Little Ernst Making Big Impression at the Eagles Nest

Dominic Ernst in flying form for HOBM earlier in the Swindale Shield round. After a week off, HOBM are back home this Saturday hosting Paremata-Plimmerton in their Jubilee Cup semi-final. Photo: Hugh Pretorius. 

• By Adam Julian

Dominic Ernst was among the throng of jubilant spectators at the Hutt Recreation Ground when Hutt Old Boys Marist last won the Jubilee Cup in 2014. At that time, he was in primary school, and he laughs about how he wasn’t much bigger then than he is now.

Unlike 11 years ago, however, the brave and agile 20-year-old can significantly influence the Eagles’ fortunes. It’s a curious sight to see 73 kg Ernst next to some players who are double his size and old enough to be his father, but it’s proven to be a successful formula at the Birds Nest.

Ernst has started all but two games this season as HOBM earned the right to host Paremata-Plimmerton in a Jubilee Cup semifinal on Saturday.

“Our forwards are awesome, and they’re certainly some big boys,” Ernst said. “When guys like Filo Paulo, Ben Tuiomanufili, Mika Alaifatu, and Vili Tauofaga get rolling, they’re hard to stop. We can control possession and territory.”

“I’ve always been the smallest player on my teams, so I’ve never seen my size as a disadvantage. I try to beat defenders with my speed and footwork or by finding weak shoulders, putting my head down, and saying a prayer.”

Ernst’s whippet attacking style, combined with his growing tactical kicking, has brought zest to the Nest, where the loyal supporters are restless for silverware.

Since 2015, HOBM has won 98 of 137 Swindale Shield matches, achieving first-round honours in 2015 and 2019 and finishing in the top four eight times. However, Hutt lost 32-17 in the 2017 Jubilee Cup final to Old Boys University and has endured semifinal losses in 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2024.

“There’s a photo on the wall of our clubhouse with pictures of all our recent championship winners. That serves as a reminder of how long it’s been. We’re taking things one game at a time, but the belief is growing,” Ernst said.

Ernst captained the imperious HOBM Colts team that won all 16 games and scored 724 points in 2024. In the final, the Junior Eagles eased past Tawa 49-19, with premier winger Phelan Rona scoring four tries.

“Being captain was a privilege. We had a good team that wanted to win, filled with belief and talent,” Ernst said.

“Sometimes we’d get down, or egos would get too big. I’m lucky to have known many of the boys for a long time, which means I have that genuine connection. Sometimes, you had to separate them or even tell them to shut up.”

Captain Ernst (with the trophy) celebrate their Colts Division 1 final win last July. Photo: Warwick Burke.

Paremata-Plimmerton silenced the Eagles on April 26, handing them a resounding 42-17 defeat in Round Four of the Swindale Shield.

“That was a shocker; our worst performance of the season,” Ernst lamented. “We had the wind in the first half and led 17-3. In the second half, we just couldn’t get going, and their halfback Esi Komaisavai scored three tries. I believe both teams have improved since that game.”

The Eagles soared on June 28 when they reclaimed the McBain Shield from Petone for the first time in three years. Even more notably, they handed an unblemished Oriental Rongotai their first defeat in the first round of the Jubilee Cup.

“McBain was, without a doubt, the most intense game I’ve played so far. The hits are harder, and everyone’s more physical. It was a great game, we took our chances,” Ernst recalled.

“Against Ories, we prepared for a rainy day on a ripped-up field. We let our forwards go to work, played in the right areas of the field, and shut down their danger men.”

Ernst is one of four siblings and works as a vinyl layer with his older brother Ben. He started playing rugby for Hutt Old Boys Marist with his older sister Emile when he was just three years old. His father, Freddie, works for MSD, while his mother, Camille, was a kindergarten administrator seeking a new profession.

Ernst was part of the First XV at St. Bernard’s College from 2020 to 2022. He highlights victories against Wellington College in 2020 and Francis Douglas Memorial College in 2021 as significant accomplishments. He even scored the winning try against Francis Douglas, laughing, he ran exactly 27 and a half metres from a scrum.

In May 2023, he was the top try scorer for the New Zealand Under-20s touch team that finished second at the Asia-Pacific tournament in Brisbane.

“Passing, fitness, footwork, acceleration – touch has all been incredibly helpful for my rugby,” he said.

Another method Enrst uses to increase his speed is racing against his pet greyhound. He even tried to install a mechanical rabbit called Eagle in his backyard but the neighbours complained.

The Jubilee Cup semifinal between Hutt Old Boys Marist and Paremata-Plimmerton kicks off at the Hutt Recreation Ground at 2:45 PM. It will be broadcast live on the E Tu Whānau Footy Show on Te Upoko o Te Ika.

