04/06/2026
At the end of the Ron Crawford Memorial Trophy round in the Premier competition Hautapu took the shield back to their Cambridge clubrooms, as they finished top of the table by one point over Hamilton Marist. In the final round of games Hautapu needed five points versus Otorohanga to take the first round and they achieved that in a physical encounter at Memorial Park.
This meant the teams that will contest the Haswell Catley (Top 5) will be Hautapu, Hamilton Marist, Fraser Tech, Morrinsville and Te Awamutu. The Premier Championship will be contested by University, Hamilton Old Boys, Otorohanga, United Matamata Sports & Leamington. Having won the First round of the First Division, Leamington have made the decision to come up and contest in the Premier Championship with the aim to earn promotion into the top flight of premier club rugby in 2027. Pirongia Division 1B took out the Div1B first round, and Hautapu Bs took out the prem B first round 💪
Points tables start again and all teams will be vying for points and places in the table to ensure a home semifinal and final if they make it that far. In the Haswell Catley round, as per the Council of Clubs decision, the finishing order meant the highest qualifier got to choose where in the five week competition they received their bye. This was Hautapu and they chose round four, second place getter got the next choice and that was Hamilton Marist and they chose round three. This process was followed all the way down the table. Some teams will have to return to venues they had in the first round of games however that was a consequence of the finishing order and where byes fell. All teams have the same home and away ratio.
Strap yourself in for an exciting last seven weeks of club rugby. How will a team from the first Division in Leamington perform back up in the Premier Division after a long time out of the division and will Hamilton Marist make it their second three-peat, and only the second three-peat in the Unions history or will the Waikato Breweries Shield have a different name on it in 2026?