Years between first and last club rugby championship titles

Some players have been fortunate enough to be part of legacy club rugby teams and have won multiple Jubilee Cup titles; others will play their entire careers without drinking from the Jubilee Cup.

That’s another article (or two) in itself, but what about players whose career has been such that there has been a decade or more between them winning their first and their last titles?

Some examples of players for the longevity files below – as always this is not the definitive list, just a cross-section from history right up to the present day. If there are obvious players we have missed out drop us a message and we can add in.

Jimmy Ryan

Club: Petone

First and last titles: 1905 and 1920.

Jimmy Ryan won Senior Championship titles with Petone in 1905, 06 and 07 and again one more in 1920 – so 15 years between his first and last title with the same club, Petone.

One of five Ryan brothers playing for Petone, Jimmy Ryan was more of a utility back, representing Wellington for 11 consecutive seasons from 1905 in every position except for halfback.

He first made the All Blacks in 1910 and played 11 games and four tests between then and 1914 when the war opened.

He captained the New Zealand Services team to win the King’s Cup in 1919 in a tournament against South African, Australian, Canadian and British teams. He was also a member of the New Zealand Army side that made a successful tour of South Africa later that year.

On his return to New Zealand, he played for both Wellington and Manawatu in 1920, continued in senior rugby until 1923 and later served as a Manawatu selector and coach in the 1920s and 1930s. He passed away in 1957, aged 70.

 Bert Calcinai

Club: Pōneke

First and last titles: 1909 and 1921

U.P ‘Bert’ Calcinai was one of a handful of players to have won titles with Pōneke in 1909 and again in 1919 and 1921, interrupted by the first world war war.

Bert Calcinai was one of two brothers that were fixtures in Poneke teams for a decade and a half in the early years of last century and part of a family that was synonymous with Poneke throughout most of the 20th century as players and coaches.

He was a bit of a late bloomer, first playing representative rugby for Wellington a decade after his winning Senior Championship debut season – albeit in a career interrupted by the war. He started playing Senior rugby for Poneke in 1909 aged 17 and struck immediate success with Poneke in winning back the Senior Championship title that year.

Calcinai started as a fullback, before moving to the five-eighths position, and then when he moved to Poneke they put him at wing forward and later to hooker from which he made the All Blacks from in 1922.

Jack Shearer

Club: Pōneke

First and last titles: 1921 and 1932

Having already played for Oriental and Selwyn (not winning any titles) brothers Jack and Syd Sherer transferred to Pōneke in 1921 and won the Senior Championship title with Pōneke that year.

Jack and Syd than won again with Pōneke in 1925, before Syd retired. Younger brother Jack kept playing and was Pōneke captain when they won again in 1932 – so 11 years after first winning it for Pōneke Jack won again.

Of note, after winning as a player in 1921 and 1925, brother Syd Shearer was later coach of Hutt in 1934 when they won the Jubilee Cup.

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Kas Lealamanua

Club: Marist St Pat’s

First and last titles: 1997 and 2012

Kas Lealamanua won no fewer than five Jubilee Cup titles with Marist St Pat’s.

The prop was not long out of St Pat’s Town when he won the first these titles and the first of four in six seasons in 1997. He was captain for the next two in 1999 (the last final to be played at Athletic Park) and 2001.

Following his next win in 2002, and a then current Wellington Lions prop, Lealamanua headed overseas to play professionally in England France over several seasons. Notably as well, he played 30 internationals for Samoa 2000-07 and played in two Rugby World Cups.

He returned to New Zealand and played for Hawke’s Bay in 2010 and 2011, before returning to Wellington and to MSP as their captain in 2012. The grizzled veteran was a try-scorer in MSP’s 14-8 win over Oriental-Rongotai in the wet at the Hutt Rec, a fitting way to bring the curtain down on his career.

Kas Lealamanua in front with the headband and teammates with the Jubilee Cup in 2012.

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Steve So’oialo

Clubs: Western Suburbs, Tawa

First and last titles: 1998 and 2013

The only player on this list to win Jubilee Cup titles with two different clubs and doing so 15 years apart.

In 1998, the 21-year-old halfback helped Western Suburbs win their first and only Jubilee Cup by running through Tawa 53-21 in a high scoring final.

Fifteen years later the the veteran of 38 tests for Manu Samoa, including 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cup player, and 75-match Harlequins halfback in the English Premiership returned as a player-coach for Tawa to win their first Jubilee Cup.

The halfback had a profound influence in the decider against Oriental-Rongotai.  Besides his sharp passing, astute tactical kicking and abrasive defence around the ruck, So’oialo scored a crucial try when his side was down 13-7 just before halftime. Tawa went onto to win the game 26-21. They finished the season with a record of 16 wins from 20 games and won the Swindale Shield, Andy Lesile Trophy and Jubilee Cup for the first time in their history.

Steve, aged 36, immediately announced his retirement after the game, but his close involvement with Tawa continues to this day, being part of the administration team that won again in 2016 and 2021 and in close losses in 2024 and 2025.

See So’oialo’s try in 2013 in this article below:

Jubilee Cup finals – a decade of big moments

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TJ Perenara

Club: Northern United

First and last titles: 2010 and 2022

The 2010 Northern United side was one of the most dominant and exciting teams to win the Jubilee Cup. In 20 games they achieved a 17-win, one lost and two-drawn record, scoring 819 points and 123 tries. In the Jubilee Cup final Norths accounted for Pōneke 24-5, scoring four tries to one and achieving the biggest win in a final since Wests beat Tawa 53-21 in 1998.

The Jim Brown medalist for Player of the final was a schoolboy sensation. TJ Perenara, out of Mana College. He was a regular starter for Norths in 2010.

He subsequently embarked on a decorated professional playing career, occasionally playing for Norths when he could.

In 2022 he returned to play for Norths in two cameos at the end of the season to win the Jubilee Cup again. He helped Norths beat HOBM 38-24 in their semi-final and then a week later was starting halfback in their 23-20 victory over Petone to win his second Jubilee Cup 12 years after the first.

Perenara gets his pass away in the 2014 Jubilee Cup final.

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Lise Soloa

Club: Hutt Old Boys Marist

First and last titles: 2014 and 2025

Won the 2025 Jubilee Cup with HOBM, as the sole survivor of the starting line-up of their team that last won it in 2014 (not including 2025 head Coach Otto Rasch who played in both 2007 and 2014 for the Eagles).

In his second season of Premier rugby, Soloa played all nine matches of the 2014 second round Jubilee Cup at No. 8 and was at the back of his team’s scrum on 3 August of that year when they beat Wainuiomata 14-11 at home at the Hutt Rec.

He went on to reach the mark of 100 Premier caps in 2023 for HOBM, following a season with Norths and also one in Auckland when he played in a losing Ponsonby team in the Auckland final.

Soloa returned to the loose forwards for the final in 2025 against Tawa, his physical presence and experience a positive factor for the Eagles. Unfortunately, he took an early knock and was the game’s first injury casualty during the first half. Nevertheless, he earned a winners’ medal and drank from the Jubilee Cup that night, 11 years on from his first taste.

Soloa (left) playing in the 2014 Jubilee Cup final.