Above: Wellington Centurions U18s lock Kitiona Talaepa runs on to Laifone Kamoto’s pass on Saturday. The Petone and USA Junior Eagle and Wellington College flanker have both been selected in the two-day Hurricanes U18s camp at Upper Hutt at the end of this week.

Monday morning edition – updates to come: Another wild ride for Wellington’s rugby supporters this past weekend.

On a positive note for those supporters, the three New Zealand Schools teams –  NZ Schools, NZ Barbarians U18 and the Māori U18 sides – are being named publicly as soon as today.

We understand that ‘several’ Wellington players are going to be named in these teams, with St Pat’s Silverstream, Wellington College and St Pat’s Town all proudly represented.

These three squads will be joined by Australia Schools and the U18 teams of Australia Fiji, Tonga and Samoa in Hamilton for two weeks starting next Tuesday.

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Sideline Conversions has been unofficially informed of changes to the Premier and Premier 2 draw structure for club rugby in Wellington next year, and that this involves bringing back a more extensive second round Jubilee Cup and Hardham Cup competition. More to be revealed soon.

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Good games on Saturday for the Centurions U18s for two players who have spent much of this season injured.

Lock Eddie Weatherstone joined Old Boys University out of Rathkeale College earlier this season but injuries meant he missed most of the club season.

Lome Va’a, younger brother of Pena, Skivi and Sase, scored two tries and ran hard at centre. He missed much of this season through injury with the Rongotai College First XV.

The Centurions U18s meet the Hawke’s Bay U18s in the third and final round to decide the HYRC John Hornal Shield Division 1 title on Saturday at Maidstone Park 1 at 1.oopm.

The Wellington Māori U18s and the Manawatu U18s meet at the same time over on Maidstone 2 for third place.

Meanwhile,  the Wairarapa-Bush U18s will need just a point from their match at home against Horowhenua-Kapiti to retain the Division 2 GNC Cup.

See below for the players named for the upcoming Hurricanes U18s camp.

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Club Rugby gets behind this team, a great idea, and hopefully a representative programme that can be expanded in the future.

As of this weekend, match details were yet to be solidified, but they play the Wellington U16s this Saturday at 11.00am at Maidstone Park and then the Taranaki U18s the following week (meeting halfway for that one).

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The Wellington Lions are tracking for an eight-peat of defeats when they host the Northland Taniwha at home in Wellington on Saturday night.

Sideline Conversions can remember like it was yesterday Northland’s 35-5 win over Wellington in Whangarei when they met in the winless 2014 season. Will history repeat?

Jackson Garden-Bachop was seen as the waterboy in Christchurch on Saturday. It is too late to resurrect the season, but will we see him back soon? What about Brad Shields? They don’t do player news updates so this is speculation.

 A classy post-match interview with Du’Plessis Kirifi on Saturday after his team’s defeat.

As a reader wrote: “It must be hard for a player of his calibre, who has tasted such success this season with the Hurricanes, and also faced such disappointment missing out on the All Blacks, to have to front week after week for an underperforming team.”

Rookie of the night went to Johnny Falloon, who didn’t stop working hard, and if your team is going to lose that is what the fans want to see from these players. Particularly after captain and fellow lock Caleb Delany failed a HIA test just before halftime.

Questions would need to be asked why it took the Lions 36 minutes to get into the game? That was the time on the clock of their first visit inside Canterbury’s 22 and after they were trailing 33-0 after 30 minutes.

There must be something else going on, surely they weren’t overawed by playing inside this new venue, and that playing in front of a crowd spook them? Canterbury were good and committed but the nucleus of their side is no better than Wellington’s.

Whilst the NPC is passing Wellington by, there were some terrific games on the weekend. For example, Southland’s 43-12 win in the rain at home in Invercargill against Bay of Plenty late Sunday was a rollicking affair. After leading 17-12 at halftime, Southland ran in some terrific second half tries, with goal-kicking fullback Jimmy Taylor, first five and baby-faced hooker Shaun Kempton and young-gun first-five Mika Muliaina (nephew of Mils) all crossing. There was also a penalty try from a lineout maul that also saw BoP lose one of three players to the sin-bin which captain Naitoa ah Kuoi lamented in another colourful post-match interview.

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Up the Manawatu Turbos!

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That’s the end of the road for 2026 for the Wellington U20s, beaten in their last game 17-28 by the Canterbury U20s in Christchurch on Saturday. We have reached out for more, but that could be the extent of our match report from that one.

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Similarly, a disappointing defeat in Napier on Sunday for the Wellington Pride against the Hawke’s Bay Tui. After winning their first two games, there was some interest in them playing for a third straight win but they fell off the pace and lost 37-29.

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Here we go again –  Super Rugby sides are busy naming and promoting player signings and transfers whilst the NPC is barely half over.

The SR teams are their own entities now, but should NZR try and get them to shut up whilst the NPC is on?

We believe that naming SR signings at this time of the year (as well as making random announcements about next year’s ‘Super Round’ in Christchurch) undermines the NPC. People want to watch and speculate on who might get picked up by the various SR teams next year and this takes away from that. Particularly if these new incoming players are coming from outside the franchise region, possibly at the expense of players already from or playing inside the region, in the case of Oliver Haig and Rohan Wigram, the Highlanders.

Understand the signings, but perhaps NDAs between the SR teams and the new players until after the NPC is over would be better? Then there could be an announcement day for all like their used to be, even if it is only an illusion and the players all know well in advance. Is it not about the fans?

In the meantime, welcome to the Hurricanes Oliver Haig and Rohan Wingham and whoever is their next announcement.

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2026 HURRICANES U18 HIGH PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP

The Hurricanes have announced on Monday morning the 26 players who will attend the Hurricanes U18 High Performance Workshop at NZCIS in Upper Hutt on 18 and 19 September.

The best young talent from across the Hurricanes region have been selected for the two-day workshop, with players identified from Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū, Poverty Bay, and Wairarapa Bush.

Wellington

Axel Daken (Petone RFC)
Bentley Faulkner (Marist St Pats RFC)
Donncha McNamara-Taele (St Patrick’s College Wellington)
Eddie Weatherstone (Old Boys University RFC)
Fletcher Cooper (St Patrick’s College Silverstream)
Julius Toimata (Wellington College)
Kitiona Talaepa (Petone RFC)
Laifone Kamoto (Wellington College)
Ryder Thompson (St Patrick’s College Silverstream)

Hawke’s Bay

Carlo Isaac (Havelock North Rugby Club)
Eli Southwick (Clive Rugby & Sports Club)
Keanu Graham (St Kentigern College)
Reid Palmer (Lindisfarne College)
Sione Kaufononga (Hastings Boys’ High School)
Solomone Halaufia (Hastings Boys’ High School)
Triumph Voice (Hastings Rugby & Sports Club)
Will Lovatt (Napier Boys’ High School)

Manawatū

Eric Miller (Palmerston North Boys’ High School)
Kingston Ngata (Feilding High School)
Lucas Goodman (Feilding High School)
Ollie Read (Palmerston North Boys’ High School)
Paice Mitchell-Hopa (Palmerston North Boys’ High School)
Tevita Fakava (Feilding High School)
Viliami Rongokea-Tupou (Kia Toa RFC)

Poverty Bay

Max Hammond (Gisborne Boys’ High School)

Wairarapa Bush

Fiamata Kava (Makoura College)

Unavailable Due To NPC Commitments

William Davis-Lenz (Petone RFC)

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This column is a collaborative effort – so if you have news and information to share and post please send through.

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