?Marist St. Pat's first five-eighth /fullback Andrew Wells joined the club at the start of 2012 from Wellington College and has since become a mainstay of the Premier team. A recent New Zealand U20 trialist in Palmerston North, Wells is a member of the WRFU Academy and featured in the Hurricanes Development team in their representative programme at the start of this season. A versatile player, he can play most positions in the backline, from halfback in last year's Wellington U20 team to fullback in the 2012 Jubilee Cup final...More

Above: It was close at Fraser Park between Avalon and Johnsonville. In this Senior 1 Harper Lock Shield match Johnsonville won 17-16, while in the other Senior 2 National Mutual Cup between the sides, the visitors prevailed 27-26. Saturday 25 May at the Hutt Recreation Ground. Pencil that date in now as the likely 2013 Swindale Shield title decider when home team the Hutt Old Boys Marist take on Tawa. With three rounds to play, including that penultimate round clash in a fortnight, the duo sit out in front equal on 33 points and with a game in hand to their nearest challenger Oriental-Rongotai...More

?What more could Wellington sports fans want this Saturday? Significant first round title defining and mid-table Swindale Shield clashes, four clubs holding their Old Timers' Days and some notable interclub trophies headlined by the annual McBain Shield clash between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Petone. This week's eighth round of Wellington club rugby promises to be exciting. Five of the six Swindale Shield venues on Saturday are key battlegrounds in the race for the first round title and for places inside the top eight for the second round Jubilee Cup, while the sixth between the Wests Roosters and Rimutaka is a likely clash to avoid the wooden spoon...More

Above: Frantic rugby. MSP's Andrew Wells is brought to ground last Saturday while Wainuiomata's John Monu (left), Marvin Karawana (right) and Teru Time (on ground) look on. MSP's Aviaga Silago takes a keen interest in proceedings in the background. Photo courtesy of Holden Brothers Media. A mighty battle is unraveling for clubs to secure places inside the top eight and make the Jubilee Cup round. As it stands, with four rounds to play and a maximum of 20 points up for grabs, just two points separate the five teams currently occupying places fifth through to ninth...More

Old Boys University halfback Luke Campbell is one of several young guns playing Premier rugby this season. Out of Wellington College last year, along with OBU teammate hooker Zeke Sopoaga, Campbell is a member of the WRFU Academy and has a promising rugby future in front of him. On Saturday against Tawa (pictured above) his battle with one of the competition's best halfbacks, 38-Test veteran for Samoa Steven So'oialo, was great to watch. Until he was subbed late in the second half, Campbell tore into everything and despite his smaller size wasn't afraid of the physical stuff...More

Above: Teru Time celebrating scoring the match winning try for Wainuiomata over MSP. Wainuiomata won 31-24. There's the Swindale Shield contenders and then there's the competition strugglers. Both were involved in contrasting circumstances in a dramatic seventh round of Premier matches in Wellington club rugby today. At the top of the table, are Tawa, who grabbed their sixth win in seven matches over a spirited Old Boys University. Tawa scored the winning try with about five minutes to play and then held on by the skin of their teeth as OBU launched one last raid...More

Above: MSP openside flanker Issac O'Connor confronts his opposite, Dean Brunsdon, in MSP's 22-13 win over Norths on Sunday. MSP host Wainuiomata on their Old Timers' Day on Saturday, while Norths return home to play the Wests Roosters. The recent run of three games in the space of eight days has made for a whirlwind first half to the Swindale Shield, Harper Lock Shield and National Mutual Cup competitions. Round seven of 11 this Saturday promises to be just as exciting, as the leading contenders across all three competitions jostle to be crowned first round title winners and those sides lower down the tables fight for their places in higher grades in the second round...More

Above: Motu Matu'u fending off then Marist St Pat's first five-eighth and now Oriental-Rongotai club mate Fa'atonu Fili in last year's Jubilee Cup Final. Unfortunately post interviewing Motu Matu'u last week the hard-hitting hooker broke his arm in an incredibly physical battle with the Stormers at FMG Stadium in Palmerston North last Friday and is expected to be out for several weeks. Surprisingly this defensive demon did not start out his rugby days in the same vein. Rugby wasn't a huge component in a young Motu Matu'u's life and he admittedly was never the type willing to get dirty or hurt on his Saturday mornings...More

Hutt Old Boys Marist hooker James O'Reilly has started his Premier career this season. Out of Hutt International Boys' School in 2012, O'Reilly has returned to the club that he played for as a kid and has so far started for the defending first round champions in their Swindale Shield matches against Wainuiomata, the Wests Roosters, Marist St Pat's and Poneke. He has yet to taste defeat as part of the run-on side, and he scored a terrific ?runaway try inside the first minute of play against MSP on ANZAC Day with his first ever touch of the ball playing at home on the Hutt Rec...More

Above: Poneke's Misipalauni Moananu at the start of play in this 250th Premier match. In another significant milestone today, Upper Hutt's Ben Aoina played his 150th Premier match Tawa are the leaders by two points after six rounds of the 11-round Swindale Shield competition, while the most successful Premier club of the past decade, Northern United, are outside the top eight after another exciting round of matches on Saturday. Tawa pulled clear of the Wests Roosters at Lyndhurst Park to score four second half tries and win 33-5, while Northern United were out-played up front by Marist St...More