugby final will be between Coastal and New Plymouth Old Boys after both teams won their respective semi-finals on Saturday. Coastal, who lost last year’s final to Tukapa, justified their top seeding by beating Clifton 17-10 at Rahotu, while in a repeat of the 2016 final, Old Boys were too good for Tukapa at Sanders Park, triumphing 26-13...More

Above: Marist St Pat's midfielder Isaiah Petelo makes a break for it in his side's Jubilee Cup match against Hutt Old Boys Marist. HOBM won 24-7, ending MSP's semi-final hopes with two weeks to play in the regular season. There were dramatic late wins for Poneke in the Jubilee Cup and the Upper Hutt Rams in the Hardham Cup this afternoon on the worst day of the year, to help stiffen the race for the semi-finals in both competitions with a fortnight of round-robin play to come. A wild dose of weather rolled into Wellington today, starting with gale force northerly winds, then showers and then the rain set in around the start of Premier kick-offs, affecting all matches...More

Above: Norths right wing Junior Time-Taotua evades Sheridan Rangihuna and Chase Tiatia last week and went on to score the winning try. Tomorrow Norths play Tawa at Lyndhurst and HOBM host MSP at the Hutt Rec. Does another week of drama await tomorrow, or will the forecast poor weather have a greater say in proceedings? The playoffs loom ever closer with crunch games across all four grades that will be in action on Finals Day in four weeks’ time, and a mouth-watering showdown in the College slate as well...More

Some 50 of the leading First XV and young club players from throughout the Hurricanes region will descend on Napier Boys' High School next week in the first week of the school holidays for the upcoming Hurricanes U18 camp. Thirteen schools and four clubs will be represented with at least one player, from seven of the eight provincial unions that comprise the Hurricanes in 2018. Napier Boys’ High School has eight players selected, while Palmerston North Boys’ High School, Gisborne Boys’ High School, Scots College and St Pat’s Silverstream provide six players each...More

Former head prefects, Wellington Rugby Academy members, top scholars, devout men of God and in 2018 two of the leading contenders to win the John E Kelly Memorial Cup (pictured above) - the Old Boys University and Marist St Pat’s Premier Colts contain some of the finest young men playing rugby in the capital. Some are candidates for a long professional future in the game while others are almost certain to form the backbone of the MSP and OBU senior ranks for many years to come. Regrettably last Saturday when the two teams clashed at Te Whaea these young men brought the game into disrepute, shaming their clubs and most significantly themselves...More

The Coburn family on Lyndhurst Park, including current players Bailey (second from left), Tony (third from left) and James (third from right, holding the youngest member of the family). PHOTO: Stewart Baird. The Coburns are a family of front-rowers. Tighthead prop James and hooker Tony are both current members of Tawa’s Premier Jubilee Cup squad, while younger sister Bailey is first round champion side Northern United’s regular hooker in the women’s competition. Another sister, Georgia, played tighthead prop for the Tawa women’s team in 2014, while father Shane played many seasons for Tawa in the front row...More