Above: Conrad Smith celebrates his 100th appearance for the Hurricanes and a 60-27 win over the Cheetahs with his teammates in 2014. Photo credit: Dave Lintott Photography. With free-flowing styles, the Hurricanes and the Cheetahs are both synonymous as being two of the entertainers of Super Rugby. The Hurricanes and the Cheetahs had a couple of explosive meetings in the early days of the competition when the Cheetahs played as Orange Free State, and again in recent years. See below for our top five Hurricanes – Cheetahs clashes in Super Rugby 5...More

Joyner Key celebrated his 100th game for the Upper Hutt Rams on Saturday and has become one of the most prolific points scorers in Wellington club rugby amassing over 700 points. "I was a goal kicker in the Islands, but when I came here no one knew that. We had good kickers like Jason Woodward, Jordon Simpson-Heft and Ben Aiona so there was no need for me to take the kicks," Joyner Key reflects on his early days at Upper Hutt. "It's a big honour to play 100 games for Upper Hutt. Guys like Jason Woodward, the Schrijvers brothers, Apa Heemi and Mathew Luamanu have become close mates...More

Above: Nick Murdoch crashes over to score one of Johnsonville's four tries on Saturday against the Avalon Wolves and 23 for the season so far. Photo by Hugh Pretorius. 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 coming week. Another busy weekend of rugby for Wellington’s teams, home and away, started on Friday night at Alex Moore Park with the HOBM Howlers beating the OBU Bunnies 12-5 in a typically torrid U85kg JC Bowl encounter...More

Above: Action from today's First Grade match on the Petone Rec, where the Norhern United Usos made it three from three in the Thompson Memorial Trophy with a 29-25 win over the Petone Brotherhood. Petone pulled clear late to beat Hutt Old Boys Marist 49-31 today in an entertaining McBain Shield match at the Hutt Rec, while Oriental-Rongotai held off Marist St Pat’s 32-27 at the Polo Ground to pull 16 points clear of the ninth placed team and become the first team to officially for this year’s Jubilee Cup...More

It’s another big weekend across the rugby fields of Wellington. In the Swindale Shield the race for the main prize remains tight, and there’s a bunch of matches that could go a long way to deciding who makes the Jubilee Cup in a month’s time. There’s also some crunch matches in the Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield and First Grade Thompson Memorial, a clash of unbeatens in the Colts, and the start of the Women’s second round. Premier Swindale Shield Without disrespect to any of the other 12 sides, it’s hard to look past the McBain Shield clash at the Hutt Rec as the feature game of the round...More

I can now reveal the last thing the Hurricanes hear in their teamtalk is: L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace. Which is French for, despite leaving yours fans in serious squeaky bum territory with a man down, and the season in the balance, with 10 to go, you pull out an outrageous 90m breakout try. Hail Mary doesn't even come close. But being a Hurricanes' fan, well, you just kind of shrug it off don't you, as kind of normal. Although I can't remember a time a team with a five try to one margin at the 70 minute mark was seriously in danger of defeat...More

Above: Tomasi Palu playing his 99th game for Old Boys University last weekend against Northern United, a team he also played for between 2009-13. Richard Newsome was a Wellington College old boy and Billygoats stalwart whose life tragically ended in 2014 when he fell down a flight of stairs. Throughout his life the 42 year old maintained Old Boys University would again win the Jubilee Cup, a prize that had eluded the club for five decades. Newson was a friend, mentor and manager of Tomasi Palu...More

The McBain Shield between Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist has been contested every year since 1934. There have been many memorable McBain Shield matches over the years, particularly in the modern era since 2003 when HOBM regained their Premier status for the final time. Summaries of five of these games that Club Rugby has covered are below. 2004: Hutt Old Boys Marist wins 27-17 Hutt Old Boys Marist had finished last in 2003’s Swindale Shield and Petone were to go and win the 2004 Swindale Shield...More

Above: Brandyn Laursen running freely for HOBM in a recent match against Marist St Pat's, with prop Joe 'Apikotoa and wing Fereti Soloa in support and MSP's Vince Sakaria (headgear) and Kerrod Foaese in pursuit.  After losing their first two matches, to the Upper Hutt Rams and to Wainuiomata, the Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles have quietly gone about their business and have now won seven in a row in this year’s Swindale Shield competition. Last Saturday, the Eagles made a second half statement against Tawa away at Lyndhurst Park, pulling clear from 9-3 ahead to win 26-10...More

Above: With 12 tries so far, Ories wing Ayesha Leti-li'ga is the top try scorer in men's and women's club rugby, ahead of Fereti Soloa (HOBM) with 8 tries and Michael Sage (Poneke) and Mitchell Markov (Upper Hutt Rams), both with 7.  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 coming week...More