Each of the three Hurricanes Men’s and Women’s NPC provinces is represented in this weekend’s New Zealand Barbarians Rugby Championships Top Four tournament in Palmerston North. St Mary’s College (Wellington), Feilding High School (Manawatu) and Hastings Boys’ High School (Hawke’s Bay) will all be stepping out on to the Massey University rugby fields on Friday in their Top Four semi-finals against Blues region opposition. All three made last year’s finals but only one was victorious...More

Tighthead prop Alex Fidow celebrates one of his two tries with halfback Sheridan Rangihuna. Photo by Dave Lintott Photography Wellington Lions 40 (Julian Savea, Sitivini Paongo, Alex Fidow 2, Wes Goosen, Malo TuitamaTries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 4 con; Dan Kirkpatrick con) beat Hawke’s Bay Magpies 27 (Cardiff Vaega, Jason Long, Sam McNicol, Jorian Tangarere tries; Tiaan Falcon pen, 2 con). MORE HERE WHAT HAPPENED It wasn’t one of the memorable matches between the two Hurricanes provinces, but the Lions made it four from four and all but boked their Championship semi-final place with an efficient win in their 100th clash in first-class rugby against the Magpies...More

Above: The two trophies to be won, the Michael Jones Trophy (left) for the bottom 8 Championship section and the Graham Mourie Cup for the top 8 Premiership division. Photo by Dave Lintott Photography  The fourth annual Jock Hobbs National Memorial U19 tournament kicks off at Owen Delany Park in Taupo on September 10 with semi-final day on September 13 and the finals on September 16th. The previous two winners of the of the Premiership Graham Mourie Cup section (Top 8), Canterbury and Waikato, are seeded second after losses in the regional seeding tournament...More

Above: The Porirua College First XV, after just missing out to Feilding High School in the Hurricanes Co-ed Cup final on Saturday. Details below. Photo by Andy McArthur.  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. +++++ The Wellington Lions were impressive in taking their third win of the Men’s NPC season over the Bay of Plenty Steamers last Thursday, winning 31-10...More

The representative season is now in full swing with a number of competitions underway and set to continue for the next several weeks. A short round-up of games yesterday is below. U19s The Wellington U19s won the 35th edition of the Central Region Shield, beating Manawatu 15-7 in the third and deciding round of matches at Jerry Collins Stadium yesterday. In a close tussle, Wellington led 10-0 at halftime, with both sides scoring a try apiece in the second half. Wellington’s three tries were scored by prop Xavier Numia, first five-eighth Esi Komaisaivai and centre Jahzeel Marais...More

The Hurricanes Secondary Schools First XV regional finals were held today at grey and wind-swept Arena Manawatu in Palmerston North. Boys: Hastings steamroll Silverstream Hastings Boys’ High School emphatically ended Silverstream’s top four ambitions with a 47-17 win on the No.1 field. Silverstream haven’t faced a team with the polish and intensity of Hastings and it showed in the opening quarter. The quick and dynamic linking of Hastings forwards and backs stung Silverstream into submission...More

Three Hurricanes schools finals and U18, U19, representative competition games and the first round of the Women’s NPC are all on the table tomorrow for Wellington teams. Locally, there are three matches at Jerry Collins Stadium and Porirua Park tomorrow, starting at noon with the Wellington Pride hosting the Hawke’s Bay Tuis in the opening round of the Women’s NPC Farah Palmer Cup competition. The Wellington Catholic Colleges kick off their Hurricanes U18 competition campaign on Porirua 2 against Horowhenua-Kapiti U18s at 1...More

Wes Goosen and Ben Lam both scored well-taken tries against the Steamers in their third consecutive Men's NPC win.  Wellington: 31 (Malo Tuitama, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Ben Lam, Wes Goosen, Asafo Aumua tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 3 con) Bay of Plenty: 10 (Terrence Hepetema try, Mike Delany con, pen)  WHAT HAPPENED Wellington extended their unbeaten start to the season with a third bonus point win.  The score was 17-10 just past the hour mark creating the prospect of a tricky finish. However Wes Goosen darted 25-metres to score the visitors' fourth try, after not being held in a tackle, to terminate that possibility...More

Above: Jack Wright playing for the Wellington U19s in their 31-6 win over Hawke's Bay. Photo by Stewart Baird Photography.  The Wellington U19's won the inaugural Graham Mourie Cup at the National Jock Hobbs Memorial event in 2014. Last year the baby Lions were third. Leading up to the 2017 tournament, Club Rugby will profile some of the young Lions who are likely to feature in the tournament and who are the future of the game in the capital. Beauden Barrett is officially recognised as the best rugby player in the world...More

Jackie Patea-Fereti returns to captain the Wellington Pride this year. The side starts with consecutive home matches against Hawke's Bay and Manawatu at Jerry Collins Stadium.  While the men’s representative side have been in action for the past couple of weeks, Saturday sees the Wellington Women’s side – the Pride – get their Farah Palmer Cup campaign underway this Saturday against Hawkes Bay Tuis at Porirua Park. The team are looking to go a couple of steps further this year, having been beaten at the semi-final stage by eventual winners Counties-Manukau last year...More