Above: Mark Reddish accepts a pass from his brother Dan in a match for Oriental-Rongotai in 2010. Photo by Dave Linott Photography.  If the Wellington Lions win the NPC Championship final, Mark Reddish won’t have long to celebrate. The next day the stalwart Oriental-Rongotai lock flies the coop to London to join up with his new Harlequins teammates in the English Premiership and Anglo-Welsh and European competitions. “The Friday is the final and I fly out on Saturday. I’ve signed for three years, so Iooking forward to hopefully finishing this Lions season off with a bang and then going over there and starting something new,” Reddish said...More

So about 9.30 this Saturday night, the current All Blacks will hold the world record for consecutive tier-1 test match victories. Now I know 2016 is no year for predictablility, but it would be trite to trot out the usual cautionary line ahead of Eden Park. This is the fortress, and there are none of the other potential landmines that have derailed past streaks - such as a tired team, playing away or on neutral ground, and facing competitive opposition. The Wallabies will probably turn up for 50 minutes like everyone else...More

Above: Murphy Taramai (black headgear) celebrating a try in last year's Hardham Cup final between his Upper Hutt Rams club and Johnsonville. Photo by Hugh Pretorius.  If there was a 3,2,1 best and fairest competition for the Men’s NPC it’s a good bet that North Harbour’s Murphy Taramai would be featuring strongly. Heading into this Saturday afternoon’s NPC Championship semi-final, Taramai has started at No. 8 in all 10 of North Harbour’s matches. In fact up until last weekend’s 44-28 win over Northland he had played every minute of every match before having a spell on the kauri...More

Above: The St Pat’s Silverstream sevens side that won today’s Hutt Cup 7s tournament. Photo by Wareham Sports Media St Pat’s Silverstream won the Hutt Cup 7s and local school Bishop Viard College and St Mary’s College won the boys and girls sections of the annual Derek Wootton Memorial Trust tournament at Porirua Park in local events today played in difficult conditions. Heavy morning rain forced the cancellation of the WRFU club Satellite Sevens event on the top fields of Porirua Park, but the Wootton 7s went ahead as planned, albeit with some disruption early on owing to a couple of teams failing to attend...More

Above: Asafo Aumua came off the bench and scored his fifth try of the season, but it was Waikato's super-sub Stephen Donald who won the match tonight at Westpac Stadium.  Waikato: 28 (Adam Burn, Jordan Manihera, Sevu Reece, Stephen Donald tries; Damian McKenzie 4 con) Wellington: 24(Vaea Fifita, Hoani Matenga, Reg Goodes, Asafo Aumua tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 1 con)  WHAT HAPPENED Waikato did an Italian Job on Wellington to consign the Lions to a third consecutive defeat. Down 24-14 with eight minutes to play a brilliant cross-kick by All Black Damian McKenzie put wing Sevu Reece in for a try to reduce the deficit to five points...More

Update: For the full draws and results of the three tournaments outlined below go here  Three secondary school sevens tournaments are set to alight the lower North Island on Saturday, in the build-up to regional and then national Condor Sevens tournaments. The tournaments are the Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council 7s in Palmerston North the Derek Wotton Memorial 7s at Porirua Park and the Hutt 7s at Naenae College in Lower Hutt. The Hurricanes tournament at the Sport and Rugby Institute will be headlined by Hastings Boys’ High School (boys) and Feilding High School (girls), who are the defending champions and expected to be strong again...More

The club Sevens rugby season gets underway in Wellington tomorrow on the top fields of Porirua Park with the first of two official Wellington Rugby Football Union tournaments being played. Nineteen teams representing 10 of Wellington’s clubs are set to orbit the Satellite 7s tournament headquarters tomorrow, down on the 26 teams that competed in this corresponding tournament last season at the same venue. There will be a Senior Men’s division consisting of 13 teams, including two sides each from the Upper Hutt Rams, Marist St Pat’s and the Wellington Axemen, and a Senior Women’s section of six teams...More

The ninth and last round of the Men’s NPC round-robin series starts tonight. See below to see the possible semi-finals permutations across both divisions from the eight matches coming up. Premiership Only one thing is certain – Canterbury (40) are the top qualifiers and will host one semi-final, and if they win that then the final as well. The interest is in the five sides vying for the remaining three places. Taranaki (32) are in the box seat and after thrashing Wellington on Sunday will be confident going into Thursday’s home clash with Auckland, but their possible fate varies massively; a bonus point win would put them in great shape to host the other semi-final (depending on what Tasman does, more on them below), while a loss without any competition points could mean a trip to Christchurch, or even missing out entirely...More

Following a review and recruitment process throughout September by OBU’s Coaching Appointment panel, Old Boys University has appointed Jamie Williams as their Premier Head Coach for the 2017 season. Jamie joined the OBU coaching staff in 2015 as backs coach after a successful rugby career overseas with Harlequins, Bristol and Bath. He has also gained valuable experience as part of the WRFU U19 coaching team in 2014 and 2016. Jamie's strengths include the development of players with team and one on one video analysis sessions, which challenge individual players to improve their knowledge and understanding of the game...More

Family violence and indeed violence of any sort is not OK, and it is OK to help others and ask for help. For several years the It’s not OK campaign has been actively promoting family violence prevention and encouraging violence-free behaviour clubs, organisations and communities. It’s not OK has many partnerships in the sports sector.  It has proved a valuable and successful way to influence people’s attitudes and behaviour towards family violence. Rugby in the most popular sport in New Zealand and plays a leading role in spreading this message...More