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Great Days in club rugby 009: Between the Posts

James So’oialo slots his last-gasp dropped goal in Tawa’s 16-15 win over Old Boys University in 2017. Photo: Tawa TV. 

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 collection looks at some of the many memorable afternoons where goal-kicking or a single shot on goal or droppie has been the headline play (s) of the match.

Between the Posts

View a previous article (2016) looking at most points in a Premier match between 2006-15 in Wellington club rugby HERE – Club Rugby 2006-15: Most points by an individual in a Premier Match – Wellington Club Rugby

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6 May 1967: In a stirring Athletic Park performance, Taita beats Wellington 11-9 to lead the new Swindale Shield first round competition after four rounds. Taita fullback A.F. Eagle kicks a 60-yard goal on the angle late in the match for victory. Eagle confirms afterwards that he has never before kicked a goal from halfway.

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3 April 1982: Wellington upset defending champions MSP 12-6 in their season opener, with 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 and they then go on to share the Jubilee Cup with Petone.

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13 June 1992: First five-eighth Allan Henderson kicks a late penalty for Johnsonville to see them beat Western Suburbs 15-13 – and to propel them into the Jubilee Cup for the first time since World War 2. Johnsonville had led 12-0 at halftime, but Wests came back with the wind to lead 13-12 before the winning kick.

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17 July 1993: A stats entry. A 15-point haul against Wests today has written Avalon’s ace goal-kicker Craig Laursen into Wellington club rugby record books with the most points scored in a season. Laursen takes his season tally to 250, eclipsing Upper Hutt’s Alan Henderson’s record of 238 set in 1990. MSP’s Elton Moncreiff is chasing hard on 235. Laursen will go on and finish 1993 with 267 points and Montcrieff 258. These two have since been surpassed by James So’oialo (282, Norths 2010) and Craig’s son Brandyn Laursen (286, HOBM 2013).

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13 April 1996: Harlequins make history by achieving the club’s first ever win over Petone since their creation five years earlier from WCOB and University. First five-eighth Glynn Champion kicks 20 points in the 25-9 win.

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9 August 2009: MSP win their 13th Jubilee Cup title on the back of no fewer than seven penalties to centre Chris Slade. Slade’s seven penalties and all of MSP’s points in their 21-16 win carries his side to a decisive come-from-behind victory over Norths, who score the game’s only two tries. MSP caps an excellent second part of the season, winning five consecutive Jubilee Cup matches in the weeks leading up to the final. For Norths, the loss is their second in Jubilee Cup finals to go with three wins since 2004.

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17 April 2010: All Black Piri Weepu kicks seven penalties to help Wainuiomata beat his former club Hutt Old Boys Marist 26-22. The win is Wainuiomata’s first in four attempts over HOBM since reinstatement to Premier rugby in 2007.

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25 April 2015: Two penalties to win games on the same afternoon. Tawa defeat Johnsonville for the Carman Cup with a last-gasp James So’oialo 50-metre penalty to win 18-15. Oriental-Rongotai break Poneke’s hearts, with first five-eighth Trevor Marama kicking an extra time penalty to give them a 28-27 Jimmy Grbich Shield win.

Try for Ories when they beat Poneke 28-27 in 2015.

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1 July 2017: James So’oialo nails a dropped goal on fulltime in his 50th match for Tawa in their 16-15 edging of OBU.

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22 July 2023: In wet, windy conditions at the Hutt Rec, Petone fullback TJ Clarke puts on a second half goal-kicking clinic to give his side an emphatic 30-13 Hardham Cup final victory over Marist St Pat’s. having already kicked one penalty, Clarke kicks five clutch second half penalties and converts the match-clinching try by first five Stanley Solomon as part of his 20 point haul. Trailing 8-13 early in the second half, Clarke slots three consecutive penalties, including one from 48m out and from near the sideline.

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