Above: Northern United No. 8 Peter Pili (front right) follows the action closely during last Saturday's 22-20 win over Petone. Teammate Parekura Lalaga and Petone's Jake Quinn (in headgear) and Mateaki Kafatolu look on.  "I wasn't listening. I was having a yarn with my brother to be honest," Peter Pili admits when it was announced he was the second winner of the Collins Memorial Medal on Saturday.  A Player of the Match award for the Norths against Petone premier fixture was introduced in 2017 to acknowledge the contribution of Willie Collins (Petone) and Jerry Collins (Norths) to their respective clubs...More

Any ‘greatest’ Wellington XV would include the name Ken Gray as one of the first picks, and probably as captain as well. It is fitting then that this weekend’s feature commentary match on Te Upoko at 1161AM is the fourth annual fixture for the Ken Gray Cup between home team Paremata-Plimmerton and Petone at Ngatitoa Domain. Gray was a versatile prop, who started rugby life as a lock (until 1961) and played over a century of matches for Wellington and 24 Tests and 50 matches for the All Blacks between 1963-69...More

Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max , Lovelocks Sports Bar and Motor Doctors 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. A successful Gala Day opening in Upper Hutt on Saturday, with large crowds ringing the sidelines supporting their team and plenty for the neutral observer to get excited about. Lots of questions thrown up about the relative strengths of the various teams, so that will be a talking point after round two around the clubrooms this coming Saturday afternoon...More

Above: The Wellington Axemen pulled ahead of an undermanned Johnsonville to win their Swindale Shield match 23-8. The prelude to this fixture was a moment's silence in honour of recently passed Axemen legends Mattie Blackburn and Graham Williams.  A combination of slashing wins and slender results marked the opening set of 2018 Premier and Premier Reserve Wellington club rugby matches at a fine and windy Awakairangi and Maoribank Parks this afternoon. Defending Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup champions Old Boys University sent out an ominous warning to all opponents this year by opening their season account with a 55-10 Swindale Shield win over Poneke...More

Tomorrow sees the kick-off of the 139th season of club rugby in Wellington and the first of 20 weekends (plus Anzac Day) of Premier rugby culminating in the Jubilee Cup Final in early August. Upper Hutt’s Awakairangi and Maoribank Parks will again play host to the opening round of games, meaning that fans can take in as many games as they choose with this year’s matchups the same that got the competition underway last season. Premier Swindale Shield Top billing – or at least the ground closest to the entrance at Awakairangi – has been given to last year’s two beaten Jubilee Cup semi-finalists who kick-off at 2...More

With the 2018 club rugby season starting this coming Saturday, we take a look back 10 noteworthy or exciting season openers from previous years. 1952 – University (37) v Poneke (0) At the time, this result was described by both newspapers covering local rugby as “sensational”. Poneke were the defending Jubilee Cup champions and on paper were just as strong as they had been the previous August. University had gained some new players, including backs Jim Fitzgerald and Brian Fitzpatrick...More

Having successfully made the stupid call of predicting a Canes win on Saturday, I feel emboldened to make other stupid calls. I'm not feeling any right now, but I am sure they will present themselves.But as they say in the White House, what a difference a day makes, and most particularly, what a difference a great win over the old foe makes. Still only three games in, the NZ conference is going to be even more desperately close, especially if the Blues actually do kick on from their African miracle...More

In 2017, Asafo Aumua became an All Black just two years out of St Patrick’s College, Silverstream. Aumua’s place in the National roster was announced on the day of the Wellington Condor Sevens finals where he had run amok two years previously.   Aumua’s All Black ascent at the age of 20 might be an aberration, but younger players are making a bigger impact quicker these days.   What does the 2018 class school-leavers entering Wellington club rugby offer?   The Cream   What do Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Taine Plumtree, and Ben Strowger-Turnock all share in common?   They are representative standard lock forwards and all featured in the Hurricanes U18 camp...More

Above: OBU openside flanker Daven Flanker on the side of the scrum in white headband during last year’s Jubilee Cup final. Candy scored two tries – watch them at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZfqlTrwgDo at 55s and 1.42m.   “The boys are looking strong. We have a target on our backs, but we are training hard and have lots of quality. I don’t think it’ll take us long to gel,” Daven Candy warns opponents ahead of the opening round of the Swindale Shield this Saturday...More

The 2018 Wellington club rugby season kicks off this coming Saturday. Round one Swindale Shield teams will be named here in the Draws & Results section (above) on Friday. As always there is player movement between clubs and new players from school First XVs and some others from overseas set to join the playing ranks of the 14 Premier clubs. As provided by clubs, see below for a list of gains and losses ahead of the 2018 season *Not definitive lists – subject to change ** Some players overseas, injured or involved in sevens or representative programmes and teams not included below as they are likely to feature later on in the season...More