Comeback of the Century earns Wellington College Home Quad Final

Fullback Carisma Faitala scores to start the Wellington College comeback after trailing 26-10 early in the second half, and after being down three tries to nil in the first spell. Photo: Andy McArthur.

• By Adam Julian and Steven White

Wellington College has rallied from a 19-0 deficit to stun Christ’ College 32-26 and earn a place in the 97th annual Quadrangular final on Thursday.

The hosts will play Whanganui Collegiate School who upset reigning champions Nelson College 35-28 in an equally thrilling encounter.

The rivalry between Wellington and Christ’s predates the beginning of the ‘quad’ when Nelson College joined in 1925. Wellington’s win is their biggest comeback against Christ’s since they overturned an 18-0 disadvantage way back in 1916.

In the first half, Wellington had some moments of encouragement on attack, but simply fell off too many tackles to be competitive.

Christ’s were particularly productive when attacking Wellington close to the ruck. It was no coincidence that all three tries were scored by forwards. Lock George Austin opened the scoring followed by prop Ethan Jones and fellow lock Will Ockwell. First-Five Leo Jelly made sound decisions and centre PJ Paiamo was penetrating.

Critically, Wellington opened their account just before the interval. From a lineout in the far corner, Wellington College brought their phase play in field towards the posts and halfback Henry Bremer scored the crucial first try.

First-five Archie Sims converted the Brem and kicked a 30m penalty as Wellington closed to 19-10 shortly after the break.

Christ’s quickly regained the ascendancy when Jelly snatched an intercept and dashed 30m. Christ’s looked more than comfortable at 26-10.

Wellington’s previous form provided no clues that a winning revival was possible. With a miserable 2-4 record Wellington is languishing in sixth place in the local premiership.

How did Wellington pull a rabbit out of the hat?

The bench added significant enthusiasm and impact with Christ’s struggling to handle their size. Experienced individuals took ownership eliminating the frustrating errors of the first half and playing with a level of passion not seen in 2023.

Fullback Carisma Faitala scored by outmaneuvering his marker following a penalty and quick tap inside the 22 to make it 26-15. Wellington stormed back into Christ’s 22 and earned a scrum.  Captain and No.8 Jack Riley blasted into a hole off an attacking scrum and left a trail of would-be tacklers as the gap closed to 26-22.

Wellington winger Jacob Kennedy is a genuine livewire. He scored a 70m solo stunner to win the St Pats Town traditional. Today the Wellington Under 16 representative found space at halfway and with swerve, swagger, and speed skinned Christ’s to complete the best Quad try by a Wellington College player since Andrew Quinlivan in the 2011 final against Nelson College.

With 19 unanswered points in the bank, Wellington was rampant. Reilly was inspirational and bruising blindside Ele Lupo a conspicuous presence – his vibrance and brutally as bright as his hair.

Sims was a shadow of the tentative figure that struggled against St Pat’s Silverstream. His sideline conversion of the Kennedy try followed by a 30m penalty powered Wellington 32-26 ahead.

Christ’s summoned the fortitude to rally.  Kennedy showed his resilience by rushing from the left wing to the right wing to deny Rico Lemalie. Wellington fullback Carisma Faitala then held up Paiamo over the line on the opposite side of the field.

The game was refereed by Jack Trevella. Christ’s are coached by Samuel Chamberlain, a former Jubilee Cup-winning fullback with Old Boys University and Sam Broomhall, a former All Blacks loose forward.

With victories over quality opposition like Nelson College, St Peter’s Cambridge and St John’s, College, Hamilton, Whanganui are favourites to capture the title for the first time since 1991 on Thursday at 1:30 pm.

Whanganui is coached by former All Blacks Sevens representative and 2019 National Top Four winning coach with Hastings Boys’ High School, Tafai Ioasa.

Maybe Wellington could look to the 1989 First XV for inspiration – see more below.

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If the Wellington College-Christ’s game was a heart-stopper, the first match between Whanganui Collegiate and Nelson College was spectacular for the quality of much of the play and some outstanding tries scored.

Both sides were evenly matched, and both showed a willingness throughout to move the ball and keep it alive by counter-attacking at any given opportunity.

