Pepe and Petone positioning for strong season

Above: Petone fullback Jermaine Pepe in action on debut for his new club in round one against the Wellington Axemen. Photo: Mike Lewis Pictures. 

• By Steven White

If he stays injury free, expect outside back Jermaine Pepe to influence more matches than not for Petone throughout the remainder of the club season, and by extension for Petone to be in the mix in July.

By his own admission, Pepe had a frustrating first year in Wellington club rugby in 2024 on the fitness front, whilst playing for double Swindale-Jubilee champions Old Boys University.

“I played the first three games for OBU last year and partially tore my MCL putting me out for much of the season,” said Pepe. “Then I played in the first Jubilee Cup playoff match against Tawa and I injured my AC, then in the semi-final against Hutt Old Boys Marist I broke my leg.”

Tallied up, he played nine of a possible 17 matches for OBU, and has played two for Petone to start this term after rehabbing for several months and moving to the Petone club in the off-season because he lives and works nearby.

Last Saturday, Pepe was a key player in Petone’s significant second round win over Tawa at Lyndhurst Park. He scored two tries and then was one half of the duo alongside replacement halfback Logan Henry that stopped Tawa captain Matolu Petaia over the line in the final act of the game. As a result of holding him up, Petone held on for a 28-24 win, their second to start the competition.

“I saw his [Petaia’s] eyes light up, I don’t know what Logan Henry was thinking but I was thinking just to put a body in front and look after that ball. I then remember opening my eyes and seeing I was on the ball and Logan was under it so credit to Logan for getting under stopping it!

“We knew it was going to be a grind for us in this game, and we prepared accordingly, so we were stoked with how we went and to get the win at the end was a really good result for us.”

Earlier, he scored the first try of the match and then what proved to be the match-winner in the second half, this being:

Neither were predetermined plays.

“That second try, it wasn’t planned to go short side, it was just a bit of a feel in the moment play. We spoke about it and said we will see what picture they sell in front of us and we just played our hand and the two players inside were able to do a job in putting defenders in two minds and it opened up.”

It also helped that he had Riley Higgins lined up in the midfield on the open side of the scrum, having a Hurricane there to keep defenders guessing.

The first try that Pepe scored was off a kick-pass out to Pepe on the wing by first-five Thompson Tukapua, last year’s College Sport Wellington Player of the Year.

“Thompson and I talked about that kick after, and he didn’t know what he was going to do until very late and he put in another feel in the moment and very pinpoint, accurate kick.”

Tukapua would soon leave the field injured. He was out for a couple of months at the tail-end of last season with a MCL injury, so the rugby community at large will be hoping he is back soon.

He was replaced by Ben Brooking, who also played for OBU last season, after previously playing for Petone 2016-22. Brooking kicked two vital second half penalties and played well. “He did very well for us, he stepped up when we needed him to.”

Pepe is in his second season of club rugby in Wellington, but has plenty of prior experience playing elsewhere.

Raised in Brisbane, he moved back over to New Zealand and joined the Rangiora High School First XV and was in this side that made the semi-finals of the 2018 Crusaders region First XV competition and famously beat Christchurch Boys’ High School and that represented the South Island in the Top 4 in 2018.

Rangiora, whose team also included current professional players, Blues hooker James Mullan and Crusaders prop and former NZ U19s Player of the Tournament Fletcher Newell, made the Co-ed Cup final in 2018. They lost to Cam Roigard’s St Peter’s School in the final.

Pepe then moved to Otago and joined the Otago Academy, spending four years there at university and playing for Otago University and various representative teams. He missed out on making the Otago NPC team but played for North Otago in 2022 and for the New Zealand Universities team that same year – hence why he joined OBU last year on his arrival in Wellington.

After wins to start this year’s Swindale Shield over the Wellington Axemen (46-5) and Tawa (28-24), Pepe and Petone return home to host Avalon this coming Saturday where they will defend the Bill Brien Challenge Cup for the first time and put the interclub Morgan Family Trophy on the line. Kick-off at the Petone Rec is 2.45pm.

Petone could even get a further boost, if not this week, then next, with the inclusion of TJ Clarke who is coming back from injury. Clarke also plays fullback, but that is fine with Pepe wo is comfortable playing most positions in the backline and is happy to accommodate.