Focus on junior player pathways with new OBU-Wests agreement

• By Steven White

This article is in association with TBI Health – providing sideline medical and physiotherapy services to the Old Boys University club. 

A focus on maintaining player pathways for junior players through to senior rugby has given impetus  for a new agreement between the Old Boys University and Western Suburbs clubs to form closer ties.

Nothing has been formalised yet, and both clubs stress that this is just an agreement for now.

As is happening in the game everywhere, a sharp fall in numbers in recent decades of players continuing with rugby when they leave school has been seen in suburban Wellington with the decline of the Wests senior club.

Junior numbers are still comparatively healthy at both Wests and OBU, but in 2025 Wests are a one-team senior club, with the Wests Mixed Veges side playing in the Reserve Grade be their sole team.

On Saturday, both clubs will take their first steps to formalise this alliance between the two city clubs, with the Old Boys University Goats playing their fourth round Swindale Shield match at Wests home ground at Ian Galloway Park and wearing Wests jerseys modelled on their 1998 Jubilee Cup winning team.

The 1.00pm curtain-raiser will be a Reserve Grade Mike Copeland Cup match between the Wests Mixed Veges and the OBU Righteous-Pink Ginners, with the Mixed Veges now becoming eligible to compete for OBU’s internal Reserve Grade teams’ trophy. This match will be for the Omar Cup, which was contested at Premier level between OBU and Wests up until 2013.

The Wests Mixed Veges started as a University team (1986-91) and later under the Harlequins playing name (1992-94) before moving under the Wests banner in 1995 and are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.

The last time that Wests competed in Wellington’s Premier Swindale Shield and Jubilee/Hardham Cups competitions was in 2013, a decade and a half after their one and only Jubilee Cup win and two years before OBU’s first.

OBU Chair Hayden Smith said this agreement has been under informal discussion for several years. “The Wests club and rugby in the suburbs has a long, proud history and there are a lot of passionate people wanting to preserve this and find ways to revive rugby in the area,” Smith explained.

Like OBU, Wests are a merger of previous clubs, in their case three, two of which (Athletic and Onslow) were multiple Jubilee Cup winners in previous eras. These three clubs came together to form the Wests club in 1983. More on this history below.

The reason for making this Saturday’s match against Ories the first showcasing this agreement has its own origins.

“When the Harlequins playing name [the end of 1991 amalgamation of Victoria University and Wellington College Old Boys] changed to ‘OBU’ and took on the green and white hooped jersey, one of the concessions when we played Ories with the existing Magpie stripes was that OBU would wear an alternate strip every time we play them.

“So the idea of wearing a Wests jersey modelled on their 1998 Jubilee Cup-winning jersey was what we came up with for Saturday.

“Former All Blacks prop and Wests prop Scott Crichton and 100-game Wellington representative fullback Brian Cederwall are presenting the playing jersey to the OBU players beforehand as a way of telling the story of the Wests club’s history to the boys.”

The agreement has been led by Crichton’s former 103-game Wellington Lions teammate and former Athletic and Wests fullback Brian Cedarwall and Wests Chairman Matt Grimes.

Continuing the rugby playing pathway, there are a handful of current OBU Premier squad members who played junior rugby for Wests, including prop Geordie Bean, lock Finn O’Sullivan,outside back Reece Plumtree, prop Laurence Jarel-Lim and halfback Thoma Takeuchi – all followed the Wests juniors – Wellington College – Old Boys University pathway.

Second year Victoria University student Thoma started playing for the Wests Roosters Junior club at U6 level and played all the way through to U13s. He has fond memories of the club and pulling on the Roosters jersey every Saturday morning.

“One thing we did every year when we got a bit older was head up to play a tournament in Taupo as representatives of the Wests club,” he said. “An internal Wests team was pulled together for the tournament at the end of the season, and it was something to aspire to.”

Thoma also had a strong connection with the seniors, as his father Katsu was co-coach of the Wests Premiers in their last year in 2013.

“I spent a lot of time around the Premiers at games and also at their trainings, which further developed my love of the game from a young age.

“Being Japanese, my father brought some players to New Zealand and my family, and I would spend plenty of time living and breathing rugby.”

Thoma said that several players he played with at Wests as a junior are still playing but dispersed around some other clubs or elsewhere at university. And that some of these, including himself, might be back playing for Wests if their senior club was still thriving.

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Wests were an amalgamation of three clubs – Karori, Onslow and Athletic – and played their inaugural season in Wellington club rugby in 1983. They won the Hardham Cup in 1985, 1987, 1991 and 1992 (shared with Norths) before their greatest triumph, winning the 1998 Jubilee Cup, with an emphatic win over Tawa in the final.

Wests remained competitive over the next decade and a half, but success came ever more sporadically. In 2009, OBU beat Wests 42-8 in the 2009 Hardham Cup final. Conrad Smith was at centre for OBU that day.

Wests last fielded a Premier side in the Swindale Shield/Hardham Cup competitions in 2013.

The last time that Wests and OBU met at Premier level was on Anzac Day in 2013, a day short of 13 years ago that this Saturday’s match will take place.

The result? A 32-22 win to Wests, who won the interclub Omar Cup off OBU.

Western Suburbs history

The Western Suburbs RFC was first formed as a final amalgamation of traditional clubs Onslow, Athletic and Karori. They were first based at Nairnville Park in Khandallah before their subsequent move to Ian Galloway Park, in Northland. Athletic were formerly a powerhouse in Wellington club rugby at various intervals and as the second oldest club in Wellington, formed several years after the Wellington FC in 1878, with these two clubs being the basis of the Wellington Rugby Football Union formed a year later in 1879. Athletic won eight Jubilee Cups between 1936 and 1977. Perhaps Athletic’s most famous player and author of their history Eric Tindill passed away in 2010, aged 99.

Onslow were founded in 1922 and won the Jubilee in 1955 and again in 1962 (shared), while Kaori were formed in 1876 but never fielded a team in the Senior Championship or what is today the Premier grade.

Renowned players who played for Wests include flanker Dirk Williams, prop Scott Crichton, loose forward Rodney So’oialo, centre Alama Ieremia, the Tiatia family, including No. 8 Filo and flanker/hooker Ace, Chief,  Kane Thompson, Luke Mahoney, Scott Fugistaller, Galu Taufale  and former Heartland Player of the Year Scott Leighton. Recent Hurricanes players include Luke Mahoney and Hurricanes and All Blacks loose forward Rodney So’oialo.