Above: The MSP Blues and Tawa Titans teams in action when they met back in June at Te Whaea in the decider of the first round JC Bowl, which MSP won 16-12. Photo courtesy of MSP Rugby. To the fair-weather supporter, one thing that has seemingly been a given all season has been that the MSP Blues will march to another Paul Potiki Shield U85 kg Division 1 title. After all, the Blues have been the dominant team of this grade for the last few seasons and indeed the most consistent performing team across all of Wellington Senior rugby in this time...More

?The following is an opinion piece written by Club Rugby news and story contributor Scott MacLean:It’s become something that’s as certain as night following day; the end of the club season being accompanied by calls to review the structure of Wellington’s Premier and Senior club competitions.The current structure has been in place for 20 years, following a period of club amalgamations that created Northern United, Old Boys-University and Hutt Old Boys-Marist.Reports since the Premier finals day three weeks ago has a number of the WRFU’s Club Coaching Co-ordinator Officers proposing an expansion of the Swindale Shield from the current 12 teams to 14...More

Three more Wellington club rugby trophies went to Old Boys University (celebrations pictured above), Tawa? and Poneke today after respective wins for the trio in the Senior 2, Colts Division 2 and Reserve Grade Division 1 finals.Old Boys University collected the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial Cup with a 22-8 win over Johnsonville in the final at Nairnville Park, after Tawa had beaten OBU Black 26-20 in the final of the Colts Division 2 Vic Calcanai Memorial Cup on the same ground. Across town at Kilbirnie Park, the Poneke Ruffnuts defeated the Marist St...More

?Above: Wellington Samoans first five-eighth Fa’atonu Fili gets a pass way in last week’s match against the Wellington U20s. The Wellington Samoans will field several familiar players tomorrow against the Wellington Development side, including Fili, Samoans Sevens captain Afa Aiono, Genesis Mamea, Wellington club Best & Fairest winner Sam Tui and James So’oialo ahead of his departure next week to Connacht in Ireland.If you like rugby there’s something for everyone in Wellington tomorrow...More

(Above): The crack St Pat’s Town U15 team packing down recently. If they beat Rongotai College in Saturday’s final by more than 34 points they will bring up 1,000 points for the season. They head off to the National U15 Tournament in Auckland on 2 September – having finished 5th in New Zealand last year.The College Sport Wellington school Finals Day returns to St Pat’s Silverstream after being held at Rongotai College for the last two years. Although the major prize – the Premier 1 title – has already been decided, along with both Girls divisions, there are still no fewer than 14 grade and division titles to be decided on a full day of action across all five fields at Silverstream...More

?Above: Petone’s Neemia Tialata (left), now playing in France, is one of well over 100 current or former Wellington Premier club players currently playing around New Zealand and overseas, while Northern United’s John Schwalger (right) has recently returned from France to re-join the Wellington Lions. UPDATED - last update Thursday morning: The ITM Cup kicked off last weekend and the Heartland Championship kicks off this Saturday. To mark the start of the representative season, here’s Club Rugby’s third annual compilation of the current and former Wellington Premier club rugby players playing or coaching other provinces in 2013...More

They’ve got the Swindale Shield and the Jubilee Cup. Now they’ve got the Ed Chaney Cup (celebrations above) The Tawa Rugby Football Club has got every reason to celebrate long into the night at their prize giving this evening at leafy Lyndhurst Park after their second XV captured the Ed Chaney Cup this afternoon in front of several hundred vocal fans at Ngatitoa Domain. Tawa played with tremendous heart and determination to hold off home side Paremata-Plimmerton 14-6 and thus add the Senior 1 title to their overflowing trophy cabinet...More

?Knockout club rugby continues in earnest around Wellington on Saturday. Semi-finals are being contested in three more Wellington club rugby grades, in the Senior 2 HD Morgan Memorial and Colts Division 2 Vic Calcinai Memorial Cups and Reserve Grade Division 1 grades, while its finals day in the U85 kg Division 2 and 3 competitions. Senior 2 HD Morgan CupThe Senior 2 grade is running a week behind owing to the earlier round that was washed away in the storm in June, but has now reached the semi-finals stage...More

Above: The Paremata-Plimmerton team on Ngatitoa Domain at the start of last week’s semi-final win over Hutt Old Boys Marist.UPDATED WITH TEAMS (below): The major club rugby prize being decided this weekend is the Senior 1 Ed Chaney Cup final being fought out by Paremata-Plimmerton and Tawa at Ngatitoa Domain at 2.30 pm. This promises to be tightly contested final after both sides emerged from tight semi-finals tussles last weekend. Paremata-Plimmerton chalked up yet another tight low-scoring win, 15-13 over Hutt Old Boys-Marist, while Tawa were successful on the road winning 26-22 at Wainuiomata...More

Above: The Wellington Maori and Wellington Samoans clash at the end of August is one of many representative matches coming up to look forward to.The 2013 ITM Cup season starts this week, with the Wellington Lions taking on the Counties Manukau Steelers in Pukekohe on Thursday. Thursday’s opener is the first of 10 round-robin fixtures for the Lions, including five home games at Westpac stadium.But that’s not all. Several other Wellington representative teams are between a few days and a couple of weeks away from starting busy representative seasons, which run variously throughout the back half of August, September and October...More