The Jubilee Cup dream may be gone for another year but there's still plenty to play for over the second half of the season for the bottom four clubs from the recently completed Swindale Shield round. For the second year in a row, these teams will be joined by two other stand alone club teams who will be vying to finishing ahead of them and qualify for next year's Swindale Shield round.Joining current Premier clubs Wainuiomata, the Wests Roosters, Avalon and Old Boys-University in this year's Hardham Cup will be Johnsonville and Rimutaka, both desperate to finish in the top half of the competition and win promotion to next year's Swindale Shield...More

Look out for a continued strong showing by Oriental-Rongotai in the 2009 Jubilee Cup which kicks off this Saturday with the first round of matches. Now in their second year back in the top grade following a five-year hiatus languishing in the tier two Hardham Cup competition, Ories are again right up there amongst the traditional big guns and powerhouses of Wellington rugby.The names of Petone, Poneke, Marist St. Pat's, and in recent times Northern United, are those most associated with playoff rugby and Jubilee Cup success...More

The 2009 Swindale Shield title has been shared by Petone and Northern United following a dramatic last day's play that saw Norths saunter to a bonus point win over Marist St. Pat's and draw level on competition points with Petone who beat Oriental-Rongotai but failed to score four tries.The Swindale Shield is shared for the just the third time in the modern first round competiton's 41 year history after Petone knocked on over the line at the death and missed out on what would have been a last-gasp bonus point win that would have seen them finish ahead of Norths and claim the silverware outright...More

An exciting 2009 Swindale Shield competition goes down to the wire this Saturday in a massive last round set of matches, in which four teams are still alive to win or share the title and two other teams are still vying for eighth place and the last available spot in the coveted Jubilee Cup.In a humdinger of a last round, two of the four leading contenders are playing each other and a third, Northern United, are playing defending Swindale Shield and co-Jubilee Cup champions Marist St. Pat's in must-win matches...More

Swindale Shield week 10 review: Wellington club rugby fans can look forward to a blockbusting last round of Swindale Shield rugby next weekend after bonus point wins for Petone, Norths and Poneke in Saturday's tenth round set of matches mean any of these sides could walk away with the first round title on their own. The 2009 Swindale Shield is set to go down to the wire in a three-horse race for first round title honours between these three sides and a fourth team, Oriental-Rongotai, ?who are still in the hunt to at least share the silverware...More

There may be just two rounds remaining in this year's Swindale Shield, but there's still plenty of rugby to be played over the final fortnight, starting with an action packed tenth round set of matches this Saturday. Heading into this week's penultimate round, seven teams are still mathematically in the running to win or share the title and ten of the twelve sides are still alive chasing the eight spots to contest the Jubilee Cup starting on 13 June.?Frontrunners Petone (on 37 points) and Northern United (36) are in the box seat for first round supremacy, with Oriental-Rongotai and Poneke (both on 33) just behind should they slip up...More

Swindale Shield 23 May: No. 8 Faifili Levave was at the helm of a strong forward pack and centre Alipati Leiua scored two brilliant tries in Northern United's 27-12 win over Hutt Old Boys Marist on Saturday in atrocious conditions to emphatically lift their side right into first round title contention.Hurricanes flanker Levave was part of an all-star loose forward contingent and a committed Norths pack that overcame HOBM in the driving wind and rain at Porirua Park, while star-in-the-making Leiua's two tries? early in the second half took the game away from the Eagles...More

It's an all eastern suburbs affair at Kilbirnie Park this Saturday, where home side Poneke hosts Oriental-Rongotai for the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield and the Bill Brien Cup in a possible first round title-deciding clash. Both of these sides are part of a group of five teams clustered together at the top of the table and separated by just five points, so whoever comes out on top at Kilbirnie Park could be holding the Swindale Shield aloft two weeks later. The battle for first round supremacy is suddenly all on following last weekend's thrilling eighth round set of matches, highlighted by Upper Hutt's 22-19 upset win over previously unbeaten Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist's? 25-23 toppling of in-form Ories, as well as Tawa and Wainuiomata's 20-20 draw which added fuel to the battle for the top eight...More

The 2009 Swindale Shield took a dramatic twist on Saturday with previously unbeaten Petone stumbling to its first loss of the season against seventh placed Upper Hutt to throw the title race wide open with just three rounds to play. Giant killers Upper Hutt defeated Petone 22-19 at the Petone Recreation Ground to end Petone's perfect start to the year and see them relinquish their previous four-point lead at the top of the table.Petone are now joined at the top by Poneke who eased to a 66-5 four-try bonus point win over competition strugglers Avalon, while wins for Hutt Old Boys Marist over Oriental-Rongotai and Northern United over Old-Boys University have intensified the battle for this year's Swindale Shield, with just five points now separating the leading five teams and nine points from first to seventh...More

It's sink or swim time now for the Swindale Shield strugglers who realistically all need to win in round eight to hold out any hope of making the second round top eight cut off, or the teams for the Jubilee Cup could all be effectively decided after this weekend's set of matches. Three of the six Swindale Shield fixtures this week are between teams in the top half of the competition and teams placed in the bottom half - and if these all run to form then a date with the Hardham Cup could be all but sealed for the Wests Roosters, Wainuiomata, Old Boys-University and Avalon with three weeks still to play...More