The Jubilee Cup is on the line at Westpac Stadium this Sunday 15 August, where 2008 and 2009 finalists and first round Swindale champions Northern United and 2003 champions and this year's Jubilee Cup round-robin top qualifiers Poneke will battle it out for New Zealand's greatest club rugby prize.

Wellington club rugby's premier trophy, the Jubilee Cup, was presented by the Wellington Rugby Football Union in 1929 in recognition of its golden jubilee year and is awarded to the winner of the competition among the top eight teams in the Premier One division.

Now in its 82nd year - interrupted by a name change only between 1993-1996 when it briefly became the Lion Brown Trophy - the Jubilee Cup still remains as the definitive accolade in Wellington club rugby

The Victoria University Club was the first recipient of this trophy, having successfully defended their title from 1928. Petone have the most Jubilee Cup victories.? From their first win in 1930, they have gone on to record a further 22 Jubilee Cup titles, including an unprecedented five consecutive wins between 1967-1971.?They also shared the cup with St Pats Old Boys in 1949 and Wellington in 1982.? Other multiple winners include MSP (11 outright titles, 2 shared), Athletic (seven outright, one shared), Victoria University (seven outright, one shared, Wellington (five titles, three shared) and Poneke (five outright).?The Jubilee Cup was once hugely popular in Wellington sport; an estimated 23,000 people packing Athletic Park in 1953 to watch Victoria University with four All Blacks in?its side?led by the great Ron Jarden?win the Cup.

The current semi-final and finals format was introduced in 1993. In that time MSP have triumphed eight times, Petone and Northern United three times, Poneke twice and the Wests Roosters and Hutt Old Boys Marist once each.?Since 2000, there have been five different winners.

Recent Jubilee Cup Winners:

2009: Marist St. Pat's

2008: Marist St. Pat's and Northern United shared

2007: Hutt Old Boys Marist

2006: Northern United

2005: Petone

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Hardham Cup

The 2010 Premier Two Hardham Cup final between Wainuiomata and Avalon is the curtain-raiser to Sunday's Jubilee Cup final.

The Hardham Cup was presented for the first time by the WRFU in 1939, to be awarded for the competition among the then six teams in the bottom section of the Senior First Division. Wellington College Old Boys were the first winners of this trophy.

The cup was awarded to honour William James Hardham, who was born in Wellington in 1876. He was a talented rugby player, playing for Petone and representing Wellington from 1897-99, 1903-06, and in 1908 and 1910.

The Hardham Cup is now contested by the bottom four sides from the first round Premier One Swindale Shield competition and the top four from the Premier Two Harper Lock Shield. With promotion-relegation on the line, the Hardham Cup is always just as hard fought as the Jubilee Cup, as proven over the past few seasons when five clubs have been consistently fighting for the four places available in Premier One the next year.

Recent Hardham Cup winners:

2009: Old Boys-University

2008: Tawa

2007: Wainuiomata

2006: Upper Hutt

2005: Oriental-Rongotai