Champion Teams 015: Marist St Pat’s 1979

They won their first Jubilee Cup in 1978 and again in 1979 – winning all 20 games in 1979 and completing the Swindale Shield/Jubilee Cup double.

Some entries from the 1979 season in the Club Rugby Today in History files:

23 June: MSP win their 13^th straight match of the season to claim the Swindale Shield, its forward  power a key weapon in beating Wellington 21-4. MSP finishes the first round having scored 246 points and conceded 88. Petone finish second after dispatching bottom placed Ories 50-0.

7 July: Unbeaten MSP are trailing Athletic 9-10 deep into the match when first five-eighth Tu Wylie carves through to score a 50-metre try that sets up a 21-19 win. Meanwhile, Petone, MSP’s main rivals for the title, defeat Poneke 38-14 despite Poneke wing Wayne Collins scoring two brilliant solo tries.

28 July: It’s a two-horse race for the Jubilee Cup. After four rounds. MSP defeats Poneke 13-3 and Petone battle to a 6-0 win in the Fraser Park mud over Hutt Valley Marist. In pelting rain Murray Mexted emerges in a pile of bodies to score Wellington’s try in their 4-3 win over University. MSP go on to win the title outright for the first time.

18 August: The Dominion reports that MSP have made plans for a celebratory disco tonight in their clubrooms .They’re confident of winning the ‘final’ against Petone. They’re on the money as well, sweeping to a 16-6 victory at Athletic Park, to record a clean sweep of 20 consecutive wins in 1979. MSP’s “rugged forward play” is their key to victory, after Petone  had led 6-3 at halftime and threatened to spoil the party. It’s also MSP’s first standalone Jubilee Cup title following amalgamation in 1971, after winning the Swindale Shield earlier in the season in the WRFU’s centenary year.