Some small players to have won Jubilee Cups/Wellington Senior Championships

Frank Mitchinson – Senior Championship winner with Pōneke in 1909, Frank Mitchinson was all class. He had speed, footwork and vision, and all those who played with – including his great Poneke, Wellington and All Blacks mate Billy Wallace – rated him up there with the best. Mitchinson was the sort of player who could slot into any era and rise to the top. It seems centre was Mitchinson’s preferred position but he alternated frequently between the midfield and wing. But he would have had to have been a gym bunny to bulk up. Like many backs of his day, there wasn’t much to him and he was described as ‘slightly built.’ His playing weight was given as 10st 12lb, so 69kg dripping wet. Mitchinson was a stalwart of Wellington and (briefly) Whanganui representative teams for several seasons in the pre-world war one era. He went on to score 10 tries in 11 Tests, an All Blacks try-scoring record that wasn’t surpassed for six decades after his retirement when beaten by Ian Kirkpatrick. From 1976 to his death in 1978, the 93-year-old Mitchinson was the oldest surviving All Black.

Ginger Nicholls – One of the three famous All Black Nicholls brothers, Harry Edgar ‘Ginger’ Nicholls was the middle brother and was a diminutive 5 foot 5, 59 kg halfback when he played for the All Blacks against the Springboks in 1921, alongside youngest Mark Nicholls. Ginger had a big heart that made up for his lack of size. He made his debut for Wellington as a teenager in 1917 and played top rugby for Petone for several straight years into his mid 20s. Ginger had a blinder in the first Test in Dunedin in 1921 and was Player of the Match in the 13-8 win. Curiously, he was then dropped for the second and third Tests.

Joey Sadler – Small in stature but a meteoric rise to the top only to end cruelly. Sadler went from Wellington College captain 1932, to being a Jubilee Cup winner in 1933 with Athletic in his first senior season, to making his Wellington debut in 1934 and then the All Blacks for the first time in 1935. Sadler was a leading halfback of the day, but his career was cut short with a knee injury on the eve of the 1937 series against the Springboks and the game lost a potential great.

Bunk Pollock – Homegrown excitement machine Harold ‘Bunk’ Pollock was a fixture of Wellington club and representative rugby throughout the 1930s. Bunk Pollock was a three-time Jubilee Cup winner with his Petone club in 1930, 1935 and 1938, and played a decade of representative rugby for Wellington and played for the All Blacks in 1932 and 1936. He was an explosive, multi-skilled player who sometimes played in the midfield but more so as an accomplished fullback and would have likely played much more for the All Blacks but for one problem, both real and perceived; he was a lightweight. Even in an era when players were much lighter than today, Pollock’s listed weight dripping wet was 10 stone or 63kg.

Chris Welch – Featured in no higher team than the St Pat’s Town 2A side whilst at school in the turn of the 1980s decade but, blessed with speed and Terry Wright try scoring attributes, established himself as a leading attacking winger in Wellington club rugby in the ensuing decade. Welsh won two Jubilee Cups with Marist St Pat’s as a player, in 1984 and 1988. He made 12 appearances for Wellington A in 1987-88 and 1990. He was later assistant manager of winning 1994 and 1995 MSP Jubilee Cup sides.

Peter Sciascia – Came down to Wellington after finishing up at Napier Boys’ School and joined Avalon and made the Jubilee Cup semi-fnals in his first season in 2004. Was the Billy Wallace Best & Fairest winner in 2006 and then moved to Marist St Pat’s where he won the Jubilee Cup in his first two seasons there in 2008 and 2009. As MSP’s captain was the club’s Sportsman of the Year in 2013 and in 2017 he played his 200^th Premier match (combined for both clubs).  Now helping to coach the Marist St Pat’s Premiers.

Buxton Popoali’i – Only All Blacks Michael Knight (26, 1968) and Mike Clamp (25, 1981) have scored more tries in a Wellington Premier Rugby season than Buxton Popoali’i, who scored 23 tries for the 2010 Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup champions Northern United. The New Zealand Schools and All Blacks Sevens representative won the Ranfurly Shield for the Wellington Lions in 2008, a year out of Wellington College, where he’d scored 280 points for a First XV that was unbeaten in 22 games. He played 33 games for Otago and 15 games for the Highlanders, retiring in 2014 aged just 24 after heart surgery in Auckland to fix a heart valve. He was only 1.73cm and 87kg at his peak.

Matt ‘The Unit’ Fowler was a jockey sized halfback who achieved considerable success for Old Boys University. In 71 appearances (55 wins) for the Billygoats he won Jubilee Cup finals in 2017, 2018 and 2020. His finest hour was the first 2018 final where he scored two tries in a 37-31 triumph against Northern United. The Paraparaumu College old boy is a qualified lawyer who captained the Victoria University Premier cricket team in which Black Caps gun Devon Conway featured.