The Oriental-Rongotai women's team earned their fourth straight bonus point win, while Northern United, aided by the scoring feats of the McIntosh sisters, made it clear they won't relinquish their Wellington Women's Premier rugby crown without a fight in the latest round of matches played on Saturday. Ories, who defeated Norths earlier in the round, beat Avalon 69-0 at home at the Polo Ground to continue their impressive early season form. In a well-rounded team effort, 10 individuals scored their 11 tries, while fullback Lizzie Goulden kicked seven conversions...More

Above: It was close at Helston Park on Saturday, where OBU pulled away to beat Johnsonville. Updated: Tawa held off the challenge of the Upper Hutt Rams on the latter's Old Timers' Day to win 29-20 and maintain their grip on the top of the Swindale Shield standings. In earning their sixth bonus point in seven matches, defending champions Tawa have maintained their six-point lead at the top of the standings to Marist St Pat's who held off Petone in the second half to win 39-29 and take home the Bill Elvy Memorial Cup on their Old Timers' Day...More

Tomorrow sees the start of the competitive college rugby season, with two sets of games taking place in parallel over the next three weekends. Last year's Premier 1 semi-finalists - winners and national semi-finalists Wellington College, St Pats Silverstream, Scots College, and Naenae College are all in action at the Hurricanes schools festival, with matches in successive weekends in Gisborne and Palmerston North, before the last group of games in Wellington on May 17. The format, introduced last year and replacing the Williment Cup, sees the Wellington schools each face three of the four lower North Island schools aligned with the Super 8 competition...More

Hard hitting: look for a lift in intensity this weekend from several teams jostling for top eight positions, including ninth placed Norths who play eleventh placed Wellington and fourth placed Ories who meet sixth placed Hutt Old Boys Marist. The halfway mark has been passed in the Swindale Shield and the jostling for Jubilee Cup places will pick up a gear over the next five rounds. The first half of the competition has shown that there are no easy games this year, and with several matches in the last three rounds being decided in the final moments its proving to be enthralling action...More

Above: Tauasosi Tuimavave, playing for Poneke last season, has been selected in the New Zealand U20 quad to contest the IRB Junior World Championship in Auckland in June. Tauasosi Tuimavave dreamt of playing rugby while growing up in Samoa. As a child he would watch professional rugby on TV with his friends and family. His father, Tautasi Tuimavave, would occasionally travel to New Zealand and on return would bring back rugby balls to the village - balls in which all of the boys would fight over and try and claim as their own...More

They were almost tipped up for the first time since early July 2013 on Saturday, but Tawa came back late to beat Johnsonville and extend their unbeaten run to 10 matches. Loose forward Sam Blair has played in all of these wins and is a key member of their Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup title defence this season. Name: Samuel Blair??????????????????? Club: TawaPlaying position: Loose forward Secondary School attended: Tawa College First rugby club played for: Tawa (junior club)?What is your earliest memory playing rugby? Being told to play rugby as I was too rough to play soccer...More

Above: Avalon halfback Mary-Jane Ale gets a pass away as her Wainuiomata opposite Suzanne Yee and referee Bruce Burdon look on. Oriental-Rongotai and Avalon are the two unbeaten sides in the Premier Women's competition after third round Fleurs Trophy matches played around Wellington on Saturday. Backing up their hard-fought second round victory over Norths, Ories secured their third straight bonus point win, comfortably defeating new side Tawa.? With regular first five-eighth and playmaker Lizzie Goulden away at the Black Ferns trials? - along with Norths duo Muteremoana Aiatu and Sanita Levave and Wainuiomata's Jackie Patea - Amanda Rasch scored a try and was pinpoint off the kicking tee kicking 17 conversions...More

Heart-stopper at the Hutt Rec: HOBM Eagles centre Taiso Silafai-Leaanaa scores in the corner today in HOBM's remarkable win over the Upper Hutt Rams Has there been a comeback like it in Wellington club rugby in modern times? Not since Tawa's 42-35 win over Poneke in 2010 when they came back from 7-35 perhaps? Today, the Hutt Old Boys Marist Eagles came back from being 17-40 down on the scoreboard and at that moment treading water on the Swindale Shield points table to bonus point 41-40 winners and within a matter of minutes right back in the race for first round Swindale Shield honours...More

Ahead of tomorrow's sixth round set of Wellington club rugby Premier, Senior 1 and Senior 2 matches, some statistics about James So'oialo's Premier club rugby scoring feats thus far for his previous club Northern United and his current one Tawa (pictured here playing recently for Tawa against Norths), some information about interclub trophies on the line tomorrow and how Victorian Rules Football helped hasten the formation of the WRFU. So'oialo outscores the opposition James So'oialo has achieved a lot in his rugby career...More

Above: Fighting for possession. Petone and Wainuiomata are two of four teams on 11 points ahead of the mid-point of the Swindale Shield this Saturday This weekend marks the halfway point of the first round Wellington club rugby Premier Swindale Shield, Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield and Senior 2 National Mutual Cup grades. It also concludes the compressed part of the schedule with teams playing their fourth game in two weeks, and injuries are taking a toll on some of the contenders. Premier Swindale Shield While the easiest way to ensure Jubilee Cup qualification is to simply win games, the tight nature of the middle of the table with fourth through ninth separated by just two points, means that some teams will have one eye on the points column and trying to establish how many points might be needed...More