Great Days in Club Rugby 010: Upsets and Boilovers

In 2016 when first-five Greg Mullany scores one of his two tries for Poneke to win the game and end OBU’s 19-match winning streak. Photo: Andy McArthur.

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 article looks at a snapshot of upsets, boilovers and competition spoilers down the years.

Upsets, boilovers and competition spoilers

 8 June 1929: “Rugby Surprises. Oriental Out Point Poneke”, says the Dominion. “Oriental, who had previously only won one game, upset all calculations by routing the powerful Poneke fifteen at Newtown Park by 19 points to 18.” Not necessarily a ‘routing’, but they do climb off the bottom of the table and knock Poneke off the top in this first ever season of Jubilee Cup rugby. Poneke are leapfrogged by Athletic who beat Wellington 15-11. First-season Cup champions University defeat Berhampore 12-11 in their match.

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9 July 1938: Form is turned on its head when previous leaders Poneke are upset by the previous winless Johnsonville 9-6. The loss spells the end of Poneke’s 1938 Jubilee Cup challenge, Petone winning the title.

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10 May 1969: Senior division newcomers Upper Hutt cause a major upset, beating in-form Wellington 12-3. Upper Hutt’s two heroes are fullback Alan Dudley and No. 8 David Allan. Upper Hutt’s first win of the season means Petone – who beat Onslow 20-15 – have a four-point (two-match) lead at the top of the table to a group of six teams in second place.

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5 July 1986: Upper Hutt beats defending champions Wellington 18-17 in a key upset of the season. Wellington lead 10-0 at halftime but, despite All Black lock Murray Pierce ruling the lineouts, let Upper Hutt back into the game and first five-eighth Sam McLean kicks the winning penalty with almost five minutes left.

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25 May 2002: Poneke are poised to win the Swindale Shield after previous leaders and last year’s Jubilee Cup champions Marist St Pat’s are beaten by struggling Upper Hutt in the upset of the season. Given their recent form, MSP could have expected a comfortable win and lead 7-3 early,  but Upper Hutt come back to hold sway at halftime 17-7 with Craig Foster landing four first half penalties. MSP score first after the break, but tries to hooker Joe Duffy and No. 8 Peti Keni see Upper Hutt pull clear to 29-12. A consolation MSP try makes the final score 29-19 to Upper Hutt. MSP’s loss means that Poneke do go on to win their one and only Swindale Shield. MSP set their sights on a successful Jubilee Cup defence.

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7 April 2007: Premier newcomers Wainuiomata send a warning to the rest of their Swindale Shield rivals that they are not to be taken lightly after upsetting reigning Jubilee Cup champions and competition favourites Northern United 30-29. With All Black Piri Weepu playing first-five, Wainuiomata leap to an early lead before withstanding a Norths comeback that is not enough. Norths outscore Wainuiomata five tries to three, but it is Weepu’s boot that is the difference. He converts all the tries that are scored by Antony Mamea, Lewis Marshall and Michael Williams and lands two clutch penalties. Norths will go and drop one more game in winning this year’s Swindale Shield, while Wainuiomata will claim two more scalps and finish ninth in their debut season in the top tier ranks. They will go on and win the Hardham Cup.

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30 April 2011: Two upsets in one day in the Swindale Shield. The presence of All Blacks Rodney So’oialo and Piri Weepu add spice to the sixth round of Swindale Shield match as both players assist their clubs to upset victories. Previously winless Wests produce one of the boilovers of the season to inflict Ories’ first defeat (17-16), So’oialo returning from a long-term injury is part of an impressive second half for the Roosters. Weepu has a hand in two tries as Wainuiomata sneak home against Petone in a high scoring affair (36-33). Despite the loss, Ories finish second to Norths in the Swindale Shield and later win the Jubilee Cup, while Petone are fourth in the first round. Neither Wests or Wainuiomata can maintain this form, and both are well down the standings this year.

When Wainuiomata beat Petone in 2011. 

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21 April 2014: The Johnsonville Hawks swoop on the Ories Magpies at the Polo Ground, kicking a late penalty to win the game 19-16 and grabbing their maiden Swindale Shield win of the season and first Premier rugby victory in eight years. Johnsonville brreak a 16-16 deadlock to win the game with time almost up, winning the recently created Ash Pointon Cup off Ories and breaking a 23-game losing streak dating back to their 20-17 win over Ories at the Polo Ground in April 2006. This win is also Johnsonville’s only victory of the 2014 Swindale Shield.

 Jonsonville’s team that beat Ories in 2014 and won their first Premier victory in eight years.

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21 May 2016: In a season of surprises, one thing is appears certain; OBU know how to win. The defending Jubilee Cup champions are on a 19-game winning streak and are hot favourites to beat Poneke this afternoon for the Beet Algar Rosebowl. Instead, the inspired home side gets up to win 23-20 to breathe new life into a season that appeared heading for the Hardham Cup. Inspired by No. 8 and captain Greg Foe and first five Greg Mullany who scores two tries, the teams are level at 20-20 late in the second half. With several minutes to play, Pakai Turia kicks the winning penalty and they hold on to the end. Despite the loss, OBU will go on and win the Swindale Shield, but what it means for Poneke is that they will qualify for this year’s Jubilee Cup.

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12 May 2018: Another round with two notable upsets on the same afternoon, with 2018 Hardham Cup-bound sides beating Jubilee Cup ones. The battling injury-hit Avalon Wolves ignite the competition with an upset 27-19 win over Marist St Pat’s at Evans Bay Park for the Joe Aspell Cup while Paremata-Plimmerton pounce on Poneke 25-11 at Ngatitoa Domain. Avalon leap to a 17-7 halftime lead, with lock turned wing Laman ah Wong scoring a key try. Chris Aumua scores a converted try soon after the break and first five-eighth TK Kiwara adds a penalty to put them ahead 27-7. MSP mount a comeback but can’t reel in the 20-point deficit. Poneke lead 8-7 at halftime over the plucky Paremata-Plimmerton, but the Hammerheads overtake them in the second 40 minutes, going up 17-8 and then 25-8, with fullback Blake Neve scoring both tries.

Avalon’s team that beat MSP 27-19 in their 10th round fixture of 2018.