Above: Hardham Cup and Jubilee Cup finals day referees Tim Baker (left) and Hamish Mexted controlling matches earlier this year.While most are getting ready to support their team or put on the kits to play during the Wellington club rugby finals week, Tim Baker and Hamish Mexted are also getting their kits on and getting ready to run out with the players, but they're doing so to referee the games.Tim Baker has the Hardham Cup final, which will be contested by the Wellington Axemen and Northern United...More

It’s green versus green but only one will take the silverware. The Old Boys University Green and Hutt Old Boys Marist Green teams square off at the Hutt Recreation Ground on Sunday morning at 10.30 am in the final of the John E Kelly Memorial Cup Division 1 Colts grade.This is the first of three finals on the day, to be followed by the Hardham Cup and Jubilee Cup deciders, and on paper little separates the sides, who go into the final with near-identical season records.Defending champions Old Boys University have the slight edge having won all their games this season and beaten HOBM twice...More

In 2004 the Jim Brown Memorial Medal and Plate was first awarded to the Player of the Jubilee Cup Final, and since won by several players including Hurricanes halfback TJ Perenara (pictured above) in 2010.Jim Brown was a stalwart of the great Petone teams of the 1960s and 1970s , playing over 200 matches for the club and many for Wellington. He made his debut for Petone just a couple of weeks before future All Blacks captain Andy Leslie who this week described the former centre as “one of the best players I played with, and a player with a great rugby brain...More

While much of the attention is focused on the three big matches on the Hutt Recreation Ground on Sunday, there’s still plenty of action going on in the lower grades on Saturday.Senior 1 Ed Chaney CupThere is much to play for at both ends of the table in the last round of round-robin matches. The match of the day is undoubtedly the top-two clash between leaders Paremata-Plimmerton (31 points) and second-placed Wainuiomata (30) on Ngatitoa Domain at 3.00 pm. Although both sides have qualified for the semi-finals already, a win for either side will guarantee them home-field for the final should they prevail next week...More

Above: Ories wing Julian Savea, who plays for the New Zealand All Blacks, trying to evade his opposite, HOBM James Kusel, who plays for the New Zealand AFL team, in Saturday’s semi-final. Who is the fastest of them all? Find out on Sunday.As part of this coming Sunday’s Wellington club rugby Colts Division 1, Hardham Cup and Jubilee Cup finals, Wellington’s rugby will hopefully find its fastest Senior club player.Each club is invited to present their fastest man at the start line in full playing kit in the in-goal of the Hutt Recreation Ground for a length-of-the-field sprinting race, to take place just prior to the start of the Jubilee Cup final which kicks off at 3...More

On the eve of the 2013 Jubilee Cup final, Adam Julian caught up with MSP’s Murray Tocker (pictured here scoring a try in his youth), who won eight Jubilee Cups and as co-coach guided his club to the title last year.There are few people in Wellington who can claim to have won eight Jubilee Cups, but Murray Tocker is one of them.A legend in Marist circles, Tocker boasts a career in schoolboy and senior club rugby that few have matched. Additionally Tocker played 34 first class games between 1976 and 1986...More

Above: The Jubilee Cup takes its place in the trophy cabinet at Wellington Rugby late last week.Six days out from the 2013 Jubilee Cup final between Tawa and Oriental-Rongotai at the Hutt Recreation Ground we’ve documented the first decade of finals between 1993-2003 since the modern playoff format was introduced.This is part one of a two-part article. In 2004 the Jim Brown Medal was first awarded for the Player of the Final. Part two will feature the individual Jim Brown Medal winners and their contributions to the finals between 2004-2012...More

Above: Ma’a Nonu was one of three All Blacks and three other Super Rugby players to play in the Ories-HOBM Jubilee Cup semi-final at the Hutt Recreation Ground. Nonu had a quiet game and was subbed after 53 minutes. The match itself was a thriller, Ories winning deep in extra time.Swindale Shield champions Tawa will meet Oriental-Rongotai in next Sunday’s Jubilee Cup final and Northern United will play the Wellington Axemen in the Hardham Cup final after a contrasting set of semi-finals this afternoon that produced truly epic playoff rugby on one hand and one-sidedness on the other...More

The victorious Northern United Women’s team after beating Oriental-Rongotai 18-5 and winning the Victoria Tavern Trophy at Porirua Park tonight.Northern United are the 2013 Victoria Tavern Trophy Premier Women’s Wellington club rugby champions.Norths withstood a committed and at times torrid challenge from Oriental-Rongotai to win tonight’s final 18-5 under lights at Porirua Park in clear, still conditions and in front of about 1,500 vocal supporters.Norths outscored the Ories visitors three tries to one to finish their season unbeaten and achieve the first round Fleurs Trophy - second round Victoria Tavern Trophy double...More

Above: Wellington prop Tevita Falekakala charging the Northern United defence in their recent round-robin match, with teammates, flanker Terry Soli and hooker Tala Kitekei'aho (on right), in support. Wellington play Upper Hutt at Maidstone Park in one Hardham Cup semi-final on Saturday, while Norths play the Wests Roosters at Porirua Park in the other.? For the first time since 2002 the Wellington Club will play in the Swindale Shield next year.It completes a remarkable ascent for a club that was on its knees only a few years ago...More