Sims proving sustainable at Tawa

• By Adam Julian

“Lyndhurst Park is out of the way from where most people would have thought I’d gone, but I was convinced to stay after one pre-season training,” George Sims reflects upon his decision to play rugby for Tawa.

The Wellington Under-19 halfback can already claim a Jubilee Cup win. On Saturday he helped Tawa beat Old Boys University 26-20 in a 75th Anniversary fixture. It was Tawa’s first win over the Billygoats since 2018 and confirmed home ground advantage for a first-round Jubilee Cup sudden-death play-off this Saturday.

“It was a big day out. The boys were fired up, even more so when we heard someone had come over from Las Vegas for the celebrations.

“Big-up’s to our front row. Ben Aumua-Peseta wasn’t available so Lotu Nuku, who has been away a lot of the season, came in. Joyner Gaualofa, normally a hooker, went to the loosehead side and PJ Sheck swapped to tighthead. It was interesting but I don’t think it did too much damage to our scrum. I didn’t find myself on the backfoot too often.

“Tawa is a working man’s club with a bunch of boys my age too. It’s a community and that’s what I love about it.”

Sims scores off the back off Tawa’s pack against the Upper Hutt Rams earlier in the round. 

Sims is a Western Suburbs junior. His father Andrew, a former head prefect of Scots College, played for Kaori which later merged into Wests. Andrew coached George right up until he attended Wellington College.

“Dad was a hooker so that’s where I played until I started high school where they put me in the backs.’ I went to Wellington College because most of my mates from Wadestown School were there. I’m glad I saved Dad a bit of coin.

“Rugby was pretty frustrating when I was at Col. Don’t get me wrong I loved playing with close mates and we had fun, but we had a few down years.

“When I started, boys like Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Taine Plumtree were carving up the Wellington comp. I actually played with them a bit in Year 11 in 2017. In Year 12 we had a good team on paper but couldn’t string anything together. It was disappointing not to match the boys we looked up to.”

Playing for Wellington College.

Kemara Hauiti-Parapara is one of just four players to have won the Billy Wallace Best and Fairest Award twice. The halfback played 43 games for Wellington and prior to that made the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ out of Wellington College. Kemara became a mentor for George who made 13 appearances in his debut season at Tawa in 2021.

“I knew who Kem was even before I went to Col. Watching him come up was awesome but it was even better to learn off him in the same team. I kinda turned up to Tawa out of the blue so to have his support was awesome.”

Kemara, who played for Oyonnax in France this season, is contracted to Otago for the upcoming Mitre 10 Cup. Last year he scored a record 26 points for Tawa in the Jubilee Cup final against Marist St Pats. His apprentice George wasn’t null in void in the decider.

“I only got 15 or 20 minutes but every minute counts in a Jubilee Cup final. It was cool to join the likes of Sitiveni Paongo and Folau Vea who won one in their first year out of school in 2016.

Sims and the Wellington U19s at the start of last year.

“I’m big on fitness. I like to get around the park, move the ball quickly. I try to be accurate and love the odd kick.”

It was a kick in the guts when young Tawa player Tom Walsh passed during the August lockdown. It was a sudden and shocking death.

“There were a lot of people at the club who were close to Tom. I’d played with him from about the age of 12. I’d hate to admit it but a few lockdown rules were breached, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to support friends and family.

“The boys seemed to have rallied from that, used it to give us strength, especially the Prem Two’s who he played for. They have a photo of Tom in their changing room. We have R.I.P. Tom on our training tops.”

Tawa’s Premier Two side has been unbeaten in 27 consecutive matches. Sims has started six premier games in 2022, suffering just a single defeat.

Sims spent summer beating an ankle injury that required surgery to restore full fitness. He missed out on the Wellington Under-20’s in February but was far from idle working part time at Les Mills gym, doing freelance graphic design for select clients and starting his own clothing business, Leonard Selection

“I’m a bit of a hustler and I’ve always been interested in fashion. Leonard Selection is only small but I’m trying to build a community and audience in sustainable street wear. All our clothes are made out of sustainable materials and I do the printing myself. It’s a side hobby.”

Visit the Leonard Selection Instagram page at: https://www.instagram.com/leonardsselection/

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As part of their weekend’s celebrations, Tawa named the paper teams below: