St Pat’s Silverstream and Porirua College both enjoyed good wins at home this after in two First XV clashes in the Wellington region this afternoon. Silverstream beat Super 8 side Palmerston North Boys’ High School 71-0 and Porirua College toppled Mana College 41-5.  Elsewhere, Tawa College beat Naenae College 52-22.  St Pat’s Silverstream (71) v Palmerston North Boys’ High School (0) St. Pats Silverstream are on course to achieve a rare “Grand Slam” of traditional victories after winning the fourth of their six annual matches by a record 71-0 over Palmerston North Boys’ High School this afternoon...More

Once again, bylaws and processes will have an impact on the Wellington region’s Premier competition. Last year it was the debate and dispute over the interpretation of its application of the tiebreaker rule that saw Old Boys University wind up as one of the four tied teams to miss out on the Jubilee Cup playoffs. This year it’s another player registration issue that seen Tawa deducted five points, while Norths have also suffered a points deduction for their Colts side defaulting last weekend...More

Match Details Result: British and Irish Lions 23 – Wellington Lions 6 When: 15 June 2005Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington Weather: Showery and slippery underfootCrowd: 39,500 The Tour The 12th tour by a team representing combined sides of the British Isles and Ireland and the first of the professional era was one of the most eagerly anticipated by a Lions touring team to New Zealand. In fact, by the time of the first Test in Christchurch on 25 June, the country was at fever pitch, on a par with previous great tours by the Lions and Springboks...More

Above: Hutt Old Boys Marist super-sub Polonga Pedro joins the fray for his 243rd Premier appearance on Saturday against Old Boys University at a muddy Nairnville Park. 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 biggest week of rugby in Wellington this year is upon us. The British and Irish Lions have touched down in the capital and play the Hurricanes tomorrow night and the All Blacks on Saturday night...More

Brian Coulter shifted to Wellington in 1964 to work for the Government in accounting. It was a job that lasted less than three months. Fortunately, the old boy of St. Kevin's College, Oamaru, made a greater initial impression in rugby. The former Canterbury halfback was the top ranked nine in the capital by the end of the season. “There was a lot of competition in those days. I guess I was lucky guys like Paul Tindall and Barry Cull pushed me to greater heights.” Coulter reflects. Cull from Athletic played 60 games for Wellington and later became a sports commentator in Taumarunui...More

Scots College has joined St. Pats Silverstream as the only unbeaten team at the halfway point of the WelTec Premiership First XV competition after a gripping 14-13 away win over Wellington College in heavy mud.  Scots dogged defence was a major reason for their success as they repelled a barrage of attacks inside their 22 for the last 10 minutes and Tommy Prescott, Manahi Tipoki and Tai Neli pulled off try saving tackles in the second-half to perverse the visitors slender lead. Initially, Scots was the first to cross the chalk when wing Jack Gray charged down a kick and won the race to the ball...More

First round winners the Old Boys University Goats are the only unbeaten side after three sides of the 2017 Jubilee Cup, but all four of today’s matches on a wet, gloomy Wellington afternoon went down to the wire. At Nairnville Park, OBU withstood a furious death-knock assault on their line by visitors Hutt Old Boys Marist to hold to the fulltime whistle and win 19-17. At Evans Bay Park, home team Marist St Pat’s conceded a late James So’oialo converted try and then missed a penalty at the end to win the game, in falling to defending champions Tawa 29-30...More

Updated to include alterations Friday afternoon: There’s plenty at stake in tomorrow’s third round of the Jubilee Cup with teams looking to get themselves towards the top of the ladder, back on track, or even just some confidence back; and the same applies in the Hardham Cup as well. With the inclement weather over the past 24 hours looking to continue into tomorrow, it might be a case of who adapts to the conditions and real winter rugby the fastest. Adding to the intrigue is that no Hurricanes players have been released to play ahead of Tuesday’s match against the Lions...More

Above: Ayesha Leti-l'iga crossing for a try for Oriental-Rongotai in their recent Victoria Tavern Trophy match against Marist St Pat's. Photo by David Brownlie Photos  They’ve got the bye this coming Saturday, but the Oriental-Rongotai women’s side will still be leading the Victoria Tavern Trophy competition at the end of this weekend and they should go on to secure a home semi-final and earn the chance of contesting the final at the Petone Rec on 5 August. Individually, Ayesha Leti-l’iga has run in 18 tries in the six competition games she’s played this year, including hat-tricks in each of her last two games...More

I read somewhere once that the Roman mega-coliseum events were at first meant to only be seen once in a person's lifetime. Like once every 100 years. Notwithstanding no-one lived much past 50, inevitably the emperors thought this was great for keeping the populace happy. Before you could say I Claudius, it was held every year, at which point some people said enough of the commute and chose to stay at home and watch on their giant flat-tablets. I kind of see the Lions tour in the same light, as they happen every 12 years...More