Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 133: Rongo Wirepa (Taita)

Rongo Wirepa was Taita’s captain and talismanic tighthead prop who played in Wellington club rugby throughout the latter 1950s and the 1960s. He never played for Wellington, but was a Māori All Black in 1960 and 1964.

During his career Taita were always competitive and showed flashes of being a top level side, with several famous wins that he captained his side in against most of the big clubs of the time. The team won the Hardham Cup in 1962 and again in 1965.

Rongowhakaata Wirepa was born in 1936 in Hicks Bay on the East Coast, where he spent his formative years, except for two years boarding at Te Aute College and a brief spell in the army.

He moved to Wellington and settled in Wainuiomata and trained as a plumber. From there he became heavily involved in urban Māori affairs and spent time working as an iwi liaison office for the Department of Māori Affairs and later became involved in the Wainuiomata urban Marae in Parkway.

He was earmarked as a hard-working leader on the field from an early age and joined the Taita club based in Fraser Park (to merge with Naenae Old Boys in 1979 to form Avalon).

At the time of Wirepa’s Senior A debut in the mid-1950s Taita’s hooker and captain was John Sage, who was also Wellington’s hooker and played 75 games for Wellington up to his retirement at the start of the 1960s decade.

He was a regular starter in Taita’s front row in 1956, alongside Sage, as they battled for third in the Hardham Cup.

An early mention of Rongo Wirepa in the Rugby Weekly publication was on 9 June 1956, alongside Eddie Wheeler

“Two young forwards who have been making a name for themselves in the Taita team are R. Wirepa and E.C. Wheeler, the NZ Colt. Wirepa, a husky lad who can play in almost any position, went particularly well for Wellington Maoris against the Senior second division on Monday, and Wheeler was right on the job for Hutt against Wellington.”

Taita finished well off the pace down in the Hardham Cup for the next four seasons, but in 1960 Wirepa was selected for the Māori All Blacks for the first time.

Wirepa toured with the side that was captained by Pōneke’s Moray Bevan to Tonga and Western Samoa. They played eight matches, losing the one Test to Tonga at Nuku’alofa, 16-27.

Four years later he toured Fiji with the side. The Māori All Blacks won all games including the Test against Fiji in Suva, 26-9.

Taita again found themselves near the bottom of the pack in 1961, and they lost their first three games in 1962 too. But a fourth round 6-3 win over top side University proved a catalyst for a turnaround in fortunes.

Just a few weeks later they beat Petone 13-8 – at Petone – to keep in touch with the mid-table contenders. The line-ups for that game were:

In going on from there to win the 1962 Hardham Cup, Taita made a late season charge and leapfrogged Pōneke to win – wins over Wellington (3-0) and Pōneke (12-8) gave Wirepa’s men the bottom six title.

1962 was also the year that the Fraser Park grandstand was opened, which was to serve for well over five decades before its demolition and the opening of the Fraser Park Sportsville in 2021.

The following June Taita took down the last year’s Jubilee Cup champions Marist.

A week after beating Athletic 11-8, Wirepa’s men beat the champions and then competition leaders Marist 16-11 in the feature match on Athletic Park.

The win took them to fourth and the Rugby Weekly wrote: “Taita’s win makes the second round matches something to anticipate impatiently.”

“Give them an inch, they take a power of stopping,” it was written about Taita. “A tribute to R.W. Wirepa, the Taita skipper. His leadership was, perhaps, the most outstanding single feature of the game. He turned in a snorter of a game himself and was for ever getting dedicated response to his demands on his team.”

Taita also beat Onslow 9-8 and at that point they were being talked about as an outside threat to win the Jubilee Cup. But these three wins were then undone by losses to Wellington, Oriental and Petone. Wirepa was one of three players that was injured in the 5-0 loss to Petone and he had to retire from the fray.

They eventually finished a credible sixth in the Jubilee Cup in 1963 and went one better for fifth in 1964 with some similar big wins.

The 1965 wasn’t so fruitful, but a silver lining was winning the Hardham Cup for a second time. Taita’s season record for 1965 was almost straight down the line; 8 wins and 8 losses and 197 points for and 193 against. Their most significant win over the year was beating Petone 22-6 who went on to finish third in the Jubilee Cup.

Lock C.W. Harker took over Taita’s captaincy in 1966 and Wirepa was just a player at tighthead prop, as they finished second to Wellington College Old Boys in the Hardham Cup.

In 1967 Wirepa spent a year playing for Wainuiomata who were a top five side in the Harper Lock Shield competition.

Wirepa returned to Taita in 1968 as his playing career was winding down, as Taita found itself in another mid to lower table tussle in the Hardham Cup, including against newcomers and geographical rivals Naenae Old Boys and Hutt Old Boys.

After hanging up his boots, and now in his mid 30s, Wirepa took up coaching Taita’s Senior A team in 1972. But it wasn’t  successful one and they slipped to the rear of the field and were subsequently relegated to the Harper Lock Shield in the WRFU’s then tough ‘promotion-relegation series’ that they ran in all senior grades at the time.

By the end of the decade, they had amalgamated with Naenae Old Boys to form Avalon.

As alluded to at the top, Wirepa dedicated much of his post-rugby life to the community in Wainuiomata and the Hutt Valley. He passed away in 2006.

References:

• Mulholland, Malcolm. Beneath the Māori Moon. An illustrated history of Māori Rugby. Huia Publishers, Wellington 2009.
• Rugby Weekly – various editions 1950s-1960s
• Taita Rugby Football Club. Golden Jubilee Celebrations 1923-1973. Queen’s Birthday Weekend 1973. Souvenir Booklet.