Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 135: Ralph Caulton

All Black number 600, Ralph Caulton was a leading outside back in Wellington club rugby, Wellington provincial rugby and for the All Blacks from the late 1950s to the first half of the 1960s.

Caulton, who was a centre or wing, was Pōneke’s first All Black selected in 21 years when he played against the touring British Lions in 1959, as the 1984 Pōneke centenary book A Willing Band of Youths wrote:

“…Pōneke rejoiced in 1959 in the selection of its first All Black in 21 years. Ralph Caulton, chosen as a wing three-quarter for the last three of the four Test matches for New Zealand played against the British Isles in New Zealand, made a conspicuous debut in the second test at Athletic Park by scoring two fine tries, an effort he repeated in the third Test.”

Caulton’s international career was on its way, and he went on to play 16 tests (scoring 16 tries) and 50 games in total for New Zealand over the next five years, and he went on famous All Black tours to South Africa in 1960 and the Northern Hemisphere in 1963/64.

Ralph Walter Caulton was born in Wellington on 10 January 1937. He was educated at Te Aro Primary School and then Wellington College 1950-54.

Caulton was his school’s long jump champion but he never made the Wellington College First XV. His highest rugby team at school was the 2A side.

Leaving school, he joined the Pōneke club and after playing in the junior grades for two seasons, Caulton made his Pōneke Senior A debut and played his first feature club match on Athletic Park in the opening round of 1957. Caulton was at centre, marking another recent Wellington College Old Boy, Bill Fleming (a year his junior). Halfback Alby Makeham was Pōneke’s captain and flanker Moray Bevan vice-captain. Pōneke won 31-6 and Caulton was on his way in the senior ranks.

Soon after he was mentioned in the Rugby Weekly, possibly for the first time: “R.W. Caulton is a most promising youngster, plenty of pace, good defence.”

In their end of season review for 1957, it was written that: “R.W. Caulton of Pōneke has tons of pace and is a determined tackler. His time will come.”

Caulton continued to play mostly centre for Pōneke throughout 1958, in the club’s 75^th year. It was noted early in the season that Pōneke were playing expansive rugby, and Caulton was a key cog in the backline. On 21 June 1958, Pōneke and Petone met for the Fred Tilyard Memorial Shield for the first time and Petone won 25-16. From there, Pōneke’s season fell away, slipping to the back of the field.

Caulton nevertheless made his Wellington A debut, the 21-year old making 12 appearances that year and scoring 13 tries. This included a hat-trick in a 17-27 loss to Southland, two tries against Whanganui, Wairarapa, South Canterbury and Thames Valley and one in a 6-6 draw and unsuccessful Ranfurly Shield challenge against Taranaki.

This was two years after the great Ron Jarden had retired, so the environment was ripe for a new player to come and fill the void he had left.

Then came 1959, his breakthrough season on the biggest stage.

Following Wellington’s 10-5 win over Auckland in early June, the Rugby Weekly opined: “R.W. Caulton, of course came right up to the form everyone was hoping for. On the strength of his performance in this match, plus his class in the earlier trials, he must press home his claims for an international jersey.”

With six wins, four losses and a draw in the first round, Pōneke also bounced back to comfortably make the Jubilee Cup in 1959.

Caulton scored a try in Wellington’s 20-17 win over Canterbury on 18 July, ahead of Wellington’s game against the British Lions on 1 August.

At the same time, the All Blacks won the first test 18-17 but unconvincingly and the stage was set for fresh players such as Caulton.

The scoreboard showed that Wellington lost 21-6 but several players stood out for Wellington in the loss, such as halfback Barry Cull, Caulton’s Pōneke teammate Jim Grbich and Caulton himself.

The Rugby Weekly surmised that “R.W. Caulton on the left wing, looked quite outstanding. Two penetratingly deep kicks with the wind in the first half were small recompense for the chances which might have resulted from conventional passing.”

Caulton was duly selected for the All Blacks and made a memorable debut by scoring two tries in the Second Test – both tries scored inside the first 20 minutes. The first saw Caulton chasing up a cross kick and collecting the bounce and the other following an attacking scrum and blindside snipe. The All Blacks narrowly won 11-8 to go 2-0 up in the series.

A fortnight later Caulton scored two more tries in the third Test in Christchurch as the All Blacks won 22-8 and went 3-0 up. The Lions won the last international 9-6, but with four tries in three Tests, Caulton’s All Blacks career was away.

In 1960 and 1961 Caulton returned to Wellington club rugby when available as one of the competition’s leading players. Pōneke continued to blow hot and cold but were always talked about as being in the mix for the Jubilee Cup in what were closely competitions in this era, with other clubs such as Marist rising through the pack.

For Wellington he was a first-choice pick, while he went to South Africa with the All Blacks in 1960.  There his form dipped and he played in two of the four tests. Athletic’s Russell Watt played on the wing in all four tests.

In 1961 he played against France in a famous Test at Athletic Park that was dubbed the “hurricane” test. In wild weather, New Zealand won narrowly when fullback Don Clarke kicked a late freak sideline conversion in the howling wind.

Other Wellington players Watt and his Athletic club teammate Rod Heeps were two of the other preferred All Black wings in 1962, Caulton’s next international was in 1963 when he played in two Tests against England, replacing Heeps on the wing.

For the third time in his All Blacks career he scored two tries in a Test, in the 21-11 win over England in Auckland.

The Rugby Weekly published the next week: “For Ralph Caulton this was an opportunity to show Aucklanders, too, just why he should have been an original selection for the team. It was an opportunity he grabbed with the same intelligence he brings to his rugby.”

“These were tries which Aucklanders greeted with acclaim and with gladdened the heart of every Wellington visitor on the ground.”

He also played for Wellington in their 14-9 midweek loss to England, while he was in Wellington’s team that won the Ranfurly Shield off Auckland on 31 August 1963 and then lost it a week later to Taranaki.

He was selected for the All Blacks’ 1963/64 tour to Britain and France and played on the wing against Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland and France. New Zealand won them all except for Scotland which was a 0-0 draw. Caulton scored a try against France.

He brought his international career down by playing all three home tests against the 1964 Wallabies.

In 16 Tests, he scored eight tries.

He remained a fixture in Wellington teams from then until 1965 and would make 72 appearances for Wellington A and score 52 tries and 156 points.

Caulton played 144 first-class games, scoring 97 tries and 291 points.

He then switched to coaching in the second half of the 1960s and was Pōneke coach for a couple of seasons up to 1968, before moving to Blenheim in 1969.

He was a Marlbough selector between 1970-75, which coincided with them winning the Ranfurly Shield in 1973.

In 1985 he was coach of the New Zealand U17 team.

Caulton passed away at the Earnest Rutherford Retirement Village in Nelson on 9 June 2024, aged 87.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016
• Allblacks.com Ralph Caulton player profile and statistics https://stats.allblacks.com/all-players/profile/Ralph-Caulton-AB-600
• Chester R.H. & McMillan N.A.C. The Visitors. The History of International Rugby Teams in New Zealand. Moa Publications, Auckland 1990.
• Club Rugby. Wellington against international teams: versus British Lions 1959, 5/5/2015. https://www.clubrugby.co.nz/wellington/story.php?id=1372
• Dominion – various reports 1951.
• Poneke Football Club. A willing Band of Youths. The History of the Poneke Football Club. Wellington, 1984.
• Rugby Weekly – various editions throughout the 1950s-early 1960s
• Veysey, Alex and Fox, Bob. Wellington’s Rugby History 1951-1979, Part 2. Tolan Printing Co, 1979.