Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 080: Ray O’Callaghan

Thomas Raymond ‘Ray’ O’Callaghan was a goal-kicking second-five or fullback who left his mark on the local game as a player over several seasons and then as a coach a decade later.

O’Callaghan won two Jubilee Cups playing for the Marist Brothers Old Boys club, and later one as Marist’s head coach.  These Jubilee Cup wins were in 1949 and 1950 (as a player) and 1964 (head coach).

He was a Wellington representative for several seasons from 1948 and made the All Blacks in 1949.

O’Callaghan was born in Wellington on 19 January 1925 but spent his formative years in the South Island.

His father Tom had played six matches for West Coast out of the Greymouth United and Marist clubs between 1913-1920.

Ray was educated at Greymouth Marist High School between 1938-42, leaving school and moving across to Christchurch to join the Air Force club, who had won the Canterbury Metro Senior A club rugby title the previous year. O’Callaghan represented Canterbury twice in his first year of senior rugby and made another four appearances in red and black in 1944. He also played for the South Island in the annual North-South match in 1944, playing second-five in the 28-3 loss in Christchurch, and for the NZ Combined Services team.

The close of the war saw him move back ‘home’ and he represented West Coast-Buller on four occasions in 1946 out of the Celtic club. That same year he captained a combined Seddon Shield unions team to a 12-15 loss against the touring Australians.

He then spent a season in Auckland in 1947, playing for the Marist club and helping that club win the Gallaher Shield – his first major club title. This saw him selected to play for Auckland and he made eight first-class appearances that year under the banner of the city of sails.

In just his second match for Auckland he lined up at second-five against the All Blacks, kicking two penalties and a conversion in a 14-3 win over the team that had just toured Australia. He was fullback for Auckland in a 21-15 win over Canterbury in Christchurch and fullback again in an 18-24 loss to Wellington at Athletic Park three days later.

Having already represented the South Island, he played for the North Island in 1947, in the annual North-South match, lining up at fullback and kicking two conversions in their 13-11 win in Invercargill.

It was the following year in 1948 that he landed in is fourth province Wellington to embark on his multi-year association with Wellington rugby.

Joining the Marist club, he made an immediate mark on the Jubilee Cup. Marist had been there and thereabouts in the hunt for the Jubilee Cup in several past seasons, and it all came together for them in 1948 to win the title.

Marist’s rival club St Pat’s Old Boys shared the Jubilee Cup with Petone in 1949, but Marist won again in 1950. A big pack and the accurate boot of O’Callaghan, who played predominantly at fullback, were keys to their wins. O’Callaghan was vice-captain in both triumphs.

O’Callaghan was a Marist regular in 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1954 as well. Poneke won the Jubilee Cup in 1951, before University achieved a three-peat over the remaining years of his career.

For Wellington, O’Callaghan played five matches in 1948, and featured strongly in wins over Canterbury (39-20) and Hawke’s Bay (37-14) and in a drawn return fixture against Canterbury (14-14).

The following year was the high-water mark of his representative career, playing in his third North-South fixture, at second-five in a 23-3 win in Christchurch and playing in his one and only test for the All Blacks against Australia.

With the main body of All Blacks away in South Africa at the time, O’Callaghan was selected for the domestic team to help try and defend the Bledisloe Cup against Australia in Auckland. The Wallabies had already won the first test, so this was a must-win. O’Callaghan was at second-five, with Wellington players Vince Bevan and Des O’Donnell at halfback and prop respectively. But the Wallabies won 16-9 and won the series 2-0.

O’Callaghan played another eight matches for Wellington in 1949 and six in 1950 but didn’t play representative rugby in 1951 or 1952 except for a brief period for the Centurions club.

Then came 1953, a memorable year for Wellington in which the province won the Ranfurly Shield off Waikato and went on a hugely popular run of defences in spring of that year. O’Callaghan was part of this entire campaign:

When Wellington won the Ranfurly Shield off Waikato, ushering in 50 days of fanfare

O’Callaghan hung up his boots at the end of the 1954 season, after a decade at the top spanning four provinces and seven in Wellington, and two Jubilee Cup wins and one Gallaher Shield win. He played 64 first-class games, including 30 for Wellington, and scored 317 points.

Marist’s next tenure of success was the early 1960s, and by this time O’Callaghan was behind the coach’s clipboard.

He was assistant coach with Frank Ryan when Marist won the Jubilee Cup in 1962 (shared with Onslow) and 1963 (outright), and then head coach in 1964 (shared with University).

A key match in 1964 was played at Athletic Park on 11 July when Marist held on by the barest of threads to beat Wellington 9-8. In a desperate finish, Wellington bombarded Marist’s line, but the latter held on to the end.

In 1983 he served a year as MSP President and was Vice-president the following year.

As well as father Tom, Ray had two brothers that played first-class rugby. Gordon played five times for West Coast out of the Celtic club in 1949-50 and Tom (same name as their father) played six matches for West Coast in 1958 out of the Marist club.

Grandson Craig Simeon played for the St Pat’s First XV in the 1990s and won Jubilee Cups with Marist St Pat’s, as well as playing a combined 44 first-class games for Marlborough and Nelson Bays between 2000-04.

O’Callaghan died on 17 December 2004, aged 79.

References:

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.
• All Blacks A-Z profile: Thomas Raymond O’Callaghan
• Auckland Rugby Football Union Incorporated. 100 Years of Auckland Rugby. Unity Press, Auckland 1983
• Chester, R.H. and McMillan, N.A.C., Palenski Ron. Men in Black Commemorative 20^th Century Edition. Hodder Moa Beckett, Auckland 2000.
• Donoghue, Tim. C’mon Red! A Celebration of Marist St Pat’s Rugby. Tim Dongohue Publications, Raetihi, 2020.
• Sanders, Larry. The Canterbury Rugby History 1879-1979. CRFU, Christchurch 1979.
• Swan, Arthur C.; Jackson, Gordon F. W. (1952). Wellington’s Rugby History 1870 – 1950. Wellington, New Zealand: A. H. & A. W. Reed.
• Swan, A.C. History of New Zealand Rugby Football. Vol. 2 1946-1957. Whitcombe & Tombs, Wellington 1958.
• Wellington’s Rugby History 1951-79. By Bob Fox, with assistance by Paul Elenio and Joseph Romanos (Evening Post) and Alex Veysey and Ian Gault (Dominion), with statistics compiled by Gordon Jackson (1951-68) and Alby Butterworth (1969-78). Tolan Printing Company, Wellington, 1979.