My old college maths teacher was very good. Spook would take us through some elaborate calculation, and then when he was satisfied we surely must understand it, he'd without fail say "and now we're going to change the numbers to confuse the ignorant". But then Spook had never seen Super Rugby. We've now reached the stage in the competition where teams have mathematical routes to the playoffs. For most New Zealand teams, the route is like a Peruvian mountain trail, perilous at many turns. For South African teams, the route is more like a four-lane highway blasting across the veldt...More

While club competition has been in full swing for some time, Saturday see the first full weekend of competition games across the college ranks. At the top end the Premiership has been expanded to 10 teams this year. As normal in recent years last year’s semi-finalists – Wellington College, St Pat’s Town, Rongotai College and Wairarapa College – returned by right, and have spent the past three weekends playing in the Tranzit Coachlines-sponsored First XV festival. However it wasn’t a vintage year there for the Wellington schools, winning just one of the 12 matches...More

Dane Robertson may not be a household name within Wellington club rugby circles but to the Johnsonville Rugby Football Club he's one of those no-fuss Premier players who's just there week after week, year after year.   Robertson will be presented with his prems 100-game badge at J'ville's Old Timers' Day this Saturday and it will mark the culmination of an association with the club which stretches back some 27 years.   Robertson was aged 3 when he joined the Newlands juniors and then later, on leaving the local college in 2005, he played for the  Johnsonville Under-19s...More

St Pat’s Silverstream have beaten New Plymouth Boys’ High School 46-17 at the Gully in New Plymouth this afternoon. Silverstream’s 46-17 win equals the 46 that Silverstream scored in 2013. It is their biggest win at the Gully ever and their first there since 2011, and it is the third biggest win over NPBHS in terms of margin after winning 35-0 in 2010 and 46-13 in 2014. Silverstream scored four tries in each half ahead of their Wellington WelTec Premiership opener against newcomers Kapiti College this coming Saturday...More

The last time a specialist lock won the Billy Wallace Best & Fairest award was in 1997 when Poneke legend Richard Watt captured the prize. Presently two locks are tied at the top of the Best & Fairest standings with Tawa's Hemi Fermanis and Poneke's Cole Stewart sharing the honours after 11 rounds of the Swindale Shield. Stewart's ascent to such a lofty status is particularly remarkable given his drastic positional swap in 2016. "I wasn't happy with the way I was playing at centre so I tried to switch back to flanker where I played most often growing up...More

Vince Aso scores one of his three tries for the Hurricanes on Saturday, taking his season tally to 13 tries. Will he catch the Super Rugby single season try-scoring record of 15 jointly held by held by Joe Roff in 1997 and Rico Gear in 2005. 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: Petone and Poneke fought out a tough match for the F.J Tilyard Shield at the Petone Recreation Ground, with the visitors winning 23-19 and keeping alive their Jubilee Cup hopes for the second half of the season. Updated: Today’s Wellington club round was dedicated to Wellington Axemen Colts player Daniel Baldwin who passed away during the week. Daniel’s Wellington Axemen Colts team played paid tribute to their late friend by producing a determined 23-3 victory over the Avalon Colts in their division 2 fixture ...More

Club rugby in Wellington this weekend will, unfortunately, take place under a dark cloud following the passing this week of Wellington Axemen Colts player Daniel Baldwin. The tragic events that started in his teams game against Paremata-Plimmerton at Ngatitoa Domain last Saturday have cast a pall over the game that will take time to heal, and its more than understandable if the minds of most - if not all - aren’t as focused as they otherwise would be. The thoughts of the Club Rugby contributors are with Daniel’s family, friends, team and clubmates at the Wellington Football Club, and those who attended to him...More

So it was a case of Down Trou Monday, and not-so-bad Tuesday. Were you, too, baffled by some of the comments out of the Canes camp? The team got a fair bit of a roasting in media at the start of the week;  a reflection of the general gloom about the Canes getting well beaten by a Crusaders side with a tough pack, in your face defence, and a ruthless mindset. On reflection, some of that flagellation was a bit overdone. It was an  eight-point loss, the defence held up well under considerable pressure,  and the turnover rate was enough to give us ball to play with and win...More

Above: Both St Pat's Town and Palmerston North Boys' High School are hoping to finish the Tranzit Coachlines First XV series off well this Saturday. Photo by Dave Lintott Photography. UPDATE Friday: The First XV games tomorrow have been transferred from Porirua Park to Fraser Park. Games and times now at:  St Pat's Wgtn v Napier Boys' now at Fraser Park 2 at 1:00pm on 20-May-17. Wairarapa v Gisborne Boys' now at Fraser Park 3 at 11:30am on 20-May-17. Rongotai v Hastings Boys' now at Fraser Park 2 at 11:30am on 20-May-17...More