Club rugby winning streaks
In battling to a 17-6 win over recent Premier newcomers Paremata-Plimmerton on Saturday, the Old Boys University Goats won their 13th straight match in Wellington’s Premier club rugby competition.
If they prevail in this coming Saturday’s fifth round Swindale Shield fixture against Oriental-Rongotai at Nairnville Park, then then the OBU Goats will win their 14th match on the trot.
Since online records began in 2005, this would place the current OBU side, outright second on the list of most consecutive Swindale Shield/Jubilee Cup wins in this period.
OBU last lost in round 11 of last year’s Swindale Shield (to Wainuiomata). Since then they won all nine Jubilee Cup fixtures in 2015 and their opening four matches in 2016.
In recent seasons, the most consecutive wins was 16 by Marist St Pat’s in 2008, followed by 13 each by Northern United in 2010-11, Ories in 2012 and now OBU in 2015-16.
In 2008 MSP did the Swindale Shield-Jubilee Cup double (the latter shared with Norths), losing their first match of the season to OBU (10-20) but then winning 10 straight in the first round and six straight in the Jubilee Cup for 16 straight victories. Their run was halted with a 22-22 draw with HOBM, but they won their next two matches, drew the final and won their 2009 opener - meaning they didn’t taste defeat in 20 games.
Similarly, 2010 Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup champions Norths won 13 matches in a row in 2010-11. The run of wins was halted in their last match of the first round when Petone held them to a 32-32 draw. Norths had also drawn two matches in the 2010 Jubilee Cup round-robin, meaning they didn’t taste defeat in 19 games.
In 2011, Ories won 11 in a row, including nine straight in the Jubilee Cup to win the championship in title in their own right for the first time in over a century. They then won their first two matches in 2012, but their 13-match winning streak was then halted by Tawa.
Also, In 2005, Upper Hutt won the Swindale Shield by winning their first 10 matches straight and winning with a round to spare, before missing out to Marist St Pat’s in their last match of the first round. Norths then won eight in a row in the Jubilee Cup, before losing to Petone 20-21 in the final.
In 2006 and 2007 there were various short runs of several consecutive wins by Northern United, Poneke and Hutt Old Boys Marist.
In 2013 Tawa won everything there was to win, most notably the Swindale Shield – Jubilee Cup double, but along the way they dropped four games. Tawa won their last four matches in 2013 (including the Jubilee Cup final) and went on a winning run in 2014 that lasted eight matches before Petone beat them 31-27 in round nine and ended their 2013-14 streak at 12.
What about historically? A definitive list of winning streaks needs compiling, but some great winning runs in the past include:
In 1979 Marist St Pat’s every match of the season. In fact this is was in the middle of a winning streak of 41 consecutive matches. These wins did include some non- Wellington competition wins as the club went on tour as well. It was ended by Petone in the final of the 1980 of the Jubilee Cup.
Petone were dominant for several seasons in the 1970s, winning the title in eight of 10 years. In 1973 they won all 18 matches, scoring 620 points and conceding 106.
Other teams to have dominant eras, but unsubstantiated winning streaks included Petone between 1904-07, Poneke in the immediate post-World War One era and University between 1952-54.