Above: TJ Va’a (Scots College) making a break and getting away from Jared Adams (St Pat’s Silverstream, headgear) in last year’s Wellington First XV final. Both players could feature in Wellington club rugby this year. TJ Va’a and Malo Tuitama from the National Top Four winning Scots College First XV and Lui Okeamoa-Luamanu from St Pat’s Silverstream were all selected for New Zealand Schools’ last year, but all of them are injured. Tuitama, who is Ories bound, might miss the entire season with a knee and Achilles complaint...More

UPDATED: A mix of familiar and new players will step out on to Trentham Memorial Park this coming Saturday for Wellington club rugby’s Gala Day opening set of Swindale Shield matches. All seven week one Premier matches are being played at Trentham, as well as all games of the opening round of the new-look Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield. Some clubs could be running several players out on debut, while others could have a decidedly international flavour to them, with some French and Dutch players amongst the 2015 intake...More

Above: spectators on the once notorious western bank at Athletic Park settle in to watch Wellington take on Great Britain in 1930 Match details Result: Wellington 12 – Great Britain 8When: 4 June 1930, at Athletic Park. Weather: Fine, with a cold wind from the south. Crowd: 30,000 The tour New Zealand was awash with rugby fever in 1930 when the second official full Great Britain (and first since 1904) landed on its shores for a 21-match tour. This was the first Great Britain team known as the Lions...More

Join the Flying Squadron this year and become part of the energy and excitement of the Hurricanes in 2015. The Flying Squadron is the Hurricanes Supporters’ Group and is welcomes you in joining them in the Hangar at home games at Westpac Stadium. Order your Flying Squadron apparel today through?www.xtremenz.co.nz Between now and 8.00 pm this Sunday night, 15 March,?every Flying Squadron appparel purchased, you will receive 2 tickets to the?Hurricanes’?first home game against the Rebels at Westpac Stadium on Friday 27 March at 7...More

Above: HOBM’s Tomasi Alosio running on to a pass by Alexis Time in last year’s Spillane tournament opener against Auckland Marist. The Eagles are hoping to win the tournament for the sixth consecutive year this weekend The 84th New Zealand Marist Spillane Cup tournament is being hosted by the Napier Old Boys Marist club at Park Island, Napier this weekend. The tournament features Senior and Colts teams from several leading clubs, from Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu, North Harbour, Waikato, Wanganui and Wellington...More

Above: Rey Lee-Lo making a bust against the Crusaders in their pre-season match in Eketahuna in January Rey Lee-Lo’s welcome return to the Hurricanes this season is only the beginning of a massive 2015 in his rugby career. The versatile midfielder has already been an integral part of the Hurricanes backline during the early rounds of 2015 and will likely continue to be for the remainder of the season with the necessity to rest key All Blacks during the campaign. Lee-Lo will start from the bench during tomorrow night’s New Zealand conference encounter with the Blues at FMG stadium in Palmerston North, a role he is quite comfortable with, allowing for Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith to partner up in the midfield...More

Above: Nev MacEwan holds the Jubilee Cup aloft after captaining his club Athletic to victory in 1965.? Nev MacEwan had little interest in rugby as a lad. He started his sporting life as a sprinter and swimmer at Nelson College. In 1951, aged 17, his brother Pat encouraged him to have a go at rugby. Nev trialed for the First XV and ended up in the thirds. But he didn’t stay in the thirds for long. By the end of the year he had earned his first mention in a newspaper after taking some advice from a local broadcaster...More

Above: Petone, Wellington and All Blacks halfback Harry 'Ginger' Nicholls making a break in the Dunedin Test between the All Blacks and the Springboks in 1921. Match details: South Africa 8 – Wellington 323 July 1921 at Athletic Park. Weather: showers and fine, cold southerly wind. Crowd: 29,000 The tour: The years immediately following World War 1 were golden ones for Wellington’s representative rugby team. As Ranfurly Shield holders since 1914, Wellington famously took the log ‘o Wood on tour in 1919 and 1920 and defended it 15 times before eventually losing it to Southland in Invercargill (regaining it later in 1921)...More

Above: Scots College celebrate winning the Hurricanes region final last August against Palmerston North Boys' High School. College Sport Wellington have released their rugby calendar for the season ahead, with it getting underway on Wednesday 22nd?April with the first round of Co-ed Cup knockout games. Major dates during the year are: Last year’s four Premier 1 semi-finalists – Scots College, St Patrick’s Silverstream, St Patricks College, and Wellington College – will take part in the now annual 1st?XV Festival against the four Lower North Island Super 8-aligned Schools (Gisborne, Napier, Hastings & Palmerston North BHS), with those games taking place in Napier (2 May), the Rugby Institute at Massey (9 May), and Wellington (15/16 May)...More

Above: Brandyn Laursen (left) and Mike Clamp (right) who we think hold the respective Wellington club rugby single season points and try scoring records. Who are the players who have scored the most points and the most tries in single seasons in Wellington club rugby? Who has been missed from the two lists below? As we head towards the 2015 season, we want to compile the definitive all-time Wellington Premier club rugby individual season point and try scoring records. Please comment below or email editor@ clubrugby...More