Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 102: Donald Riesterer

Donald Riesterer played for four provinces, and Wellington was his final stop on his rugby playing tour around New Zealand.

He later became Mayor of Bay of Plenty town Opotiki, wearing that town’s chains between 1989-2001.

Donald John Riesterer was born on 9 November 1930 at Otahuhu in Auckland, but grew up in south Taranaki and attended Hawera High School.

Riesterer came to Wellington in 1956 and spent two seasons playing for Wellington, before heading to his fifth province, Southland during the 1957 season when he was chaired off the field in his Wellington club University’s match against Petone at the Petone Rec.

Riesterer was a loose forward who joined University in Wellington, having previously played for University in Dunedin.

In 1951 he represented Otago out of Varsity, and was a New Zealand trialist in 1951.

In 1952 he was in the Bay of Plenty side out of the Waikite club, and in 1954 and 1955 he played for Taranaki whilst playing for Hawera. He had also played club rugby in Auckland in 1953, but didn’t make the provincial side.

Leaving Wellington, he headed south again with his employment as an Executive Officer with the YMCA, this time to Invercargill.

Upon his departure to the deep south, Wellington and University teammate and fellow flanker Bill Clark was on record in the Rugby Weekly as telling him “If you get in the Southland team to play Wellington for the shield, we will give you a good doing over.”

He played club rugby in Southland but didn’t add a fifth province on to his provincial rugby resume so that didn’t eventuate.

As well as being an all-action loose forward – usually a No. 8 – Riesterer had one more string to his bow; he was a goal-kicker. He had an eye for the tryline, scoring several notable tries in club rugby and also converted most of them. In 1956 he scored over 100 points for the season combined for University and in a handful of games for the Centurions and Wellington B.

When he came to Wellington in 1956, he joined one of the leading clubs in Wellington, who had been Jubilee Cup champions every year between 1952-54. They would win it again in 1958, but in 1956 and 1957 had to settle for the minor places to Petone both years.

Joining University in 1956, Ron Jarden was the incumbent goal-kicker, but Riesterer took over the goal-kicking owing to injury to Jarden in the third match of the season against Oriental and kicked the winning penalty in a 15-14 victory.

The following week he kicked 8 from 10 in a comeback 35-20 win over Marist and continued in this vein for the next few rounds before missing some games with injury, before returning at the close. University were third in the 1956 Jubilee Cup behind winners Petone and second placed Poneke. Riesterer was his club’s top scorer with 77 points for the season.

For this, and his experience playing topflight rugby for three previous provinces and almost a fourth was picked up by Wellington selector Clarrie Gibbons – he had represented Taranaki 18 times over the previous two years and was in Taranaki teams that had lost to Wellington11-8 and 20-16 in two matches in 1954 and played for Taranaki in at least of two close losses in 1955 (unconfirmed if both).  He had also played for Taranaki in 1954 in a Ranfurly Shield challenge against Canterbury (lost 6-11, with Riesterer scoring Taranaki’s sole try).

Though not a regular member of Wellington’s team – one that faced the Springboks and later beat Otago in Dunedin for the first time since 1932 and won the Ranfurly Shield off Canterbury at the end.

Riesterer played two matches for the Wellington A team in 1956 and was a regular in the B squad. One of those two games for the A side was against his former province Taranaki, Wellington losing 16-20. This match was notable as kick-off was brought forward to later morning so that those interested could listen to the broadcast of the fourth and deciding test match between the All Blacks and Springboks at Auckland (which was won).

In 1957, Riesterer played in an 11-12 loss to Waikato in Hamilton, before playing and kicking the goals in two consecutive Ranfurly Shield defences against Bush (won 22-11) and Poverty Bay (won 15-3).

For University he finished the season on 99 points, made up of 5 tries, 18 penalties and 15 conversions, to be the top points scorer in Wellington Senior Championship club rugby in 1957. A missed conversion from in front in his last match against Petone deprived him of the century.

Riesterer later entered local body politics. As mayor of Opotiki, Riesterer was awarded the QSO in 1998.

He was awarded Local Government New Zealand life membership in 2002 after holding the position of Vice President.

Riesterer passed away at Whakatane on 27 February 2019.

REFERENCES

Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.Anderson

Anderson, John. Victoria University of Wellington Rugby Football Club : the story of the green and golds, 1902-1987. Wellington. The Club, 1988.

Rugby Weekly – Farewell article about Donald mid 1957, plus mentions in various Rugby Weeklys 1956-1957.

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.