I've got a niggling feeling about the All Blacks transformation into beautiful swans as the Rugby Championship has played out. Some of the attacking footy is phenomenal. Tries are routinely scored that 5 or 10 or 20 years ago would have been considered out of this world good. Now they tend to blur a bit - how do you rate one over the other, when so many are mini-masterpieces. I'd suggest one key rule is that a try scored in a really big match - a World Cup final, a Lions decider, etc - is clearly worth a lot more...More

Tonga Schools: 26 (Heimuli Taufa,Sione Etoni, Hiliau Latu, Nawruz Kanongata’a tries; Etoni 3 con) Wellington Under-18: 24 (Tai Neli 2, Malo Manuao, Kyle Preston tries: Tom Maiava con, Manuao con) The Tonga Schools impressive form in New Zealand continued at Jerry Collins Stadium this afternoon, pipping the Wellington Under-18’s 26-24 in an entertaining and physical spectacle. Tonga leapt out to a 26-12 lead early in the second-half, but were forced to defend stoutly in the last quarter to earn their victory...More

Wellington: 27 (Ben Lam 2, Alex Fidow, Julian Savea tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 2 con, pen) Otago: 24 (Jonathan Ruru, Vilimoni Koroi tries; Fletcher Smith 4 pen, con). WHAT HAPPENED It wasn’t always pretty, but Wellington did enough to secure a bonus point victory over Otago. Wellington won the game with two tries in five minutes, turning a 17-10 deficit into a 24-17 advantage after 55 minutes. In the 50th minute Otago had a kick charged down on the halfway line. The ball bounced favourably, and in space, for Ben Lam who swerved around the last defender and galloped away to score...More

Above: Wellington Pride centre Monica Tagoai threads her way through Otago traffic in their match this afternoon. Photo by Caswell Images, more photos at this link here There were four Wellington representative teams in action in away games this afternoon, for two wins and two losses. The Wellington 13s ended their short representative season with a 7-64 defeat to the Hawke’s Bay U14s in Palmerston North, while the U18 schoolgirls side beat the Hawke’s Bay schoolgirls 36-12 in Ashhurst...More

Losi Filipo gets a pass away in Lester Maulolo's tackle last Saturday at Jerry Collins Stadium between the Wellington Samoans and Wellington Centurions. It’s an odd week, as aside from the Wellington Lions Men’s NPC match against Otago on Sunday afternoon there’s little rugby on at all in the capital, leaving the fields largely silent for the first time since club pre-season matches started off back in February. However, there are still representative teams in action, with all but the Lions away from home this weekend...More

Above: Mateaki Kafatolu had a great game against Canterbury recently, helping them win 60-14. Photo by David Brownlie  “I tried to treat Tasman as just another game, but I was bloody nervous.  Brad Shields got injured in the eighth minute and I had to be called four times from the bench before I noticed what was going on, Mateaki Kafatolu recalls of his introduction to the Wellington Lions. “Izzy Walker pulled me off my backside and on to the field which has earnt me a bit of stick since,” Kafatolu continues...More

If you hate the early onset of Christmas, which seems to start around September now, the antidote is simple. Start thinking about Super Rugby 2018. I am. You'll remember 2017, the year where somehow, we lost the title. Although strictly we didn't lose the title; we just didn't win it again. The Crusaders are not the defending champions, but another team trying to win it. Have we got that clear? So with those semantics to one side, we do know one thing - 2018 is different. There as you will be aware, be 15 teams - no more Perth stopovers for anyone, of course...More

With the opportunities and success of women’s rugby going from strength to strength to World Cups, the development of our female players is becoming increasingly important. Now that the winter rugby season is officially over, sevens and touch rugby become popular.Touch rugby is a great adaptation of the code where players maintain and enhance the skills they have been fine-tuning this season to make 2018 even more successful for Sevens and Rugby competitions.Touch is a fantastic avenue for players to engage in an offseason activity that will increase: their ability to identify space and hit gaps their agility and hone their ability to draw and pass team dynamics fitness heading in to 2018 The beauty of the game is that players are given a break from the contact aspect of rugby but still playing with an oval ball...More

Above: Members of the Wellington Samoans team after their thrilling 28-27 Festival Cup win over the Wellington Centurions on Saturday. Photo by Andy McArthur. More photos here 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. +++++ A busy past weekend for rugby capped off by the concluding rounds of some of the U18 and Festival/Hurricanes Development representative competitions and the start of the U16 tournament and college sevens tournaments...More

Wellington: 34  (Daniel Kirkpatrick, Sam Lousi, Mateaki Kafatolu, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Alex Fidow; Jackson Garden-Bachop 2 con, Kirkpatrick con, pen) Waikato: 10 (Bailyn Sullivan try; Sevu Reece con, pen).   WHAT HAPPENED It wasn’t as exhilarating as last Sunday, but a bonus victory on the road following two yellow cards and sustained periods on defence is a satisfactory outcome for the Wellington Lions in Hamilton this afternoon. Dan Kirkpatrick punished an early Waikato indiscretion by kicking a third minute penalty, before the hosts anchored Wellington in their own half...More