Above: The Northern United and Petone teams will pack down in their Hardham Cup semi-final a week after meeting in the last round of the regular season.  UPDATE: Radio coverage tomorrow will feature of Tawa v Wainuiomata on 1161AM with the commentary team of GNC, Chris Stirling and Adam Julian, and Marist St Pat's v Oriental-Rongotai with Ken Laban on 1503AM. And then there were four. After last week’s remarkable conclusion to the round-robin phase of the bucqi Jubilee Cup featuring all sorts of late drama – and the subsequent untangling of the four teams tied for three places was sorted out – things should be simpler this Saturday...More

Above: The Wainuiomata Colts side earlier this season. Tomorrow they head to Ngatitoa Domain to play Paremata-Plimmerton in one Colts Division 2 semi-final, while Petone and Avalon meet in the other. While the club rugby focus in Wellington for the weekend will inevitably fall on the Premier playoffs, there’s still plenty happening elsewhere. In many of the lower club grades it’s either playoff time, or the last round of matches before the playoffs where there’s still much to be decided...More

Above: Maile Koloto scoring the winning try in Old Boys-University’s first round last-gasp win over Oriental-Rongotai earlier this season, and being congratulated by his teammates. The Wellington U19's won the inaugural Graham Mourie Cup at the National Jock Hobbs Memorial event in 2014. Last year they underwhelmed and finished fifth. Leading up to the 2016 tournament, Club Rugby will profile some of the young Lions who are likely to feature in the tournament and who are the future of the game in the capital...More

Michael Buckley is quickly growing a reputation as a prolific try scorer and the type of player prone to produce spectacular moments. The Marist St Pat’s Premier team’s wing has scored a try in each of his last five games and has bagged 18 tries in 26 appearances for the Reds as they enter this weekend’s semi-finals as top qualifier. A fortnight ago against Wainuiomata, Buckley sprinted 85-metres in bucqi Jubilee Cup match-winning moment. Last Saturday against Wellington he leapt into the air, amongst congestion, poached the ball and dashed 40-metres to score...More

In a closely contested match in which the lead changed twice, SPC Silverstream's Old Boys retained the B P McMahon Cup by defeating SPC Wellington's Old Boys by 36 points to 21, after leading the match at half-time by 19 points to 14.   Playing at Kilbirnie Park in Wellington in stunning conditions, both teams featured a number of famous international players, with SPC Wellington captained by Isaac Feau'nati with the support of Kas Lealamanua (both Western Samoan internationals), while SPC Silverstream boasted the skills of Italian international Aaron Persico and All Black Scott Waldrom...More

St. Pats Silverstream: 43 (Chris Aumua 5, Callum McLachlan, Freddy Sunia tries; Callum Harkin 3 con, Kienan De La Rambelie 1 con) St. Pats Town: 10 (Grayson Whitman try; Luke Georgeson 1 con, 1 pen). HT: 21-3. St. Pats Silverstream produced a stunning performance to upset St. Pats Town 43-10 in their 85th annual traditional fixture at Evans Bay Park this afternoon. Fourth placed Silverstream hadn't beaten a top four Wellington side this season, but outpaced Town to score their biggest victory over the hosts in any match since 2004...More

Any blog is improved by paraphrasing from Kung Fu Panda. In this case, there is no good or bad weather. There is just weather. And weather there was on Saturday, although shame on you if you chickened out and stayed at home. Admittedly the student who got off at my bus-stop on Lambton Quay managed five metres before his plastic poncho was shredded by the wind. His mate had the good sense to wear a full-body banana bodysuit. Inside the stadium, aka the waterfront particle accelerator, it was as usual hard to work out exactly where the weather was coming from...More

On Saturday the unheralded Matt Jacobs became the toast of the Wainuiomata Rugby Football Club when he dramatically nailed a 50-metre penalty goal two minutes before fulltime to propel the green and blacks into the Jubilee Cup semi-finals for the third time in six years. Trailing fellow semi-final aspirant Poneke 14-13 with five minutes to go, Jacobs lined up an ambitious shot from 60-metres out and missed so badly the ball landed in the car park. A few minutes later Wainuiomata won another penalty from halfway and Jacobs had to fend off teammates in his attempt to earn redemption...More

Its semi-finals time in Wellington club rugby. Which four teams will win their playoff contests and progress to this year’s Bucqui Jubilee Cup and Hardham Cup finals at Porirua Park next Saturday afternoon? If the form guide from the just completed 20-match round-robin season is anything to go by, then there promises to be several more twists and turns to come before champions in the top two Wellington club rugby grades are crowned. Semi-finals this weekend are again at the earlier kick-off times of 2...More

Above: HOBM and Ories captains Nick Risdon and Donal McNamara shake hands at the end of their 2011 semi-final, Afa Fa'atau makes a break when the two teams met again in 2013 in their extra-time semi-final and playoff specialist Fa'ataonu kicks MSP into the final against Tawa last year. As part of the countdown to this weekend's Jubilee Cup playoffs, here's a look at 10 of the memorable semi-final matches over the past two decades. 10. 1999: Marist St Pat's 16 - Western Suburbs 15 In the last major semi-final played at Athletic Park, Wellington Lions and Hurricanes wing Lome Fa'atau pounced on a Western Suburbs handling error with about 15 minutes to play and sprinted 85 metres to score the winning try, against the defending champions...More