The Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles continued their fast start to the Wellington club rugby season this afternoon, earning their fourth straight bonus point win in beating the Wellington Axemen 69-15 at Hataitiai Park. The Eagles have scored 206 points so far, almost 50 more than the joint second placed Petone who defeated Tawa 36-9 today and whom they meet next weekend in the famous McBain Shield. With HOBM on maximum points, Petone, Marist St Pat’s and defending champions Old Boys University are all tied for second on 16 points, after today’s round that was played in cool, blustery conditions following a midday southerly change...More

Above: Fala Tuala makes a run for it on his way to scoring a try against Wellington last Thursday. Tuala and Oriental-Rongotai’s Hayden Whelan are two players set to play their 100th Premier games for their clubs tomorrow. Round 4 of the Swindale and Harper Lock Shield happens tomorrow, with several teams at home for the first time this season. With Daylight Saving having ended autumn is now well upon us though its still forecast to be somewhat unseasonally warm, and here’s hoping the action on the field matches that...More

I often think of Denis Denuto, the hapless lawyer from the movie The Castle. This week I was reminded of his immortal closing argument in court that “it’s the vibe and aah no that’s it, it’s the vibe. I rest my case. “ The Vibe is around, and its dangerous. Most dangerously, a well-known rugby writer this week wrote that the Hurricanes already looked odds-on to be 2018 champs. The headline said Title is Canes to Lose. Which they will (lose that is) if they believe the vibe...More

Above: Ben Peni running freely in a match last July for the Avalon Wolves. PHOTO: Hugh Pretorius.  "No one took us seriously because we didn't take ourselves seriously," Ben Peni reflects on Avalon's recent struggles. The Wolves suffered a horrible 2017 winning only twice in 23 matches and conceding a whopping 842 points. In the penultimate game of the Hardham Cup, Avalon was humiliated 98-12 by Upper Hutt. "There were only a handful of guys turning up to take things seriously. The rest were there to make up the numbers," Peni rues...More

Buxton Popoalii scores a hat-trick for Nothern United United this week in 2010. PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Lintott Photography. In association with Lovelocks Sports Bar on Bond Street in Wellington, some highlights from this week in Wellington club rugby history are below. 2 April 1977: A noted first round result with MSP beating Wellington 28-10, six tries to two, at Athletic Park. Flanker Paul Quinn is the Player of the Day. Defending Jubilee Cup champions Petone pull clear to beat Naenae Old Boys 29-4...More

Chris Gibbes and Mateaki Kafatolu shake hands after a Wellington Lions pre-season match last August. Kafatolu played seven NPC matches last year. Photo by Dave Lintott Photography. The Wellington Lions are no longer languishing in the Championship of the Mitre 10 Cup. A breakthrough season in 2017 saw promotion and a return to the premiership. A unique feature of the Lions success last year was the faith invested in battle-hardened club warriors like Mateaki Kafatolu, Galu Taufale and Regan Verney...More

Above: Petone fullback Adam Simpson scored two tries against the Upper Hutt Rams on Saturday and five in the past two weeks. Photo by Peter Mcdonald. 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. Three weeks into the new Premier and Premier Reserve season and many of the talking points going into the Gala Day opener are still on the table...More

Above: Ben Lam scored two tries against the Highlanders last Saturday night, backing that up with a record-equalling four-try haul against the Rebels six days later.  Good Friday was especially good for Ben Lam and the Hurricanes. The former New Zealand Sevens wing from the Tawa club became the first Hurricane to score four tries in a match. Previously there were 14 hat-tricks by Hurricanes players in the first 20 years of Super Rugby, including three in one season in 1997, the year the Hurricanes first made the semi-finals, and two in 2012, the year the Hurricanes scored 58 tries...More

Above: Ryan Setefano runs into a tackle today with Billy Proctor in support for Marist St Pat's against Wainuiomata. Setefano scored two tries and Proctor set up two.  Hutt Old Boys Marist are the only unbeaten side after three completed rounds of this year’s Swindale Shield. The Eagles sit alone at the top of the table on maximum points after they lowered Oriental-Rongotai and previous frontrunners Tawa and Avalon both lost, as part of today’s Easter round of matches. HOBM beat Ories 47-15 in their Bondy Memorial Cup match at the Polo Ground, scoring six tries in a commanding display build on another powerful forward effort...More

In his 2015 book “Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports”, Edward Brooke-Hitching refers to a group of sports, now forgotten, which dwindled and gradually died owing to “the enormous amount of personal risk involved”. The appeal of pastimes such as balloon-jumping, waterfall-riding and firework-boxing lay in their element of danger and voyeuristic spectator appeal. New Zealand was not immune to this spirit of “derring-do”. In 1899, “Captain Lorraine” (David Mahoney), a young Aucklander, proved himself a man of nerve in undertaking a balloon ascent from the Basin Reserve, and (from an estimated height of 2,000 feet), an exciting and graceful descent by means of a parachute into the grounds of Wellington College, after initially plummeting toward earth for several hundred feet, “like a rocket-stick”...More