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

Above: Asafo Aumua in action for the Avalon Wolves against Poneke a few weeks ago. Photo by Hugh Pretorius. “It’s all hype. I haven’t heard from the All Black selectors. I don’t like cameras and microphones. I’m just trying to be the best player I can be,” the softly spoken Asafo Aumua asserts when asked to address speculation he might be an apprentice on the All Blacks end of season tour. The 20-year old hooker has made a rapid ascent into National consciousness after some damaging performances for the world champion New Zealand Under-20’s in 2017 and Wellington Lions in 2016...More

Above: Upper Hutt Rams second five-eighth Tyler Tane pushed what would have been his 20th consecutive conversion to the right of the poles on Saturday in his side’s season ending win over Poneke. After landing all 14 kicks the week before and his first five on Saturday he went on to kick three more after his missed kick. 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...More

Above: Upper Hutt Rams flanker Mitchell Markov crosses for one of their 11 tries against Poneke today in their season ending 71-14 win. The Upper Hutt Rams top two sides finished with a win and a loss respectively but both walked away from Kilbirnie Park this afternoon with the second round silverware in their possession. In the early game, the Rams’ second XV lost 16-18 to their Poneke counterparts in a thriller, before being presented with the Premier Reserve HD Morgan Memorial Cup that they wrapped up last weekend...More