Wellington's newest Premier club, Rimutaka, can't wait for its first taste of Swindale Shield rugby when they line up at home at Maoribank Park against Poneke in their season opener on Saturday 7 April says club spokesperson and Premier team manager Dustin Brattle."Rimutaka is extremely excited about the opportunity to play Swindale Shield 2012," says Brattle, "Nervous and excited. All eyes will be on us as the other Premier teams really don't know what we have to offer or what style we will play and we're eager to give it our best...More

A massive nationwide rugby tour to say ‘thank you New Zealand', and featuring the coveted Webb Ellis Cup will call on 41 New Zealand towns and cities over the next two months.The Great Rugby Road Trip will see a custom-built black truck transport rugby's prized silverware from Northland to Stewart Island. It comes to the Wellington region on 16, 17 and 18 March."The Road Trip is about saying thank you New Zealand for the wonderful support you gave us during Rugby World Cup 2011," said Steve Tew, NZRU Chief Executive...More

The Oriental Rongotai Premiers and their coach Phil Proctor were both recognised for their achievements in 2011 at the Wellington Rugby Football Union awards on 23 November. The Ories Premiers won the Club Team of the Year Award and Proctor took out the Club Coach of the Year award. Ories blitzed defending champions Northern United five tries to two in the final of the Jubilee Cup in August, to win their first ever Jubilee Cup final in their first final appearance and their first senior club championship as a standalone club since 2010...More

Never forget the incredible highs of the 2011 Rugby World Cup where the New Zealand rugby team made history in our homeland.? Own the final in full and the official review from the tournament - DVD out 7 December.New Zealand Rugby World Cup Champions on DVD is a double disc set available on DVD and Blu ray. Both formats include the official review showing highlights of every match from the RWC, the final in full including the postmatch celebrations plus the best of the New Zealand Australia semi-final...More

Photo with this article is from the Hurricanes region U16 tournament. The Wellington U16 and U16 Development teams both won their divisions. For more read here Report kindly written by ARFU club rugby reporter Libby Gudmundsson:Auckland club rugby Gallaher Shield?champions Ponsonby defeated the Norths' Invitational XV 41-13 at Western Springs Stadium in Auckland on Thursday night. Despite trailing at halftime, Ponsonby put on a clinical second half performance, piling on 31 unanswered points and keeping the visitors scoreless...More

The teams are here, preparations are complete and the stage is set for world rugby's showpiece to rock Wellington and New Zealand over the next six weeks.There are a total of eight 2011 Rugby World Cup matches set down for Wellington over the next month. These games are:• Sunday 11 September 8.30pm: South Africa v Wales• Saturday 17 September 6.00pm: South Africa v Fiji• Friday 23 September 8.30pm: Australia v USA• Sunday 25 September 8.30pm: Argentina v Scotland• Saturday 1 October 6...More

A superb all-round team effort and some breathtaking tries has given Oriental-Rongotai its first standalone Jubilee Cup title after a memorable Premier college and club finals day at the Petone Recreation Ground. Ories ran in five tries to blitz two-time defending champions Northern United in a dynamic exhibition of grassroots rugby. In an exhilarating 20 minutes of play either side of halftime, Ories came from 13-6 behind to score four electric tries and take the game away from Norths.With barely 10 minutes up on the scoreboard clock in the second half, Ories had scored their third and fourth tries and kicked a penalty to open up a 33-13 lead and it was effectively game over...More

Tawa are the 2011 Hardham Cup champions after beating Old Boys-University 25-20 in the final at Fraser Park on Saturday afternoon. And they did so in a thriller - holding off wave after wave of OBU attack close to their own tryline in a desperate five minutes of rugby for both sides at the end of the match. A fast-finishing OBU threw everything at Tawa at the end in an attempt to score the try that would have locked up the scores with either a fulltime conversion or a period of extra time to come to decide the outcome...More

Jubilee Cup: Oriental-Rongotai v Northern United A clash of the two current giants of Wellington club rugby, this year's Jubilee Cup final pits Northern United, the two-time defending champions and first round Swindale Shield winners, against Oriental-Rongotai, the leading side from the just completed Jubilee Cup round-robin series. In the blue and white corner, Norths are gunning for their fourth Jubilee Cup title after wins in 2004, 2006, 2008 (shared with MSP) and last year (Norths have won it every two years thus far), and their 11th overall title out of a possible 18 since their first Swindale Shield in 2003...More

Top qualifier Oriental-Rongotai and defending champion Northern United will meet on neutral territory at the Petone Recreation Ground next Sunday to decide the 2011 Jubilee Cup, after contrasting semi-finals wins in extremely windy conditions.At the Polo Ground, two tries to first five-eighth Trevor Marama and massive defence at the end of the game won the day for Ories who saw off a gallant Hutt Old Boys Marist challenge to win 18-15. After establishing their match winning lead through a Marama penalty in the 57th minute, Ories spent almost the entire fourth quarter pressed hard on defence and only superior passion and commitment held out a number of Eagles drives and assaults close to the line...More