Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 131 Paul Delaney (Onslow)

Paul Delaney was a self-employed plumber by trade, and he was Mr Fixit for many club and Wellington representative rugby teams he played for and coached over many years.

Delaney, who was a lock and flanker, was a leading Onslow Senior A player in Wellington club rugby for over a decade spanning the 1950s and 1960s and later the Senior team’s coach, and a high point of his career was leading Onslow to their second Jubilee Cup title in 1962 (shared with Marist).

He also played over many seasons for the Wellington A representative team, and after playing two full seasons in 1960 and 1961 and then being left out for the next two he came back stronger, and two of many highlights were being in Wellington’s team that beat the touring Springboks in 1965 and the touring British and Irish Lions in 1966.

Paul Delaney was born on 11 July 1939 and as an Onslow junior he made the Wellington Schoolboys representative side in 1952 and again in 1953.

He attended St Pat’s Town but left school in his mid-teens to join his father as an apprentice in the family plumbing business.

In 1956, aged 16 and 17, he won his first club rugby title, winning the Fourth Grade Second Division Championship (U19s level) with Onslow’s Fourth Division team. He returned to play for this side in 1957.

Delaney’s first year in the senior ranks was 1958 and he was in Onslow’s second XV side that won the 5th Grade Second Division Championship. He was also a Wellington representative in this grade.

In 1959, aged 19, he was promoted to Onslow’s top team, under the coaching of recently retired Jubilee Cup winning hooker Stan Judd and ex-All Black wing and later club patron Tom Morrison. The team just missed out on making the Jubilee Cup round, but regrouped and Delaney won his third club rugby title by lifting the Hardham Cup.

Onslow were fourth in the Jubilee Cup in 1960, a key match being their 9-3 loss to eventual champions Marist for the inaugural Viv Haigh Memorial Cup. On a personal level, Delaney was selected for the Wellington team for the first time and made nine appearances and scored his first first-class try in the last match of the season against Hawke’s Bay in a 33-11 win.

Onslow were third equal in the 1961 Jubilee Cup, behind champions Petone whom they shared a close rivalry with at the time. Delaney made another 10 appearances for Wellington.

Delaney would miss out on the Wellington representative side in 1962 and 1963 but made up for this in 1962 by reaching the pinnacle of Wellington club rugby when Onslow shared the Jubilee Cup with Marist.

Onslow’s forwards were singled out by media as being amongst the best in the competition. As well as Delaney, former All Black Dave Gillespie was captain and future Wellington prop Gareth Head was playing his first season in the senior ranks. Head would later be the inaugural coach of the Western Suburbs club in 1983.

Onslow set the scene early in 1962 with a 21-5 upset of defending champions Petone, with the Rugby Weekly writing the next week that “P. Delaney was keen, perhaps a shade overkeen, but was a ball of energy, lacking nothing in fire and dash.”

A fortnight later Onslow defeated WCOB 22-6, the summation of this was: “Pressure, pressure, pressure, that was the secret of the Onslow success…there was no better loose forward than Delaney.”

The last match of the season against Marist was a virtual final. Marist had to win to win the Jubilee Cup outright; Onslow had to win to draw level with Marist and share it.

The entry in the Club Rugby Today in History Files, sourced from the Dominion, reads:

“Jubilant Onslow players chair their big prop and goal-kicker Jim Kinvig off Athletic Park to triumphant strains of the Onslow brass band. Kinvig kicked the important points as Onslow buried Marist 14-0 in today’s final match of the season, giving them a share of the Jubilee Cup with Marist.”

Onslow’s 1962 record was played 16, won 12, drawn 2, lost 2. They scored 218 points and conceded 71 and scored 39 tries and conceded just nine.

Onslow couldn’t maintain the dizzying heights in 1963 – finishing second to Marist.

The club dropped away in 1964, finishing 10th, with Delaney winning a major club award as consolation.

In 1964, Wellington also had a new head coach and sole selector in Bill Freeman and he made several changes to the sqaud, such as bringing in teenaged flanker Graham Williams and bringing back players like Delaney. Now in his mid-20s, Delaney found strong form under Freeman’s coaching as Wellington teams won 13, drew two and lost two of 17 games in 1964.

Then came 1965 and 1966 – these seasons known for Wellington’s wins over the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions.

Delaney played lock alongside All Black Nev McEwan in both these wins.

Against South Africa, coaches Freeman and assistant Ivan Vodanovich instructed Wellington to shelve expansive rugby and to muscle up in the forwards and kick the ball over the top and chase hard. This suited Delany’s game and the boot of Mick Williment and a try just before halftime put Wellington up 17-3. Wellington went on to win 23-6.

Evening Post Sports Editor G.R. David opined afterwards: “I wonder if any Wellington pack of the past has played with such fire and dedication as Saturday’s one did. The Wellington eight established the foundations of the win, built the victory structure round these foundations and erected a supremacy dome on the top.”

The following year the Lions came to town and Delaney and Wellington knocked them over 20-6, in another stirring performance with the forwards at the heart of the win.

There were several other big matches that Delaney played in these years too, as a leading playing in Wellington’s side. He played 13 games for Wellington in 1965 and another 16 in 1966.

In 1966, Wellington lost just one match, winning all four matches on the southern tour for the first time since 1930 and beat (mid-1960s) powerhouses Auckland and Taranaki twice each and topple new Ranfurly Shield holders Hawke’s Bay 20-6 (at Wellington).

Delaney was also captain of Onslow in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968. The best they did in these years was fourth in the Jubilee Cup in 1968, while winning the Hardham Cup again in 1967.

He played another 15 matches for Wellington in 1967, didn’t play for Wellington at all in 1968, but his last season in 1969 saw him make another 16 appearances.

Delaney retired from topflight representative rugby having played 92 matches for the Wellington A team and 99 overall for Wellington teams and having played exactly 100 first-class matches.

In 1969 he was both captain and co-coach of Onslow as they finished second to Petone in the inaugural first round Swindale Shield but fell away in the second round.

He returned for his last full season as a leading player in 1970, again winning the Hardham Cup.

He then spent two-three seasons coaching an Onslow age-grade side, before returning in 1975, 1976 and 1977 as head coach of the Onslow Senior A team. None of these were memorable seasons for the side, which would later be relegated in 1982 and merge with Karori and Athletic to form Western Suburbs in 1983.

Delaney’s brother Peter won a gold medal with the New Zealand rowing eight at the World Championships in Canada in 1967.

Paul Delaney passed away in Paraparaumu on 5 October 2012, aged 73.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016
• Club Rugby – Previous story about Wellington v Springboks 1965: https://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/story.php?id=1402
• Onslow Rugby Football Club – various annual reports 1950s-1960s
• Rugby Weekly – various editions 1960s
• Veysey, Alex and Fox, Bob. Wellington’s Rugby History 1951-1979, Part 2. Tolan Printing Co, 1979.