In a rerun of last year's Jubilee Cup final Marist St. Pat's host champions Hutt Old Boys Marist in round six of the Swindale Shield at Evans Bay Park. In the resumption of rivalries for Wellington Marist ascendancy the two teams also play for the Father Cleary Shield and the Bill Brien Challenge Cup, both held by MSP.Last year's Jubilee Final at Westpac Stadium was a typically hard fought season ender, with HOBM out scoring MSP two tries to one for an 18-10 victory. The two other clashes between the pair in 2007 were both won by MSP? - but only just - MSP beating HOBM 32-29 in the Swindale Shield round and again 17-16 in round five of the Jubilee Cup...More

There was no fairytale on the field for the Poneke RFC on their 125th anniversary, with their Premier team soundly beaten 51-20 by Petone in their fifth round Swindale Shield match at Kilbirnie Park on Saturday. Poneke were comprehensively outgunned up front and out flanked out wide by an impressive Petone side whose seven tries were all?run in through their backs. But the red and blacks were not alone on that front, the ANZAC weekend of matches played under lovely blue autumnal skies served up several lopsided results and a veritable scoring spree...More

Killbirnie Park will be the centre of attention all this ANZAC weekend as Poneke celebrate their 125th Jubilee. The Club's Jubilee celebrations are spread over three days from Friday to Sunday and include a Club Day on Friday with a Golden Oldies match in the afternoon and dinner at night and a full day's club rugby on or near Kilbirnie Park for all of Poneke's eight teams.Fittingly, all Poneke teams where possible have been drawn to play Petone sides on Saturday. The Poneke and Petone clubs have been great adversaries over the years, with many titanic battles fought out between them - Petone was formed in 1885 making it just two years younger than Poneke...More

Swindale Shield round four review: Vodafone Wellington Lions No. 8 Alex Tulou and Samoan international first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili produced the magic that saw MSP snatch a thrilling 25-22 win over Northern United on their Old Timers' day at Evans Bay Park on Saturday. Tulou scored two tries in a matter of minutes early in the second half, both off the shoulder off Fili, and Fili kicked both conversions as well as two late penalties that helped turned the game around and earn victory for MSP after they fought back from a 15-0 deficit at halftime...More

The 2008 Swindale Shield is just three weeks old, but already the pressure is on the four winless teams to register wins or risk falling further behind the pack and outside of top eight contention. While it's too early to discard the second round prospects of Poneke, Oriental-Rongotai, Avalon and the Wests Roosters, losses for these teams this weekend will make their Jubilee Cup chances appear slim. But barring a draw, either Wests or Avalon will be ensured of climbing off the bottom tier after this round as they play each other at Ian Galloway Park in this week's Club Weekly feature game...More

Hutt Old Boys Marist and Old Boys-University are the two unbeaten teams in the Swindale Shield after previously unbeaten Northern United and Petone battled each other to a 15-15 stalemate in the major clash of the third round at Porirua Park on Saturday. HOBM head the students at the top of the table by a bonus point after their third straight victory netted them a 22-3 win over Wainuiomata at home and Old Boys-University breezed past the Wests Roosters 27-6 away at Ian Galloway Park.The two frontrunners have moved ahead of the chasing pack that includes Petone and Norths just behind in third and fourth, while Wainuiomata slips from second equal to seventh equal...More

This week's Club Weekly feature match comes from the Polo Ground, where home team Oriental-Rongotai host 2005 Swindale Shield champions Upper Hutt. Ories and Upper Hutt will be hoping for improved seasons in 2008 after both finishing well off the pace in the last two years.Despite coming off two losses in the opening fortnight, Ories were unlucky not to pull off a major scalp at Porirua Park last week, going down 17-12 to defending champions Northern United.A penalty try for Norths in the first half made the difference in a close defeat for Ories, with new first five-eighth James Proctor, in his first year our of St...More

Multiple Swindale Shield champions Petone and new team on the block Wainuiomata surfaced as the big winners in an extremely wet second round set of matches on Saturday. Torrential rain across the Wellington region made for a less than conducive afternoon for running rugby. But it didn't deter Petone and Wainui's attacking inclinations, both scoring a flood of points in comprehensive victories over the Wests Roosters and Avalon respectively. At the Petone Recreation Ground, the Roosters were drowned out by a rampant Petone side 47-5...More

In case you missed last weekend's Gala Day make sure to follow your favourite team throughout the remainder of the Swindale Shield. This week the action returns to a home ground format, giving six high quality games throughout the Wellington region every weekend until August.This week's Club Weekly feature match comes from leafy Lyndhurst Park, where the home side Tawa and visitors Marist St. Pat's battle it out to try and raise their opening wins of 2008. Both are coming off narrow first round losses, Tawa losing to Upper Hutt 18-15 despite out scoring them two tries to nil, and MSP defeated 20-10 by Old Boys-University with first five-eighth Fa'atonu Fili scoring all the points...More

There was action aplenty on the first day of Premier club rugby for the new season, with enough top quality rugby to suggest that fans can look forward to another ripper year in 2008. The opening round was held as a Gala Day, with games split between Trentham Memorial and Porirua Parks, but the play was anything but a stroll in the park for the twelve clubs competing for the 40th edition of the Swindale Shield since its resurrection from an Athletic Park broom cupboard in 1969.There were first-up wins to Hutt Old Boys Marist over the Wests Roosters (29-6), Petone over Avalon (32-6) and Northern United against Poneke (28-12), while Old Boys University were perhaps the most significant winners in defeating last year's beaten Jubilee Cup finalists and favoured Marist St...More