The run of play was tit-for-tat, and it came down to the last five minutes, with scores having been locked up at 28-28 since midway through the second half, Nelson College first five Harrison Inch missing a penalty from a handy position.

Whanganui Collegiate subsequently had one last throw of the dice. As they had done all game, they didn’t die wondering, and counter-attacked up the far touchline and fullback Pita Manamanaivalu was the recipient of the final pass and scored the match-winner.

Whanganui Collegiate had scored first through loosehead prop James Hardy following a break by centre William Johnston.

Nelson College struck back and levelled through blindside flanker Saumaki Saumaki and then doubled their score to go ahead 14-7 with a try to right wing Callum Robertson off the back of an attacking scrum.

Whanganui Collegiate centre Johnston then replied with an outstanding individual try from his own side of halfway, bursting past several defenders and crashing in the corner. This try was converted by first five Noah Ioasa and it was 14-14.

Earlier, try-scorer Saumaki had been yellow-carded for a high tackle which led to Whanganui Collegiate’s No. 8 Timothy O’Leary picking up the bouncing ball and cut through defenders on the 22 to score another eye-catching solo try.

Soon after, O’Leary’s trip got better when he scored his second try and suddenly Whanganui were up 28-14 at half time.

The open running theme of the game continued into the second half with Nelson College first five Inch making metres and off-loading to left wing Jimmy West to close the score to 28-21.

Nelson College threatened to score again but O’Leary turned his attacking skills to defence and made a try-saving tackle in the corner. Momentum was still with Nelson, however, and their bustling tighthead prop Sione Mafi scored under the posts soon after from an attacking scrum which locked up the scores.

The next 15 minutes or so were tight with both sides creating numerous half-chances, but none stuck. Thus, the game went down to the wire, and Whanganui Collegiate emerged the victors in the end.

Day 2 of the Quad is on Thursday, with Nelson and Christ’s Colleges meeting in the early game, and Wellington College and Whanganui Collegiate contesting the final.

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1916 – Wellington’s Epic Comeback

Wellington College produced the greatest comeback in tournament history with the deciding match of the 1916 series. With the “wind and sun in their favour,” Christ’s “pressed hard” and amassed an 18-0 lead by halftime.

In the second half, ill-discipline by Christ’s allowed Wellington chances to attack. Arthur Keene was outstanding, as “forward rushes commenced.” He scored two tries to bring Wellington closer.

With only minutes remaining Wellington was down 14-18. A great “blind side move” was executed and Frank Morton beat an unsuspecting defender to score a try and make the score 17-18 with time virtually up. Morton then calmly converted his own try to win Wellington the match.

The game was the highest-scoring fixture between the two schools since 1905 and would remain the highest until 1961. Christ’s points tally would have won them 54 out of 93 matches in the Triangular series and 55 of the first 71 finals in the Quadrangular up to 1998!

1989: Wellington’s Big Upset

Wanganui Collegiate entered the quad-final as the warmest of favourites. Wellington College had battled past a modest Christ’s College 6-0 in the first round and was having an average season, which eventually resulted in just 14 wins from 22 games.

By contrast, Wanganui won 20 of 23 games and scored 683 points. Jason Bowie and Ra Pomare scored 518 of those points between them. However, the Wanganui Collegian reported: “One thing that was quickly apparent was a lack of concentration on our part.”

During the game, Wellington had “seven reasonably straight forward penalty shots,” of which five were kicked by future All Blacks and Kiwis international, Mark Ellis. Wellington had a big forward pack, spearheaded by future English International prop Perry Freshwater and All Blacks No 8, Filo Tiatia. A rugged game plan built around strong, one-off running, smart kicking for territory, and hassling Collegiate into mistakes, earned Wellington a shock 21-6 lead, and a boilover was on.

However, Jason Bowie had other ideas. After Willie Giesen had narrowly missed a scoring chance, Bowie scored two quick tries in the 29th and 32nd minutes of the second half to complete a personal hat-trick and make it 21-14. Game on! Wellington was the more composed, however, and a second try for Wellington sealed perhaps the biggest upset win in Quad history. Benson Kerse and Jason Woolley scored Wellington’s other tries.