Hawke’s Bay’s Napier Old Boys Marist and Wellington’s Marist St Pat’s have won the 2017 New Zealand Marist Federation Sevens tournament Cup men’s and women’s titles this weekend. On Saturday, MSP won the women’s tournament, while NOBM annexed the men’s section on Sunday's second day of rugby. NOBM beat defending champions MSP 14-12 in a tight and willing men’s final in fine, blustery conditions, adding this title to both Hawke’s Bay 15 Premier ones they won in 2016, the first round Nash Cup and second round Maddison Trophy...More

Community Sevens rugby resumes this weekend with the annual New Zealand Marist Federation Club Sevens tournament in Wellington. The tournament turns 21 this year and returns to Wakefield Park in Wellington where it has been played on each of the past two years. It runs over two days on Saturday and Sunday from early morning to early afternoon, aligning with the international Sevens on both afternoons at Westpac Stadium so players and supporters can attend that too. There are two men’s pools of four teams (MSP B and HOBM B teams to be added) each and one four-team women’s pool...More

Above: Leon Ellison (in black sleeves) flanked by internationals TJ Perenara, Alapati Leiua and James So’oialo in the 2010 Jubilee Cup final. The last time Leon Ellison appeared on Westpac Stadium was August 15, 2010. The recent addition to the Japanese Sevens squad played second-five eighth for Northern United when they beat Poneke 24-5 in the Jubilee Cup final.  Ellison has fond memories of his 62-game stint with the recent Porirua powerhouse. "That was a great day. To play with the likes of Buxton Popoali'i and TJ Perenara was special...More

Above: The Hurricanes celebrating a try and Goodes in the loose against the Blues last season. It’s the time of the year when the country’s Super Rugby players are putting the finishing touches on their preparations for the start of another blockbuster season that moves into pre-season phase next week. Reports are that the Hurricanes have been training the house down this summer and they’re as fit as ever at this time of the year and raring to get stuck in and defend their title...More

Above: The late Jonah Lomu played in the first Wellington Sevens tournament and hands the trophy over to 2014 winning captain DJ Forbes. Photo by Dave Lintott Photography.  Now in its 18th year, there’s been many colourful moments witnessed off the field at the HSBC Wellington Sevens. Below are seven of the tournament’s rugby highlights. 2000: The inaugural Sevens – New stadium, new tournamentFiji won the inaugural tournament, beating New Zealand 24-14 in the Cup Final. Despite the presence of All Blacks Christian Cullen, Jonah Lomu, Eric Rush and Caleb Ralph, New Zealand was outpaced by Fiji...More

Above: New cap Vilimoni Koroi playing for Feilding High School, where he made last year's New Zealand Secondary Schools team from. He is a newly contracted Otago player and is set to make his All Black Sevens debut next week. The All Blacks Sevens team has been named for next weekend's HSBC Wellington Sevens tournanment. Four new caps have been included in the 14-player group. The selectors have rewarded standout performances at the Bayleys National Sevens tournament last weekend with selection to a new-look national squad that contains a mix of youth and experience...More

Te Upoko o Te Ika will be the official radio broadcaster for Round 3 of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to be played at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium on 28 and 29 January. Featuring 16 teams and 45 matches over 2 days, the tournament will be covered by Te Upoko o Te Ika Radio on both days, broadcasting live from Westpac Stadium on 1161AM and also available on any mobile device globally via www.tunein.com or www.irirangi.net Te Upoko Station Manager Adrian Wagner said “over the past two years, Te Upoko o Te Ika has been a strong supporter of New Zealand rugby, providing regular live commentaries of local and representative rugby...More

Above: Old Boys University’s Shannon Paku is barrelled by Oriental-Rongotai’s Mafu Pale in this 2002 match. Paku got back up to score the match-winning try with seconds left on the clock. Photo credit: The Dominion Post, 22/7/02. As part of the build-up to the start of the 2017 Premier club rugby season, we’re recapping some of the memorable tries in Wellington Premier club rugby over the past 15 years or so. There’s been approximately 10,000 tries scored in this period, so these are just the tip of the iceberg and ones that stuck out or we reported from our vantage point on halfway or through our camera lens...More

Above: The Wellington Women's team that played at last weekend’s warm-up tournament at Mount Maunganui, winning the Plate. There will be 12 women’s teams competing at this weekend’s 2017 Bayleys National Sevens at Rotorua, an increase from 10 last year and reflecting the growth of the game around the country. The girls competition was just as competitive as the boys at last month’s Condor 7s national secondary schools tournament and it could be a similar story at this weekend’s nationals if all the favoured teams fire in the women's competition...More

Many of the country’s leading men’s and women’s players will descend on Rotorua this weekend for the 2017 Bayleys National Sevens tournament. Sixteen men’s teams and 12 women’s (up from 10 previously) teams will compete in the two-day tournament which kicks off at Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday. The teams are seeded in four men’s and three women’s pools , having qualified from the three zone tournaments late last year. In the men’s draw Waikato is the top seed and leads pool A and Northland heads pool B after winning and coming runner up respectively in the Northern Region qualifying tournament...More