Jubilee Cup leaders Petone could qualify for a home semi-final with a week to spare, while the playoff? fates of at least three of the other four contenders are unlikely to be decided until the last round next week as teams jostle for position in this Saturday's sixth and penultimate round set of matches. Five of the eight teams are realistically left chasing the four semi-final places over the last fortnight of round-robin play, but in a crowded points table Petone are best placed to decide their fate...More

Marist St. Pat's have shot into Jubilee Cup contention with a fighting 19-12 win over a star-studded Northern United at Evans Bay Park in round five on Saturday. In the definitive clash of the year for them, MSP played with all the passion and determination required to keep their hands of the Jubilee Cup title this year, turning around a comprehensive defeat to Norths in the last round of the Swindale Shield just five weeks ago with a match-winning defensive effort and keeping themselves firmly in semi-final contention...More

This week's fifth round sets of Jubilee and Hardham Cup matches are key for the several teams across both competitions who need to win or their semi-finals hopes and dreams for 2009 will be over for another year. Jubilee Cup strugglers Tawa and Upper Hutt find themselves in must win situations, needing to win their last three matches and also having to rely on other results to go their way to have any hope of making the playoffs. Sixth placed Hutt Old Boys Marist can still most probably make the top four on their own without having to sweat on other results providing they can win in the last three weeks...More

Petone have hit the lead in the Jubilee Cup after a 12-try rout over Tawa at the Village, while a late try to captain and No. 8 Misipalauni Moananu snatched a stunning victory for Poneke over Hutt Old Boys Marist in a heart stopper at the Hutt Recreation Ground in round four matches on Saturday. At the Petone Recreation Ground, the home side sauntered to a comfortable 68-7 win over Tawa to leapfrog previous frontrunners Northern United and Oriental-Rongotai after Norths beat Ories 30-9 at Porirua Park but had to rely on the prolific boot of fullback James So'oialo? rather than scoring a basket of tries...More

Wellington club rugby will be without many of its stars over the next fortnight of Jubilee and Hardham Cup play, with the selection of the competition's frontline players to the Vodafone Wellington Lions team for the opening two Ranfurly Shield defences of? the year against Wairarapa-Bush and Wanganui?tipped to test the depth and combinations?of several teams. Most of the 22 players selected for Vodafone Wellington Lions duty have been both regular and integral contributors to their clubs all season and their likely absence for this weekend's fourth round set of matches and for round five next week is expected to add extra spice into an already superheated season of close results...More

Bonus point wins have sent?Oriental-Rongotai and Northern United to the top of a tight Jubilee Cup after the third round set of matches on Saturday.Ories and Norths each grabbed their second wins of the Jubilee Cup, Ories running in seven tries in beating Tawa 52-7 at Lyndhurst Park to lead the field by a solitary point and Norths scoring four tries in overcoming Upper Hutt 38-18 at Maidstone Park to lie second on points differential. But the hunt for semi-final positions remains wide open, with the leading pair joined on two wins from three games by both Petone and Poneke who earned third round victories over respective neigbourly rivals Hutt Old Boys Marist and Marist St...More

Update: Tawa docked points from first round win against Norths Source: Sam Worthington, The Dominion Post, Friday 26 June: Tawa have been shunted to the bottom of the Jubilee Cup ladder after Wellington Rugby Union found they had fielded an ineligible player in their upset first-round victory over Northern United. Centre Jeff Makapelu starred in the shock 24-15 win over the co-defending champions on June 13, but a Norths complaint that he had not received international clearance from his Romanian club was upheld by a WRFU dispute committee...More

Jubilee and Hardham Cups round two review: The 2009 Jubilee Cup stands evenly poised after two weeks after all four losing teams from the first round won all four round-robin games on Saturday to leave all eight teams with a win and a loss. In a?turnaround in fortunes for all four of last week's defeated teams - joint Swindale Shield champions Northern United and Petone, Oriental-Rongotai and Hutt Old Boys Marist - all eight Jubilee Cup contenders are separated by just a bonus point after the first fortnight of play...More

If last week's opening round Jubilee and Hardham Cup salvos are an indication of the rugby to come over the rest of the season then Wellington grassroots rugby supporters are in for a roaring final two months of club rugby in 2009. There were two upsets in the Hardham Cup, while all four first-up Jubilee Cup results were the reverse of what happened in the Swindale Shield round. Reversing their outcomes from earlier in the season, Marist St. Pat's defeated Oriental-Rongotai 30-13 (Ories winning 30-24 in the first round), Poneke beat Petone 13-10 (first round Petone 38-11), Upper Hutt beat Hutt Old Boys Marist (HOBM 26-25) and Tawa overcame Northern United 24-15 (Norths 37-11)...More

Swindale Shield form was turned on its head in the first week of Jubilee Cup play on Saturday, with first round co-champions Northern United and Petone both losing their opening matches.In a first round boilover, previously rampant Norths lost to eighth ranked Tawa 15-24 at Porirua Park and Petone met a 10-13 defeat to Poneke at Kilbirnie Park. Tawa stunned Norths with a well-deserved victory, Norths' first loss since the second week of the season, while third ranked Poneke inflicted just Petone's second loss this year in three months of rugby as they held on grimly in the mud and steady drizzle for an important opening round victory...More