The Jubilee Cup is a

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trophy. It is the premier club competition trophy of the

Wellington Rugby Football Union The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named Westp ...

, and the current holders are Tawa, following their 36-7 defeat of Marist St Pats in the 2021 final.

Origins and history

The Jubilee Cup was first presented for competition in 1929 by the WRFU, honouring the union's 50th Jubilee. The first winners were the Victoria University club, defending the title they won in 1928.

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

are the club with the most Jubilee Cup successes, winning the trophy 22 times, including five consecutive wins from 1967-1971. Two of these titles were shared, with St Pat's Old Boys in 1949 and Wellington in 1982. The next most successful club is

Marist St Pats Marist St Pats (MSP) are a rugby union club who play in Wellington Rugby Football Union's premier club rugby grade The Jubilee Cup. History Since its formation in 1971, Marist St Pats has won Wellington club rugby's most coveted prize, the Jubil ...

(14 titles since formation in 1971) who can also claim another 6 titles from its predecessor clubs Marist Brothers Old Boys (3 outright, 2 shared) and St Pat's Old Boys (1 shared). Other clubs with five or more titles are Athletic (7 outright, 1 shared), Victoria University (7 outright, 1 shared), Wellington (five outright, two shared), and Poneke (five outright plus another two in amalgamation with Oriental during World War II).
/ref> By contrast Oriental-Rongotai's 2011 victory was their first outright Wellington title since 1910. Old Boys-University's 2015 success was their first since their 1991 merger, and first for the merger identity since University's last win in 1966.

Recent history

Between 1993 and 1996 the trophy was rebranded as the Lion Brown Trophy for sponsorship purposes. This also coincided with the introduction of the current finals format. Since then the trophy has been won by Marist St Pats (7), Petone (3), Norths (3) Poneke (2), Hutt Old Boys-Marist (2), Tawa (2), Western Suburbs (1), Oriental-Rongotai (1), and Old Boys-University (1). Norths and Marist St Pats also shared the 2008 title after the final finished 10-all and the competition rules did not allow for extra-time to be played, a situation which has since been rectified.

Competition format

Currently the Jubilee Cup round is the second round of the Wellington competition. The fourteen teams in the Premier competition firstly play the round-robin Swindale Shield competition over 13 rounds, with the top 8 teams moving onto the Jubilee Cup round (the bottom 6 teams are joined by the top 2 eligible teams from the Premier Reserve competition to contest the

Hardham Cup Hardham is a small village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is on the A29 road southwest of Pulborough. It is in the civil parish of Coldwaltham. Archaeology The village is on the line of Stane Street Roman road, which cha ...

). The Jubilee Cup is also contested in a round-robin format, this time over seven rounds, with the top 4 teams progressing to the semi-finals where the top team (since 2009 awarded the

Andy Leslie Andrew Roy Leslie (born 10 November 1944) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A number eight, he represented Wellington domestically and captained the All Black at international level. He was captain during the controversial 1976 New Z ...

Trophy) hosts the fourth-placed qualifier and second hosts third. The final is then held at usually a neutral venue. Athletic Park hosted the final up to the 1999 decider, since then

Westpac Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situa ...

has been the main venue, though recent finals have been held at the Petone Recreation Ground,

Hutt Recreation Ground The Hutt Recreation Ground is a football, cricket and rugby union ground in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. The grounds are owned by the Hutt City Council and managed for them by Downer. History In 1905 the area was first used for recre ...

, and

Porirua Park Jerry Collins Stadium is a multi-purpose sporting complex in Porirua, New Zealand. It currently serves as the home ground of rugby union club Northern United RFC and the Wellington Rugby League representative team, as well as the second home fo ...

Wellington Club Championship Titles Won (Jubilee Cup from 1929 & pre-Jubilee Cup)

Number of titles by club

Statistic valid as of August 2022. Statistic valid as of August 2022.

References

{{reflist2. http://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/story.php?id=2276 New Zealand rugby union competitions