Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 108: Trevor Riley

Trevor Riley was one of a group of leading first-fives competing in a healthy rivalry with each other and helping to showcase the high standard and popularity of Wellington club rugby in the first half of the 1950s decade.

Riley was Hutt’s first-five and later captain, until his move to Poverty Bay and then Auckland mid-decade, in the same era as others such as Jackie Dougan (Petone and Onslow), the acknowledged flyhalf wizard of that time, Doug Wilson (Oriental), the 1953/54 All Black who moved to Wellington from Canterbury in 1955 and the fellow 1953/54 All Black Guy Bowers (Athletic) who moved back home to Tasman in 1955.

Trevor John Syndey Riley was educated at Gisborne Boys’ High School and moved to Wellington and the Hutt club in the early 1950s and would be the Wellington representative side’s first-choice first-five in 1952, 1953 and 1954.

He came to Wellington whilst a teenager and he made an immediate impact on his club and in club rugby as the leading points scorer in 1952.

An entry in the Rugby Weekly in 1954 said that Riley, Colin Loader and Nigel Langdon made a ‘bonny trio’ and were one of the most accomplished inside and midfield backs in the competition throughout Riley’s time.

All three were around the same age, with Langdon and Loader both having attended Hutt Valley High School. All three played for Wellington together, and Loader was an All Black tourist in 1953/54.

Whilst they had the backs, they didn’t have a strong pack like other clubs and missed out in some of the tough forward-dominated matches.

Riley was Hutt’s captain in his third and final year at the Hutt Rec.

Hutt were fourth in the Jubilee Cup in 1952 (one better than the previous season) and they beat Petone 9-6 in the annual McBain Shield match and also beat champions University 16-12.

In 1953 they went on better again, finishing third, before dropping to sixth in 1954. University won the title in all three years that Riley was playing in the capital. One University player and midfield back who made the All Blacks on the 1953/54 tour was Brian Fitzpatrick, and he too was a former Gisborne Boys’ High School student and was First XV captain in 1948, so would have been 2-3 years ahead of Riley.

Riley played 12 matches for Wellington in 1952, eight in 1953 and another nine in 1954, for a total of 29 games.

A couple of notable wins in 1952 that Riley played in were their 31-11 win over his future province Auckland, 16-12 over Hawke’s Bay in Wellington and 16-9 against Southland in Invercargill. Jackie Dougan also played at first five in some matches, while Riley shared the goal-kicking with Ron Jarden.

In 1953 he was part of a memorable campaign with Wellington. He was Wellington’s first-five on 1 August 1953 when they beat Waikato 9-6 to win the Ranfurly Shield, and involved in the run of five defences then loss to Canterbury over the next several weeks.

He played in the 23-6 defence over Auckland (and would play against Auckland twice more in 1954 for five out of a possible six matches against them in three seasons playing for Wellington).

Riley played for the North Island team in 1953, and was an All Black trialist twice – in 1953 and 1957.

Still aged 23, he spent one season back home in Gisborne, playing for Marist and playing eight matches and scoring 55 points that season for Poverty Bay.

Having moved to Auckland for the 1956 season, Riley played against his former province Wellington in a Ranfurly Shield challenge at the end of September 1956. He kicked two penalties for Auckland’s only points in a 9-6 loss, which also marked the final match for Ron Jarden for Wellington.

Riley also started at first-five for Auckland in 1956 in their 6-3 loss to the touring Springboks.

Riley played 33 matches for Auckland between 1956-58 out of the Grafton club.

Four of his matches for Auckland were against Wellington, so nine of 62 provincial games played by Riley were in the Auckland-Wellington match for bot sides.

Riley ended his first-class career in Auckland at the end of 1958 having played 85 career matches and scored 17 tries, 72 conversions, 44 penalties and 1 dropped goal for 330 points.

He was later involved in coaching.

Riley passed away in Tauranga on 25 May 2023. He was 90.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.
• Auckland RFU. 100 Years of Auckland Rugby. ARFU, 1983.
• Dominion and Evening Post newspaper reports – August and September 1953.
• Hayhurst, John, The Fourth All Blacks 1953-54. Hazell, Watson and Vinery Ltd, London 1954.
• Hutt Rugby Football Club. Jubilee Celebrations Easter 1962 Souvenir Booklet.
• Rugby Weekly, various editions 1954, 1955.
• Swan, A.C. History of New Zealand Rugby Football. Vol. 2 1946-1957. Whitcombe & Tombs, Wellington 1958.
• WRFU. Wellington’s Rugby History Part 2 1951-79. WRFU publication, 1979.