The IRB Player of the Year award could be heading to Miramar, with Julian Savea this week nominated for the award along with All Blacks teammate Brodie Retallick, two South Africans and an Irishman.?In shortlisting Savea for the award, the IRB has this to say about the blockbusting wing:“With a try-scoring rate that few can match, Julian Savea has inevitably drawn comparisons with legendary All Black wing Jonah Lomu this year. The 24-year-old has scored 10 tries in 2014, including a hat-trick against England in the third Test in June, to take his tally to 29 tries in just 31 Tests...More

UPDATED FRIDAY: Twenty school teams from the lower and central North Island are scheduled to descend on Palmerston North for the inaugural Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council Sevens Tournament this coming Saturday.Twelve boys’ and eight girls’ schools will compete across six pools in the tournament, hosted by the Manawatu Rugby Union at Massey University. Schools from around the Hurricanes region from Wellington, Manawatu, Wanganui, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa-Bush have entered teams...More

Supporters take their seats in the trees in the Hurricanes’ pre-season community match in Masterton earlier this year.Rugby fans can lock in Saturday 21 March as the start date for the 2015 Swindale Shield,New Zealand’s hottest Premier rugby competition, which is set to run for 20 consecutive weekends to August.?Details of the new-look Swindale Shield, involving 14 clubs, with a stay-of-relegation for Johnsonville and the promotion of Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton are yet to be revealed, but it is hoped for a simple competition structure...More

Above: Members of the newly crowned American Ambassador’s Sevens champions Hutt Old Boys Marist and runners-up Wainuiomata after the Cup final today. Photo by Dave Lintott.Hutt Old Boys Marist and Oriental-Rongotai have emerged victorious at the end of a long and exciting day at Evans Bay Park as the 2014 WRFU Men’s and Women’s American Ambassador’s Sevens champions.HOBM won the American Ambassador’s trophy after beating Wainuiomata in the Men’s Cup final and Ories won the Eleanor Roosevelt Cup in defeating Northern United in the Women’s Cup final...More

Above: The OBU Green side celebrating a try – a familiar occurrence this year on the club rugby fields of Wellington.The Old Boys University Green side dominated their grade in 2014, and they were deserved winners of the club Team of the Year award at the union’s awards held tonight.In beating rivals Hutt Old Boys Marist Green 35-8 in the John E Kelly Cup Memorial Cup Colts final at the start of August, OBU Green won the Division 1 U21 grade for the third year in succession and registered their 35th straight win going back to 2012...More

One of the biggest trophies has been saved for last.It’s not quite the Bledisloe Cup, but as far as club trophies go the American Ambassador’s one is a fairly impressive piece of silverware, and one of 12 teams representing 11 clubs in the Men’s division will raise it high late on Saturday as winners of the WRFU club Sevens title.The one-day tournament, played this year at Evans Bay Park and on the adjacent St Pat’s College Artificial, includes Men’s, Colts and Women’s divisions and is the last official club competitions act in what has been a hugely exciting season...More

Above: Marist St Pat's celebrate winning this year's first round Swindale Shield. The 12 Premier clubs will be joined in 2015 by Paremata-Plimmerton and Avalon.??The Wellington rugby clubs to participate in the new 2015 premier club rugby competition have been confirmed, with all lodged applications accepted by Wellington Rugby.?The 2015 competition will see the return of all 12 teams who competed in last year’s Swindale Shield, with the addition of Avalon and Paremata-Plimmerton, the latter of which has not competed in Swindale Shield premier rugby since 1986...More

Top meets bottom: Action from the match in Wellington between the last placed Lions and the Premiership champions Taranaki went the way of the visitors. Photo by Dave Lintott.Opinion: The 2014 ITM Cup showcased outstanding rugby and was full of surprises. Canterbury’s run of six straight titles came to a crushing end when they were walloped 26-6 at the hands of finalists Tasman.After a dour 9-all draw against Counties Manukau and a 26-23 loss to Hawke’s Bay in Napier, Taranaki got their groove back and became the first province aside from the big five (Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, Waikato and Wellington) to win top division since finals were introduced in 1992...More

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has released its player registration numbers for the year and for the first time they have topped 150,000.?Two thousand more players laced up their rugby boots in 2014 than the previous year and many of them were women, teenagers and junior players.??A total of 150,564 registered rugby players played the game in New Zealand, including a 12 percent increase in female rugby players, and Club Rugby's goal is to cover it all.??New Zealand Rugby’s General Manager Community and Provincial Union Rugby Brent Anderson said the numbers reflected the special place rugby has in New Zealand communities...More

Above: Oriental-Rongotai outside backs Ma’a Nonu and Julian Savea will be lining up together for the Hurricanes in 2015.Seventeen current Wellington players have been named in the 2015 Hurricanes squad, including the return of Oriental Rongotai Midfielder Ma’a Nonu from two years away playing for the Highlanders and the Blues and several new faces ready to make their marks at the highest provincial level.Upper Hutt Rams duo Jason Woodward (returning from the Melbourne Rebels) and Christian Lloyd are the two new faces in the Hurricanes' full contracted squad in 2015...More