This year’s Wellington club rugby Colts competition kicking off this coming weekend sees an increase of two teams to 17 and the return to a two-division structure. As required to enter a Premier team, all 14 Swindale Shield clubs have entered a side, with Old Boys University entering three teams and MSP two. There will be two rounds played, with the Division A teams playing for the Paris Memorial Trophy in the first round and the John E Kelly Memorial Cup in the championship round, and the Division B silverware being the JRD Cup in the first round and the Vic Calcinai Memorial Cup in the second...More

Above: Marist St Pat's fullback Ryan Saunders dives in to score a big second half try in his side's Swindale Shield match against Old Boys University. The conversion of this try made it 16-16, but OBU scored again and clung on to win 23-19. Photo by Mike Lewis.  The first of two Swindale Shield night games next Wednesday can’t come soon enough for Wellington’s club rugby fans after a generally tight and tense second round set of matches around the region made for an exciting afternoon today...More

Above: Soaring high - OBU grabbed a bonus point win last Friday in their season opener against the Upper Hutt Rams. On Saturday they host Marist St Pat's at home at Nairnville Park in a re-match of last year's Jubilee Cup final. After last Friday’s opening to the Premier season, this weekend sees the start of the rest of the club grades, opening tonight with a round of the Women’s competition, and the commencement of many weeks of full-on action. Premier Swindale Shield In the Premier grade there are no fewer than four interclub trophies at stake, while the Bill Brien Challenge Trophy is also on the line for the first time this year...More

Above: Northern United and Oriental-Rongotai players take a breather during a break in play in their first round clash last year. Will one of these teams or another take home the women's silverware this year? Women’s rugby returns tomorrow night with the opening set of matches of the first round Fleurs Trophy. The number of teams, and players, taking part continues to grow, matching the trend nationwide where the women’s game accounts for virtually all growth in player numbers. As recently as 2013 there were just five teams in the Wellington competition, in 2016 there will be double that – 10 – in action...More

Above: Frontrowers Kenta Tsujii from the Ricoh Rams and currently with Northern United and Taku Takashima from the Sanix Blues and currently with poneke are part of a group of Japanese players in Wellington club rugby for the next three months. Photo by Chainsaw Photos The several Japanese players’ names spread throughout several Swindale Shield teamlists last Friday provided a highlight to the opening round of Wellington club rugby. There are currently seven Japanese players from Top League and University teams in Wellington brought here by Tawa Rugby Club coach Katsu Takeuchi and training with the Wellington Academy - and another seven arriving next week...More

Kev has followed the Hurricanes since they began. He has a season pass. Every year he predicts the Canes will win Super Rugby. He refuses to be called a long-suffering fan. So, at about 53 minutes in, this wasn't what you signed up for, was it? At least a few of the15,000+ fans at the Cake Tin on Good Friday would be new season pass holders. Or the lapsed. Welcome, welcome back. And then there'd be the walk-ups fancying the no-name Kings would be leaking points and we’d see a tryfest. And the other walk-ups who jumped on board late last season as we turned in the near perfect run in conference play...More

Above: Marist St Pat's first five-eighth Tu Wylie and Poneke hooker Dave Mahanga were joint winner of the Best & Fairest competition in 1980. Image credit: The Dominion, August 1980.  Celebrating 50 years of the Billy Wallace Best and Fairest Wellington Premier club rugby competition. The Billy Wallace competition has been contested annually since its inception in 1966. Players in every Premier match are awarded points on a 3, 2 and 1 basis. Part 3 below profiles the winners between 1976-80. 1976Winners: John Fleming and Graham Williams (shared)Positions: Fleming lock and Williams flanker Clubs: Fleming Marist St Pat’s and Williams Wellington Axemen Best and Fairest points accrued: Shared on 19 About: A decade after first winning the Best & Fairest competition (1967), Williams became the first man to win it a second time...More

Above: Poneke halfback Joe Fiu crashes over to score for Poneke today in their 28-26 win over Wainuiomata for the Hakaraia Trophy at William Jones Park.  The weather was cool but the rugby was hot in today’s 2016 season opening round of club rugby Premier and Premier Reserve matches in Wellington. Fourteen fixtures were contested today across the Premier Swindale Shield and Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield Grades. The Swindale Shield saw impressive wins away from home for last year’s two champion teams, 2015 Jubilee Cup winners Old Boys University opening up with a 39-5 win over the Upper Hutt Rams at Maidstone Park and Swindale Shield title holders Hutt Old Boys Marist accounting for Johnsonville 64-7 at Helston Park...More

Last year Jerry Collins and his wife Alana Madill tragically in a car accident in France. Collins died protecting his baby daughter Ayla, who survived but remains in a critical condition.  Today Porirua Park was officially renamed Jerry Collins Stadium and a commemorative plaque was unveiled in his honour at the foot of the grandstand. Members of Collins’ family, the Northern United Rugby Football Club, former players and teammates and many people from the local community were there to witness the plaque’s unveiling and to pay their respects to former Norths, Wellington, Hurricane and All Black loose forward Collins...More

Above: Close-quarter action last year between 2013 winners Tawa and defending Swindale Shield champions Hutt Old Boys Marist. This year’s first round Premier club rugby competition is expected to be as tight as ever, with 14 teams jostling for eight spots for the Jubilee Cup later in the year. The first of 22 rounds s over the next four-and-a-half months gets underway tomorrow with the opening round of both the Premier Swindale Shield and Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield. Both competitions are restored to a full round-robin this season, so supporters are in for an action packed 13 rounds of Swindale Shield and Harper Lock Shield rugby...More