Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 097: Michael Ward

Michael Ward was the captain of the 1948 Marist Brothers Old Boys team that won its maiden Jubilee Cup and backed that up two years later by leading on the field an unbeaten run to their second title.

He also played for Wellington representative teams, and captained Wellington in 1948 and 1949.

Michael James Ward arrived in Wellington in 1947 via Auckland whom he had debuted and played two matches for out of the Auckland Marist club the previous year. He was born in Balclutha on 21 October 1922.

Ward had served overseas and played matches 1942 for the 12th Brigade Group and 1st New Zealand Division rugby teams.

Ward was a flanker and in 1947 joined a Marist team on the up. They were the youngest Senior A side in the competition and though they finished mid-table to that year’s champions the Wellington Axemen a number of matches were won or lost by tight margins.

The building blocks in place, it all came together for them the next season. Marist fielded an unchanged forward pack from the previous year.

Together with 29-year-old coach Jack Dive and other leading players such as All Black Ray O’Callaghan and Des Lyons in the midfield, Ward’s Marist side won an emphatic maiden title in 1948. They lost just once all season and their aggregate of 28 championship points in 16 matches equalled that of Athletic’s in 1937, a total only bettered by University’s tally of 29 in 1929.

They defeated Athletic in the 1948 Jubilee Cup final, with centre Des Lyons scoring a memorable match-winning try. If Athletic had won, then the Jubilee Cup would have been shared for the second successive year.

Coach Dive stepped away from the team in 1949 owing to his children having polio, although Marist were still in the hunt in 1949, finishing a point behind joint winners St Pat’s Old Boys and Petone. Dive returned in 1950, and they were back on top again.

Dive and Ward’s 1950 team won 14 and drew one of their 15 competition games – equalling the 1923 Petone team as the only side up to that point to win the Senior Championship undefeated.

One other key to them finishing five points clear to second placed Wellington was their adoption of the South African scrum formation – the ‘modern’ scrum – as most Wellington clubs at the time were still using the old 2-3-2 formation.

Paul Dongahue and Brian Dive in their book Marist Brothers Old Boys Rugby Club, the first 50 years wrote this of Ward after the 1950 season: “Skipper Mike Ward was a vocal and inspiring leader who also led his province.”

“…It is no exaggeration to say that without Mike Ward at the helm this team would not have fared so well. Mike, incidentally, was another ‘cop’. He coached the seniors in ’53 until a business transfer to Auckland (he had by then left the Police Force) ended for the meantime his active service to the club.”

Ward made his first-class debut at flanker for Auckland against Wellington at Athletic Park on 31 August 1946, resulting in a 15-8 win to Wellington. His other match for Auckland was against King Country and fortnight later.

He played the first of his 27 matches for Wellington in 1947. He would play nine games for Wellington in 1947, seven in 1948 and 11 in final season in provincial representative colours in 1949.

He was also an All Black triallist in 1948, for the following year’s tour to South Africa.

Of these seasons, 1947 was Wellington’s best, winning 12 and losing three. Ward scored seven tries in his nine appearances, including one in a tight 9-8 win over Canterbury and in the season ending 29-8 win over the New Zealand Maori team.

Injuries beset Wellington in 1948, including to Ward who missed a handful of matches, likely following the rigours of his Jubilee Cup winning campaign. 1949 was little better for the province as Ward continued holding the captaincy reins. Highlights were an 18-13 away win over Canterbury, a 14-9 home win over Auckland and a 14-9 win over Hawke’s Bay in Napier that saw Ward also get on the scoresheet. Continuing Ward’s connection with Auckland, his final match was against them in the return end-of-season fixture at Eden Park in an 11-12 loss.

Ward was also capped for the Centurions team in 1951, possibly playing his final game of competitive rugby for this team as he was coaching the Marist third grade side this year.

Ward passed away on the North Shore on 13 October 2015, aged 92.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.
• Auckland Rugby Football Union Incorporated. 100 Years of Auckland Rugby. Unity Press, Auckland 1983
• Donoghue, Paul and Brian Dive.  Marist Brothers Old Boys Rugby Club, the first 50 years. Published 1969.
• Donoghue, Tim. C’mon Red! A Celebration of Marist St Pat’s Rugby. Tim Donoghue Publications, Raetihi, 2020.
• Swan, Arthur C.; Jackson, Gordon F. W. (1952). Wellington’s Rugby History 1870 – 1950. Wellington, New Zealand: A. H. & A. W. Reed.