Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 094: Stan Judd and Cardy Williams

Stan Judd (left) and Cardy Williams (right) – two leading players for Onslow and Wellington in the 1950s.

Two popular front rowers in Wellington rugby during the 1950s who both played for Onslow and won the Jubilee Cup together in 1955.

Judd was a hard-playing hooker and Williams was an all-action prop. Both players would not be out of place in contemporary rugby.

Judd was the older of the two and by the time of the first of two of Onslow’s Jubilee Cup wins in 1955 (the second in 1958), he was a veteran – just the type of player a club needs for a title tilt in a key position up front.

Bruce Heather, in his book . 50 years of Onslow Rugby 1926-1976, summed up Judd in one line: “Judd was seldom out-hooked in club matches. He was a real bustler at the front of the lineout and a fine team man.”

Stanley Walter David Judd was born on 13 July 1919 and attended Clyde Quay School and later Wellington Technical College.

He started his playing career in the services in World War 2, paying for the Royal New Zealand Navy and Central Services teams in 1942 and 1944.

Judd joined Onslow and was in the team that won promotion to the Senior 1st grade in 1947 after winning the second division the previous year.

He played for Wellington B in 1947 and 1948, making his full Wellington provincial debut in 1948, He rose to become Wellington’s first choice hooker and played 11 matches for Wellington 1950, 11 in 1951, 15 in 1952 and 13 in 1953, his final and most memorable year (more on 1953 below). Judd also played for the Centurions club and was a New Zealand trialist in 1950. He played 54 matches for Wellington and 84 first class games.

In 1953, his final year playing for Wellington, the Rugby Weekly said of Judd: “He still stands out as the quickest and most effective striker for the ball among Senior hookers. It would seem among hookers the older you get the better you get.”

Thus, Judd was vastly experienced in 1955 when Onslow won the Jubilee Cup.

Judd and Jackie Dougan, who had transferred from Petone early in the competition, were two of the side’s leading players. Onslow suffered their only loss early in the season to Petone (6-3 and without Dougan playing), but a fifth round 29-6 win over three-time defending champions University set them on their way. The big match of the year was the penultimate round win over Petone in which Onslow fell 0-14 behind at halfime but came back to win 15-14.

Judd hung up his boots after 16 years of Senior Rugby at the end of 1956, aged 37.

Judd and his wife Zoe owned and operated the Colway Street Dairy for many years. He was also a member of the Wilton Bowling Club, before moving to Tauranga following the early death of Zoe.

Cardigan Pirie Williams hailed from the King Country and played his first five first-class matches for the King Country out of the Ohakune club in 1950, before moving to Wellington in his job as a policeman and joining the Onslow club.

Cardy Williams formed an effective front row combination at Onslow with hooker Judd and fellow prop Roy Lewis.

Bruce Heather, in his book 50 years of Onslow Rugby 1926-1976, wrote that “Williams and Lewis were both outstanding prop forwards, and strong and mobile. Williams was very fast, often bursting from a ruck and running with the speeds of a threequarter.

“Ivan Vodanovich, his old rival, and later All Black coach, was one who had a very high regard for Cardy Williams. He believes that the true ability of Williams’ forward play was never full realised. Although he made the final New Zealand trials in 1951 and 1953 and was a vital part of Wellington’s great Ranfurly Shield side, he was never selected for his province with regularity.”

Prop was Williams’ usual position, but he could also play lock and No. 8.

For Wellington, Williams played 23 first-class matches, between 1952-55.

The highwater mark for both Williams and Judd playing for Wellington was undoubtedly 1953.

On 1 August 1953 Wellington won the Ranfurly Shield off Waikato – Cardy Willams making a break and setting up Ron Jarden to score the winning try in a 9-6 win. What followed was exactly 50 days of fanfare and general positivity in the region, with defences against Southland (22-6), East Coast (42-0), Otago (9-3), Taranaki (26-3) and Auckland (23-6). On 19 September Canterbury came to town and won it off Wellington (24-3).

During Wellington’s tenure, Judd was entrusted to look after the Ranfurly Shield – and he proudly displayed it at the window of his home in Mysore Street (on the far side of Nairnville Park).

Like Judd, Williams was at his best in 1953, the Rugby Weekly singling him out in several editions out for him playing a dominant role in the lineouts and in the loose. “His drives for the line when in possession about 10 yards out was reminiscent of the bulldozing efforts of Maurice Brownlie 25 years ago,” it said one week.

For the next few seasons Onslow remained a leading club, but were known for their inconsistency. They won their second and final Jubilee Cup in 1958 when they shared the title with Petone.

Williams died in Toronto, Canada, on 31 October 2009, aged 83.

Judd passed away on 2 May 2011 in Tauranga, aged 91.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.
• Club Rugby. 1955: The year the suburbanites won the Jubilee Cup. Published online at http://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/story.php?id=1518 on 22 July 2015.
• Club Rugby. When Wellington won the Ranfurly Shield off Waikato, ushering in 50 days of fanfare. Published online at https://clubrugby.nz/wp/2022/09/22/when-wellington-won-the-ranfurly-shield-off-waikato-ushering-in-50-days-of-fanfare/ on 22 September 2022.
• Heather, Bruce. 50 years of Onslow Rugby 1926-1976. Published 1988.
• Heather, Bruce. Onslow’s Golden Winter. Published 2010.
• Rugby Weekly publication. Various editions 1953-1956.
• Swan, Arthur C.; Jackson, Gordon F. W. (1952). Wellington’s Rugby History 1870 – 1950. Wellington, New Zealand: A. H. & A. W. Reed
• 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.