Wellington Rugby League

Club information
Full name	Wellington Rugby League Incorporated
Nickname(s)	Orcas
Current details
Ground(s)	Porirua Park, Porirua (N/A)
CEO(s)	Mark O'Connor
Coach(s)	Kenny O'Brien
Competition	National Provincial Competition

Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative team in the National Provincial Competition.

Contents 1 Local Senior Competition 2 National Provincial Competition 2.1 2008 Fixtures 3 History 3.1 Touring teams 3.2 Lion Red Cup 3.3 Bartercard Cup 4 Southern Orcas 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Local Senior Competition

The Senior WRL competition involves eight teams:

• North City Vikings
• Petone Panthers
• Randwick Kingfishers
• St George Dragons
• Te Aroha Eels
• University Hunters
• Upper Hutt Tigers
• Wainuiomata Lions

The winner is awarded the Appleton Shield, which has been in use since 1913.

[edit] National Provincial Competition

Wellington Rugby League were awarded a place in the new six-team National Provincial Competition. The team plays its home matches at Porirua Park.^[1]

[edit] 2008 Fixtures

Home Team	Away Team	Date	Score
Wellington	Canterbury	August 24, 2008	L 18-38
Wellington	Auckland	August 31, 2008	D 30-30
Wellington	Taranaki	September 7, 2008	W 56-20
Waikato	Wellington	September 13, 2008	L 18-30
Bay of Plenty	Wellington	September 21, 2008	W 24-20

Season	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Position	Finals
2008	5	2	1	2	146	138	8	5	Fourth	N/A

[edit] History

Wellington played its first game on 24 August 1908 when they took on Auckland at Victoria Park, Auckland in the first provincial game of rugby league in New Zealand.^[2] However the Wellington Rugby League competition did not begin until 1913.

[edit] Touring teams

In 1990 Wellington defeated the touring Great Britain side 30-22.^[3]

[edit] Lion Red Cup

Between 1994 and 1996, Wellington was represented by the Wellington City Dukes and Hutt Valley Firehawks in the Lion Red Cup. One player from the Dukes, Earl Va'a, later went on to represent Samoa in Rugby union. Both teams folded along with the competition in 1996.

Team	Season	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Position	Finals
Hutt Valley	1994	22	9	0	13	458	489	-30	18	Eighth	N/A
Wellington City	1994	22	8	0	14	470	508	-38	16	Ninth	N/A
Hutt Valley	1995	22	13	0	9	544	443	101	26	Fifth	Lost Elimination Play-off
Wellington City	1995	22	10	2	10	440	514	-74	22	Seventh	N/A
Hutt Valley	1996	22	11	2	9	444	469	-25	24	Sixth	N/A
Wellington City	1996	22	9	0	13	536	532	4	18	Eighth	N/A

[edit] Bartercard Cup

Wellington initially had two sides in the Bartercard Cup competition - the Porirua Pumas and the Wainuiomata Lions, based in the city of Porirua and Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata respectively. Results between the two were dissimilar - with Wainuiomata reaching the preliminary final in the first season, and Porirua coming last place in theirs. However in 2002 it was decided that one team (later to be named the Wellington Orcas) was needed in the competition. They narrowly missed out on a finals spot in 2002, being on equal points but with a lower For and Against than the Marist Richmond Brothers. Unfortunately this was a high point for the franchise with the team never making the play-offs.

In 2006, the then-unnamed Bartercard Cup franchises adopted the name of Wellington Orcas, after the unsuccessful NRL expansion bid.

Team	Season	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Position (Teams)	Finals
Porirua	2000	22	3	1	18	506	777	-271	7	Wooden Spoon (Twelve)	N/A
Wainuiomata	2000	22	13	0	9	668	542	126	26	Fourth (Twelve)	Lost Preliminary Final
Porirua	2001	21	4	1	16	421	808	-387	11[4]	Eleventh (Twelve)	N/A
Wainuiomata	2001	22	11	1	10	688	628	60	23	Sixth (Twelve)	N/A
Wellington	2002	16	9	1	6	547	449	98	19	Sixth (Twelve)	N/A
Wellington	2003	16	4	1	11	460	646	-186	6[5]	Eleventh (Twelve)	N/A
Wellington	2004	16	8	1	7	465	409	56	17	Sixth (Twelve)	N/A
Wellington	2005	16	5	3	8	418	459	-41	13	Eighth (Twelve)	N/A
Wellington	2006	18	6	0	12	452	549	-97	12	Seventh (Ten)	N/A
Wellington	2007	18	10	0	8	509	529	-20	20	Sixth (10)	N/A

[edit] Southern Orcas

In 2004, working with the Wellington Rugby League, a consortium called the Southern Orcas was involved in bidding for a National Rugby League franchise to be based in the city. The franchise ultimately went to the Gold Coast who joined the NRL for the 2007 season.

In 2007 reports emerged that the consortium was looking at the possibility of joining Superleague (Europe) however nothing ever eventuated.^[6][7]

[edit] References

1. ^ O'Brien heralds new era - Sport - The Dominion Post
2. ^ John Haynes From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers, Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996. ISBN 0473038641
3. ^ Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1869710908
4. ^ The Ngongotaha Chiefs withdrew from the competition after round sixteen. All teams scheduled to play them after this were awarded two points for a bye.
5. ^ Wellington were docked three points for registration infringements.
6. ^ NZ Super League link played down http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/6536817.stm
7. ^ RL CHIEF 'SCEPTICAL' OF ORCAS BID http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/07/04/08/RUGBYL_Orcas.html

[edit] External links

• Wellington Rugby League
• New Zealand Rugby League
• Unofficial WRL fan page

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