Sunshine or rain. Hard and fast or wet and muddy. It doesn’t appear to faze the St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, First XV rugby team, who marched to their third consecutive Wellington Premiership rugby win over Wellington College on Wednesday in their annual traditional. Defending champions and last year’s Hurricanes region finalists, Silverstream beat Wellington College 46-0 - a record win between the two schools going back to their first encounter in 1931. This followed opening competition wins over St Bernard’s College (49-17) and Wairarapa College (64-12), both away from home...More

Come last Saturday morning, I am sure that you, like I, were feeling a lot like the Roman Emperor Augustus in 9 AD. Shortly after he heard three of his legions, some 20,000 soldiers and camp followers commanded by General Varus, had been lured into an ambush by German tribes and wiped out. “Varus, give me back by legions!” he reputedly screamed, as he smashed his head against the nearest pillar. Or as I put it in 2018, “Boyd, give me back my Hurricanes!”. Fortunately, no pillars were within smashing distance...More

Te Raina Richards-Coxhead gets a pass away last Thursday night. Photo: Dave Brownlie. Te Raina Richards-Coxhead teaches physical education and commerce at Wellington College. In 2013 he was a member of the Hamilton Boys' High School First XV who won the National Top Four. What can Richards-Coxhead teach the Wellington Football Club about success? "That's a tough question, but I guess the thing Hamilton Boys' taught me is balance and discipline is important. It wasn't good enough to be a rugby player at Hamilton, you had to front in the classroom too," Richards-Coxhead responds...More

St Patrick's College, Silverstream has retained the Ken Gray Memorial Trophy by trouncing Wellington College 46-0 in muddy, soggy conditions in Upper Hutt this afternoon. Silverstream's margin of victory is the largest in the annual traditional fixture which stretches back to 1931. The host's power and athleticism up front was overwhelming for the visitors, struggling in size and confidence. Silverstream's superiority was best illustrated by their third try. Prop Chris Hemi breached the first line of defence prior to barreling the fullback like an angry bull on the loose in Pamplona...More

Above: Captain Tuakana Metuarau (right, headgear) and Oriental-Rongotai await their opposition on to the Polo Ground in a recent Swindale Shield match. PHOTO: Hugh Pretorius.  Another year, another Jubilee Cup for Oriental-Rongotai But only just. News travels fast via the Saturday Rugby Club express, and a huge cheer erupted amongst the travelling band of Ories supporters stationed sideline at Helston Park just before fulltime on Saturday. Ories had already secured the bonus point win they needed against Johnsonville to qualify in the event of Petone missing out for the Jubilee Cup, and Petone had just conceded a penalty try to go 5-19 down with several minutes to play to fall out of bonus point territory that they needed to be in...More

Above: A top game and a fine first round for Du'Plessis Kirifi, perhaps the most dynamic openside out of Norths since Serge Lilo. 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. +++++ Another busy weekend of rugby in the capital, with the first round Swindale Shield (won by Northern United) and Harper Lock Shield (won by Marist St Pat’s) decided within two hours of each other at the same venue of Jerry Collins Stadium...More

UPDATED: The sleeping giant has reawoken.  A decade and a half after first winning it and seven seasons since they last held it aloft, Northern United are once more Swindale Shield champions. Heading into today’s 13th and last round, Norths were level pegging on points with Old Boys University and one ahead of Hutt Old Boys Marist and knew a bonus point win today against Marist St Pat’s would secure them the first round title. That was as good as achieved midway through the first half when outstanding openside flanker Du Plessis Kirifi barged over the whitewash from a lineout drive for their bonus point and a 26-0 lead...More

Above: Kalim Kelemete will be up against his Tawa teammate Pepesana Patafilo in the midfield on Monday. Updated Wellington XV teamlist below  There will be a strong Wellington club rugby presence in the squads of both teams in Monday’s Queen’s Birthday match between Horowhenua Kapiti and a Wellington XV in Levin. The home side features three current Wellington club rugby players, including Tawa inside back pairing James So’oialo and Kalim Kelemete – both of whom are playing off the bench for Tawa in club rugby tomorrow - as well as Norths halfback Leon Ellison...More

It’s the final round of the Swindale and Harper Lock Shields tomorrow, the end of thirteen rounds of action before the competitions split next week. The two pieces of silverware are still up for grabs so there will plenty of tension and excitement, while elsewhere the Women’s first-round winners could be found tomorrow. Elsewhere there’s a full slate of College action, as well as 85s and some Reserve grade with other club grades having the long weekend off. Finally, it’s also Old Timers' Day at Norths, so Porirua Park will be a busy place! Premier Swindale Shield It’ll be a colossal afternoon with the Swindale Shield going right down to the line and any of three teams – Norths, OBU, or HOBM – could be in possession of it by 5pm tomorrow, so supporters of each of those teams will be keeping eyes and ears out for information from the other two venues...More

“I don’t think I have scored seven tries in seven years,” said Tupou Sopoga on his recent try fest for the Petone Premiers. “I’ll take the tries when I can get them because they don’t come around too often!” The in-form Petone No. 8 scored four tries against Johnsonville in round 10 and a hat-trick in round 11 against Wellington. Tries were hard to come by last Saturday just gone, Petone falling to a 19-36 loss in their annual first-round clash for the famous F...More