Above: Greg Mullany dives in to score one of Poneke's four tries against Marist St Pat's, to help put them in the Jubilee Cup starting next week. Poneke, Tawa and the Upper Hutt Rams have clinched the final three spots that were up for grabs at the start of the day for the 2016 Jubilee Cup in a pulsating 13th and final round of Swindale Shield matches around Wellington today. Four teams started the day still in the chase for three places available for the ‘top 8’ championship round starting next weekend, and Northern United were the team that dipped out by finishing ninth...More

It’s a big weekend ahead. At the Premier and Premier Reserve grades the remaining teams for the Jubilee and Hardham Cups will be found, while all other competition club grades start their second rounds. At college level the Premier grades are into another week of action, while hopefully the weight and age grades get underway after weather last weekend put that on hold. It’s also the second weekend of the College/Club program of matches, with the Wainuiomata, Eastbourne, Stokes Valley, Paremata-Plimmerton, Tawa, and Wellington clubs all hosting games; and Northern United and Stokes Valley have their Old Timers’ Day...More

It's 1988, George Michael is top of the charts, David Lange is Prime Minster and Rod Plimmer is on the wing for the now defunct Hutt Valley Marist Premiers. That season he would play against All Blacks Steven Pokere and Hika Reid who were plying their trade at Hutt Old Boys who will soon amalgamate with Marist. Fast forward 28 years and Plimmer is still playing. He is a starting winger in the Eastbourne U85kg division I team. He is 50 years old. "Some people call it crazy, others call it inspirational, but I see it as good for me...More

Wellington College: 20 (Stone Warren-Robertson, Reece Plumtree tries; Plumtree 2 con, 2 pen) St. Patrick's College, Town: 16 (Saia Paese try; Billy Procter 3 pen, Paese 1 con) Wellington College have ended their two game losing streak in the Centennial Shield by defeating St. Pats Town 20-16 in the 131st annual traditional at Wellington College today. In the dying minutes Wellington might have had flashbacks to their heartbreaking losses in the previous two years. Ahead by 20-9, and deep in the Town half, Wellington lost control of possession...More

For three years Sean Leach was a strong and diligent prop in the Hutt International Boys' School First XV. In 2013, his first year in the First XV, he took the lead role in the school production. It was somewhat surprising to his teammates."I was on the stage dancing topless in make-up. Some of the First XV turned up and spent the whole show giggling. It was a bit awkward," Leach recalls.In 2008 Leach confesses he was an awkward young man who struggled to "fit in.""I grew up in Taita before the family shifted to South Auckland...More

Above: Three players to go on and play international rugby after playing First XV rugby in Wellington in the first 10 years of professional rugby were Cory Jane, Ma'a Nonu and Cory Jane. The first decade of professional rugby was an exciting one and several players emerged from the Wellington secondary school competition to star in international rugby. Following on from our team of players selected from the past 10 years of the WelTec Premiership First XV competition, here’s a paper team from the previous decade...More

Above: Ories No. 8 Joanah Ngan Woo spying a gap in her team's 26-12 win over Norths on Saturday. The first round Fleurs Trophy was shared this year. The second round Vctoria Tavern Trophy starts this coming weekend.  They won’t be presented with it until after next week’s 13th and final first round match, but the Old Boys University Goats are this year’s Swindale Shield champions. Old Boys University defeated Avalon 39-0 on their Old Timers’ Day today in their first match of the season on the Basin Reserve, to annex the Swindale Shield with next week’s round to spare...More

It’s all on this weekend as the two Premier grades reach their penultimate rounds, with the possibilities ranging from every team knowing which competition they will be playing in in two weeks’ time, to very little being decided at all. The lower grades enter their final games of the first round as well, and there are tantalising clashes that will determine some of those items of silverware. It is Old Timers’ Days at Premier clubs Old Boys-University and Oriental-Rongotai, and at both Eastbourne and the Wests Roosters...More

Above: Bishop Viard College fullback Brandon Naera in open space in last weekend's 17-14 win over Tawa College that propelled them into the WelTec Premiership. They play their first top-flight game in nearly a decade when they host St Patrick’s Silverstream. UPDATED: After three weekends of grading and festival matches college rugby competition rounds kick-off tomorrow across the region. At the sharp end, the WelTec Premiership could be wide open. Last year’s top four – winners St Pat’s Town, Scots, Silverstream, and Wellington College – have spent the past three weekends battling the four Hurricanes region boys schools from the Super 8 competition and all had their struggles, particularly against an outstanding looking Hastings BHS side...More

Wellington Rugby is heading into the blue to protect its players from the ongoing effects of concussion. Starting this Saturday referees in Wellington’s College Sport Premier 1 Division will be able to issue a Blue Card to any player they suspect to have suffered a concussion. And from June 11 the same rules will apply to the men’s senior Premier and Premier Reserve grades during the second round of those competitions. Players who receive a Blue Card must leave the field immediately and will then be formally subject to the existing minimum mandatory day stand down periods before they can return to play...More