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Since the first season that the Jubilee Cup was contested in 1929 there have been approximately 8,000 Senior A/Premier club rugby matches contested in Wellington.
In this new series for 2024 as part of our ongoing celebration of community rugby in Wellington, we have broken into the ‘Today in Club Rugby History’ files, selected a small sample of these matches and divided them up into similar categories of occurrences.
This third article looks at some instances of when the carry-over Jubilee Cup champion was beaten early on in the new season. Either in the opening weekend or soon after.
11 instances of the defending champions tipped over early in the next season
26 April 1952: University 37 – Poneke 0: Perhaps the most emphatic of opening weekend wins against the defending champion was this one where last year’s Jubilee Cup winners Poneke are humbled by University. Both local papers use the words ‘sensational’ to describe the win by University over Poneke who on paper are a similar team to that which took the field the previous winter. If not for erratic early goal-kicking (in an era of 3-point tries) the score could have been in the 40s. As it is, All Blacks left wing Ron Jarden scores two tries and kicks five conversions. Such are Poneke set back on their heels that they lose their next five games. The win helps propel University to the 1952 title, scoring 50 tries and conceding 15 along the way. This was the first of three consecutive Jubilee Cups for University, while Poneke won’t win the title again until 1975.
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21 May 1955: Onslow 29 – University 6: Having won three championships in succession, University are gunning for a fourth. They have lost some key players, particularly in the forwards, so it is going to be a tough challenge. After four straight wins to start the season, they meet suburban battlers Onslow and meet a resounding defeat. The Dominion calls it the rugby surprise of the season and compares it to University’s trampling over Poneke in 1952 (as above). In front of a crowd of 7,000, it is all Onslow, as the pack dominates and recently transferred former Petone flyhalf Jackie Dougan is on fire and helps Onslow to an 18-0 halftime lead. A George Blair try and a Wally Heatherwick dropped goal extends the lead to 24-0. Dougan scores in the corner and Heathwick converts, and at 29-0, the rout is complete. Only a late Ron Jarden try and dropped goal saves University’s blushes. Onslow go on and beat University 9-6 in the return match later in the season – with Dougan sensationally beating Jarden to the race to the ball over the tryline late in that match – and Onslow win their maiden Jubilee Cup title later this season.
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11 April 1970: Two games into the new season sees the first major upset, with Onslow slaying three-time defending champions Petone 22-9. Backs Bruce Hill (two tries), fullback Jim Gregg (one) and wing Jack Davie are standouts. Despite the setback, Petone go on to win their fourth consecutive Jubilee Cup title later this winter.
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10 April 1976: In an early season upset, Wellington College Old Boys defeat defending Jubilee Cup champions Poneke 15-10. First five-eighth Robert Vance kicks five penalties for WCOB against his old club. Prop Al Keown is also a standout. It’s a remarkable about face for WCOB, who lost 0-13 last week to newly promoted Wainuiomata.
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3 April 1982: Wellington upset defending champions MSP 12-6 in this season opener, fullback Evan Hopkin landing a whopper 60-metre penalty and three others to put the Axemen ahead 12-0 at halftime. They hold on into the wind to set up a Swindale Shield-winning season.
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28 March 1992: Defending Jubilee Cup champions Hutt Old Boys are set on their heels in the first match of the new season; going down 48-7 to MSP, halfback Elton Montcrieff scoring 24 points. Last year’s Cup runners-up Wellington lose to Poneke 15-9.
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29 March 2003: Old Boys University earn a come-from-behind 11-8 victory over defending champions Marist St Pat’s in a replay of last year’s Jubilee Cup final. With locks Bernie Upton and Matt Egan leading the way, MSP take a 8-0 lead. OBU hit back with a try off a MSP error and then kicked two penalties late in the match.
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7 April 2007: Newly promoted Wainuiomata stun reigning champions Northern United 30-29 at William Jones Park. With All Black Piri Weepu playing a leading hand at first five-eighth, Wainuiomata leap to an early lead and hold on for the rest of the match.
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4 April 2009: Poneke beat defending co-champions Marist St. Pat’s 18-8 at Evans Bay Park in a gritty second round fixture, to inflict the first defeat of MSP on their home patch for almost two years and also claim the inaugural Miller-Horan Trophy between these sides. Poneke will finish third and MSP fifth in this year’s Swindale Shield, while MSP will win the Jubilee Cup outright.
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30 March 2019: Livewire Northern United first five-eighth Esi Komaisavai intercepts a pass in general play and sprints 60 metres to score the match-winning try and see his side retain the Ken Douglas Trophy with a 30-25 victory over Old Boys University in a replay of the previous August’s Jubilee Cup final. In a tight seesaw match, OBU had taken a 15-10 lead into halftime, weathering waves of Norths possession and territory at the other end to counterattack and score two forwards tries from their only two clear chances of the half. Norths break open the game immediately after halftime with a turnover from a lineout on halfway and a runaway try, but OBU hit back once more when second five-eighth Izzy Foai joins his forwards at close-quarters and dives over to keep the game on tenterhooks.
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22 April 2022: Marist St Pat’s topples Tawa 24-21, after leading 14-5 at halftime in this opening weekend encounter at Evans Bay Park. The win goes someway to alleviating the pain of Tawa’s emphatic 29-point win over MSP in the previous year’s Jubilee Cup final. Tawa will finish fifth and MSP eighth in this year’s Swindale Shield.
