Above: The 1972 Wellington Axemen broke Petone's sole stranglehold on both the Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup.  Down the years there have been some nail-biting Wellington club rugby title races, for both the championship Jubilee Cup (since 1929) and the first round Swindale Shield (since 1969). The Swindale Shield has always been a straight round-robin competition, as was the Jubilee Cup prior to 1993 before the semi-finals and finals were introduced. Since then there can be one winner (with the exception of 2008 when the final was drawn and there was no provision for extra time), but the possibility of a shared Jubilee Cup was often on the cards...More

The 2018 club rugby season is fast approaching, with the Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup the two major titles up for grabs for Wellington’s 14 Premier clubs. The Championship Jubilee Cup is the most coveted of the two and the major prize that all clubs are working towards at the start of each season. As more than one leading player has said in recent years, “you can’t drink from the Swindale Shield.” The Jubilee Cup was presented by the Wellington Rugby Football Union in 1929 in recognition of its golden jubilee year and has been played every year since, including during the second world war when a combined Poneke-Oriental team won in 1943 and 1944...More

UPDATED: It’s a blazing hot summer. The sun beats down, but soon the weather cools and the Wellington region’s rugby followers will welcome another colossal year on the sidelines. The next few weeks are not as busy as previous years on the local playing fields, with the next official competition or tournament match not until the Gala Day opener on 17 March. Between now and then club coaches, CCOs and fitness trainers are busy preparing their clubs and teams for Swindale Shield kick-off...More

Above: Manawatu women's team and supporters after winning the cup final. Photo: Dave Lintott / lintottphoto.co.nz Round-up and results by Club Rugby correspondents. Waikato (men’s) and Manawatu (women’s) are the 2018 National Sevens champions. Waikato beat South Island champions Tasman 21-17 in the men’s Cup final and Manawatu defeated Waikato 17-15 in the women’s Cup final. Bay of Plenty won the men’s Plate final, while Auckland finished third in the women’s tournament...More

The stage is set for the National Sevens tournament this weekend. Sixteen men’s teams and 12 women’s teams will again compete in the two-day tournament which kicks off at Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday. The teams are seeded in four men’s and three women’s pools, having qualified from the three zone tournaments in early December. In the men’s draw, defending champions Counties Manukau is the top seed and leads pool A. South Island winners Tasman and Central winners Wellington headline Pool C Northern runners-up Bay of Plenty assume top billing in Pool B, while beaten Central finalists Manawatu are top seeds in Pool D...More

After a short break, the 2018 rugby season kicks off this Saturday with the annual Bay of Plenty Provincial Sevens Tournament at Blake Park at Mount Maunganui. This tournament is the final opportunity for these teams to prepare ahead of the National Sevens being played next weekend (13 and 14 January) at Rotorua International Stadium, the final national tournament at Rotorua before it moves to nearby Tauranga Domain at the end of the year. Several of the country’s leading men’s provincial sides will line up at Sir Gordon Tietjens (Blake) Park, including defending national champions and pre-Christmas Northern Region tournament winners Counties Manukau, recent Central Sevens winners Wellington, defending BoP tournament champions Waikato and South Island raiders Canterbury...More

To round out what has been a big year of rugby, Club Rugby has selected its Wellington Team of the Year for 2017, from the men’s and women’s and schools game. 1. Kaliopasi Uluilakepa – Teenaged Fijian prop made an immediate impact playing for the Petone Premiers in 11 appearances at loosehead and tighthead prop, and for the Colts where he dominated and scored two tries in the final against OBU as Petone came back from 3-20 down to win. Hurricanes U18s and Wellington U19s in 2017...More

Above: the five Spencer brothers that played for Melrose, includingJack and George, the first brothers to represent New Zealand in both rugby codes in successive seasons. WELLINGTON’S GHOST” RUGBY CLUBS Part 10 – Ten Ghost Club Identities Looking at some of the past identities from the long-forgotten former rugby clubs in Wellington.   “The Athletes Cigar” The Rugby Football Club (1884) In March 1884 the Leo and Ashley Football Clubs amalgamated to form the Rugby Football Club...More

Christmas conversation can be awkward as family separated for a long time seek common ground. Whilst putting up our Xmas tree, Club Rugby came up with a great conversation, the greatest Hurricanes XV. Who would make yours? Here is ours. Merry Christmas Everyone! 15. Christian Cullen (85 games, 1996-2003) - Christian Cullen was widely considered the best fullback of modern rugby and was arguably the finest broken field runner to have graced the game. His records speak volumes. His 58 tests, including 51 consecutively, make him the most capped All Black fullback and he scored 46 test tries, only surpassed recently by Doug Howlett...More

WELLINGTON’S “GHOST” RUGBY CLUBS Part 9 – The Pirates Of Berhampore & The Biel Cup In 1757, the British East India Company won a decisive battle against the Nawab (Prince) of Bengal at “Barahampur”, consolidating English power in India. 83 years later, William Luxford arrived in Wellington (in 1840) on a former East India Company vessel, the “Adelaide” and settled on land in South Wellington, which became known as “Berhampore Farm” (a corruption of the Indian name), comprising the area between Newtown and Island Bay...More