UPDATED Monday: St Patrick’s College, Silverstream beat Wellington College 17-11 in the final of this afternoon’s WelTec Premiership at Jerry Collins Stadium. Silverstream won a typically tight and brutal affair three tries to one, reversing a 7-11 halftime deficit to pull clear in the second spell. The game turned midway through the second half when abrasive Wellington College blindside Mellenniumma-Gerrad Leota was sent to the sin-bin. Silverstream soon pounced, scoring two unconverted tries...More

Above: Wellington Axemen centre Ratu Karamaena breaks through to score a decisive second half try today in his side’s U85kg Division 1 semi-final win over Eastbourne. There were U85kg Division 1 and 2 and First Grade Division 1 and 2 semi-finals today, while representative rugby got underway with the Wellington U19s, Wellington Pride and Wellington Samoans (pre-season) in action. Wellington to meet Avalon in U85kg Division 1 Final Top qualifiers the Wellington Axemen will meet the Avalon Wolves in next Saturday’s U85kg Division 1 Paul Potiki Shield final...More

The St Patrick’s College, Silverstream 2nd XV have successfully defended the Premier 2 Murray Jensen Cup, twice rallying from behind to beat St Bernard’s College First XV 27-20 in the final on home soil this afternoon. When Silverstream prop Teddi Hern powered over with about five minutes left for his second try and then made a bullying 20-metre surge a few moments later, St. Bernard’s brave challenge was finally blunted. St. Bernard’s skipped out to an early 8-0 lead, but Silverstream enjoyed most of the first-half ascendancy and led 17-8 at the interval...More

Above: Mana College celebrating their 22-10 semi-final win over Onslow College last Saturday – Mana play Upper Hutt College in the final of the Paul Cameron Cup tomorrow. Photo credit: David Brownlie Photos at https://www.facebook.com/brownlie.kiwi/ Once again St Patrick’s College Silverstream will be the base for the majority of the year’s College Rugby finals. However owing to recent rains and the condition of the college fields this year they’ll be split over two weekends...More

Above the Northern United Usos beat the Petone Brotherhood 29-25 when they met in May. Another close encounter is expected in their semi-final at Jerry Collins Stadium tomorrow. While the Premier season has concluded, there are still four grades in action and five titles to be decided. Two of those grades are in semi-finals this weekend, another into their penultimate round with all three to crown their winners next Saturday, while the fourth – the Presidents Grade – signs off for the season...More

You could call it the Bledisloe, or you could call it the fourth test of the three-test Lions series. Because there's a very odd vibe around the first Bled this weekend, which after all is simply a game of test footy. Instead, it's seen by some as an existential moment for rugby union in Australia. The game they need to win or at least compete in honourably. Otherwise, would the last Rah Rah turn out the lights as they head home in the beamer. That's probably a bit strong, but indicative of what happens when what you do becomes cloaked in pessimism and doom for months on end, starting with the Super Rugby hammerings, the culling farce, and a mediocre start to the test window for the Wallabies...More

“Finals are a different beast, Wellington College lock/No.8 Naitoa Ah Kuoi responds when asked to contrast a regular season fixture with a decider. "They are harder, faster and won by the team who handles the extra pressure best. Prior reputation counts for nothing." The 2016 New Zealand Barbarians representative has experienced the despair of defeat and the adulation of success in finals. In 2015, Ah Kuoi was reduced to tears when Nelson College beat Wellington College 3-6 in the annual quadrangular finale...More

St Mary’s College have successfully defended their WelTec Premier 1 Wellington title thumping Aotea College 51-12 in a replay of last year’s final. Played in dry conditions under lights at Jerry Collins Stadium, St Mary’s outscored Aotea nine tries to two to secure their third victory of the season against the Porirua outfit. The opening salvo was even with each team scoring a try. St Mary’s openside Damaris Samani powered over from ten-metres out initially and then her opposite Soteria Shalom Gaualofa responded for Aotea following a muti-phase build up...More

Above: St Pat's Silverstream inside back combination Harrison Boyle (left) and Kienan Higgins in action in last Saturday's semi-final win over St Pat's Town. Photos by Andy McArthur.  “The whole culture is different, especially off the field. Last year we had pretty much the same team, but a couple of players were stood down for disciplinary breaches. This year our actions on and off the field have been really positive and that’s reflected in our results.,” Harrison Boyle explains when asked to address the revival of the St...More

Above: There's plenty of rugby coming up on Jerry Collins Stadium over the next several weeks. Updated with Wellington Maori, Samoans and Centurions squads at bottom: The 2017 club and college season might be winding down, but a bumper stretch of representative rugby is just getting underway. Plenty of secondary school post-season knockout rugby coming up soon, as school teams aim to qualify for the National Top 4 tournament in Palmerston North in early September.  A full programme of Hurricanes Youth Council U16, U18, and U19 rugby starts in earnest this coming weekend and runs through to the start of October...More