Above: Dan Schrijvers - second-half hat-trick in the Cup final for the Upper Hutt Rams against Tawa. First blood to the Upper Hutt Rams. The defending champions got their sevens show on the road today at Lyndhurst Park by winning the first leg of three WRFU American Ambassador’s Sevens tournaments. The Rams ran away in the second half to beat home club Tawa 38-5 in the Cup final in fading light this evening. The Schrijvers brothers, Hayden and Dan, scored four second-half tries between them in the final...More

It’s a weekend of change, with the representative 15’s season approaching its end while locally the shortened form of the game starts to take centre stage. With last night’s 36-18 win over Northland at Westpac Stadium, the Lions concluded the regular-season portion of their campaign having won nine of their 10 matches. They now sit and wait for who they’ll host in next weekend’s semi-finals in their quest to return to the Premiership at the third time of asking. Just who they’ll face remains to be determined, with Manawatu, Otago, Bay of Plenty, or even a return visit by the Taniwha all possibilities and that – and when they’ll play – won’t be decided until the Turbos take on Hawke’s Bay in the final match of the round on Sunday afternoon...More

Wellington Lions 36 (Asafo Aumua 2, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Alex Fidow, Julian Savea tries; Garden-Bachop 3 con) beat Northland Taniwha 18 (Jordan Hyland, Jack Goodhue tries; Dan Hawkins con, 2 pen). HT: 12-10 WHAT HAPPENED The Lions made much of the early running, but inaccurate play negated any chances created. Northland should have scored the first try, following a Rene Ranger turnover and a ghosting run up the near side in broken play by second five-eighth Jack Goodhue...More

“The vibe is really good. Everybody loves each other’s company,” responds Alex Fidow when asked to contrast the differences between the 2016 and 2017 Wellington Lions. With a match remaining in the round robin of the National Provincial Championship, Wellington sits atop the Championship standings and is guaranteed to finish top qualifier earning a home semi-final and hosting rights for the decider should they advance that far. Wellington comprehensively beat Premiership leaders Canterbury and new Ranfurly Shield holders Taranaki and blew a 28-13 lead in their only defeat of the season to Tasman...More

Above: Petone's Piri Paraone showing good late season form, see below for more. Off the Ball is in association with Rob Law Max , Lovelocks Sports Bar  and Harcourts Johnsonville  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. +++++ And that is the end of the local fifteens season in Wellington, but it’s not all over completely. The Wellington Lions play two, hopefully, three, more matches...More

Wellington: 61 (Trent Renata, Will Mangos, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Asafo Aumua, Wes Goosen, Regan Verney, Sitiveni Paongo, Kemera Hauiti-Parapara tries; Garden-Bachop  4 con, Renata 2 con) Southland 12 (Tim Boys, Mike McKee tries; Greg Dyer con). WHAT HAPPENED Wellington made no fewer than eight changes from the Otago fixture, but still thumped a Southland side that would struggle to make the semi-finals of the Jubilee Cup. Fullback Trent Renata opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Wellington opted to take a scrum instead of a penalty kick and Southland was unable to shut down space on the blind side...More

Both the Wellington Pride and Development teams missed out to their visitors in their matches today at a wet Jerry Collins Stadium. In steady rain, the Wellington Pride were beaten 13-43 by Counties Manukau in the first match of the afternoon. The conditions eased off for the second contest, with the Wellington Development team losing 24-37 to Canterbury Development. Round-ups of both matches are below. Canterbury B (37) v Wellington Development (24) Scoreboard: Canterbury B 37 (Caleb Makene 3, Ben Morris, Jonny Van Der Velde, Nick Hyde tries; Brook Retallick 2 con; Myles Thoroughgood pen) beat Wellington Development 24 (Matt Peni 2, Piri Paraone, Lester Maulolo tries; Pakai Turia con; Paraone con) HT: 19-12...More

As the 15’s season winds down there’s just three sides in action tomorrow with most representative sides having finished up their programs. The Pride and Development sides are both at Porirua Park, while the Lions are in the deep south. Conveniently they are timed so that people could watch all three. First up on Saturday are the Wellington Pride who take on current Farah Palmer Cup champions the Counties-Manukau Heat at 12pm at Porirua Park. The visitors will be rested having had last weekend off, but will have spent that time simmering on their 29-34 loss to Canterbury at home the week before that saw the Mainlanders also take the JJ Stewart Trophy (the Ranfurly Shield equivalent of the Women’s game) back south with them...More

UPDATED: The Hurricanes Under-16 representative tourney concluded at Wanganui Collegiate today with both the Wellington A and Development teams successfully defending their titles from last year. Wellington A beat Hawke’s Bay 31-19 in the final of the Don Broughton Shield to capture that prize for a third successive season while the Wellington Development won the Saracens Cup with a 27-17 win over their Hawke’s Bay equivalent. Manawatu (Division A) and Wairarapa Bush (Division B) finished third in the respective divisions...More

Te Ariki Te Puni had a big presence as head prefect of Palmerston North Boys’ High School in 2016. A vital member of the First XV, he won the prestigious Korimako award at the National Manu Korero speech competition for his address, ‘Stand up for race unity – don't be a bystander.’ Additionally he was an integral part of a spine-tingling haka performed by 1500 Palmerston North Boys' High School students at Pa Dawson's tangihanga that went viral around the world. Dawson, a long-standing teacher at the college, was an uncle of Te Puni who was skyped at midnight by the BBC wearing “his blazer and a pair of shorts” to discuss the meaning and impact of the haka...More