Pōneke and Silverdale to battle for U85 supremacy

Auckland’s Silverdale Procut Truffle Pigs and Wellington’s Pōneke Wanderers are those two finalists, having overcome strong challenges in the previous week’s semi-finals.

The grant final makes up part of a double header before the North Harbour vs Northland Hilux NPC fixture at North Harbour Stadium on Sunday 6 September.

The grand final kicks off at 2pm. Entry to watch the final is free, and the match will be livestreamed on the All Blacks YouTube channel from 1:50pm.

In the 2025 edition, Silverdale and Pōneke played in the third round, where the match was forced to extra time to separate the sides after Silverdale missed a penalty on full time to win it.

It left the door open for Pōneke to score and advance, where they went on to reach the grand final, falling at the last hurdle against High School Old Boys Light Bears at Eden Park.

Pōneke has had it tough this year, winning in round one by just three points against Johnsonville, before beating New Plymouth OId Boys 36-29.

A 55-0 thrashing of Plimmerton preceded a gritty 7-22 victory over Darfield in the quarter-final.

Previous winners Pakuranga Panthers put up strong resistance at Kilbirnie last weekend, but the home team got up 30-14 setting up their second consecutive grand final appearance.

Meanwhile, Silverdale are 19-0 in their regular season and are one win away from a perfect 20-0 record, and the club’s first ever national title.

The Dale has scored 705 points, conceding just 171 for an average winning scoreline of 37-9 across the season.

Sweeping aside University Squids 43-7 in round one, Silverdale went on to beat Morrinsville Majestic Pukekos 19-24 and Ponsonby 37-0 in rounds two and three.

A much tighter contest saw 2025 winners HSOB Light Bears nearly topple the finalists, in a 22-21 scoreline in the quarters.

And the Dale was too strong for Tukapa in Taupō over the weekend, winning that encounter 0-39.