The Hardham Cup final between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Petone is at the Hutt Recreation Ground at 7.00pm and the bucqi Jubilee Cup final between Marist St Pat’s and Tawa is at Jerry Collins Stadium on Saturday at 2.00pm. Catch all the action live or online or listen to it unfold live. The Hardham Cup final call will be on Te Upoko Radio 1161AM with Gordon Noble-Campbell, former All Blacks captain Andy Leslie and Adam Julian. The Jubilee Cup final will be called by Gordon Noble-Campbell, Chris Sirling and Peter Marriott on Radio Sport 1503AM and also by Adam Julian on the dial on 1161AM...More

When Tawa lost their third consecutive match in the bucqi Jubilee Cup to Oriental-Rongotai the prospects of a final looked bleak. Since the finals format was introduced in 1993 no side had dropped their first two games and reached the semi-finals. Voices were mute and shoulders slumped in the Tawa dressing room when former coach and Hurricanes mentor Chris Boyd entered. Fullback Randall Bishop recalls what Boyd said. "He told us we were in a great position. He stressed every game from now on is a final so we had to get more desperate...More

Above: Nick Harrison (centre) hitting a ruck last year against Northern United, flanked by former lock Dan Turner and captain Issac O'Connor, and inset competing in the lineout in a recent match against Wainuiomata. Photo credit: Marist St Pat's and Mike Lewis. When Marist St Pat’s last won the Jubilee Cup in 2012, Nick Harrison was playing in the Colts side. The lock – who has started in every match this year – summed up his four seasons in the Premiers so far. “In 2013 we didn’t make the semi-finals, in 2014 we lost the semi-final and in 2015 we lost the final, so hopefully the pattern of improvement continues this year!” More often than not bucqi Jubilee Cup finals are decided in the dark arts of the forwards, and Harrison will be in the thick of the battle on Saturday...More

Wellington: 41 (Jackson Garden-Bachop 2, Wes Goosen, Greg Foe, Asafo Aumua, Jonathan Fuimaono, Peter Umaga-Jensen tries; Garden-Bachop 2 con, Pakai Turia 1 con) Tasman: 12 (Alex Nankivell, Andrew Knewstubb tries; Knewstubb con) A Wellington XV has won their first pre-season National Provincial Championship clash 41-12 over a Tasman selection at a breezy but fine Evans Pay Park in Wellington this afternoon. Wellington scored the first three tries of the first-half and the first four of the second as they achieved a comfortable victory...More

The Jim Brown Plate is awarded to the Player of the Jubilee Cup final. Jim Brown was a stalwart of the great Petone teams of the 1960s and 1970, playing over 200 matches for the club and many for Wellington. He was a contemporary of former Petone and All Black captain Andy Leslie, who described the former centre as “one of the best players I played with, and a player with a great rugby brain.” Leslie added that Brown went within a whisker of being selected for the All Blacks and was measured up for an All Blacks suit the day before the team was named...More

Above: The HOBM Eagles and Joe 'Apikotoa (second from left) lined up at the start of their McBain Shield clash with Petone earlier this year.  Joe 'Apikotoa is at a loss to explain why Hutt Old Boys Marist lost eight games in the Swindale Shield and ended up in the Hardham Cup. "Lots of people were questioning our fitness and the quality of our subs, but I don't think it was any of those things at all. We lost a few close games and I think we were trying too hard to do the extraordinary instead of sticking to what we know well," 'Apikotoa theorises...More

Above: HOBM centre Tomasi Alosio going to ground in his side's 43-6 win over Paremata-Plimmerton on Saturday. HOBM will meet Petone in this week's Hardham Cup final. Photo credit: Hugh Pretorius. It’s the calm before the storm of the biggest weekend for rugby in Wellington this year thus far. Not only are the Hurricanes hosting their second successive Super Rugby final, but it’s also the finals of the Wellington club rugby Premier bucqi Jubilee Cup and Premier 2 Hardham Cup competitions...More

We are, once again, GOING TO THE FINAL, GOING TO THE FINAL**. Let’s hope we get to dissect just how in the heck that happened at our leisure, with a maiden first Super title on our collective mantelpieces. Because I’m sure there’s a great tale there. This is a team that shipped 50 points against the dinosaur Brumbies in round one. If I’d been writing this blog when that match happened, I’d have been forced to say the Hurricanes 2016 were a disgrace to the jersey. Remember, too, that despite a much improved second match against the Highlanders, we were effectively starting to prop up the bar in the last chance saloon by round 3, when they squeaked past the Blues at Eden Park...More

Rongotai College: 20 (Jason Tuitama, Penalty try. Matiu Samuel 2 con, 2 pen) St Pat's Silverstream: 13 (Callum Harkin try, 2 pen. 1 con) In a carbon-copy of the traditional fixture played in June, Rongotai College rallied late to beat hosts St. Pats Silverstream in the Quarter Finals of the Weltec Premiership. Played in wet and muddy conditions, Rongotai started strongly capitalising on an error from the kickoff. Standout fly-half Matiu Samuel kicked a penalty to put the visitors into an early lead...More

Above: Tawa's players celebrate their semi-final win over Wainuiomata moments after fulltime in today's championship semi-final at Lyndhurst Park. Marist St Pat’s will be gunning for their 15th title and Tawa their second when the two teams meet in next weekend’s 2016 bucqi Jubilee Cup final at Jerry Collins Stadium at Porirua Park. MSP and Tawa will meet after both winning brutal championship semi-finals in difficult conditions this afternoon. MSP quelled the challenge of eastern suburbs neighbours Oriental-Rongotai to win 24-3 in a big forwards effort, while Tawa held off Wainuiomata 16-10 in a defensive epic at Lyndhurst Park in the battle of the community clubs...More