Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 141: Jimmy Grbich (Pōneke)

Jimmy Grbich was a popular and dynamic No. 8 who played for Pōneke and Wellington representative teams and for the New Zealand Māori team, throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.

He tragically passed away in a vehicle accident near the Tawa motorway interchange at the end of 1962. He was 31.

His memory lives on every year through the first round Swindale Shield match that was started between his Pōneke club and Oriental (now Oriental-Rongotai) for the Grbich Memorial Shield.

Grbich, of Dalmatian and Māori descent, came to Wellington from Pukekohe in 1950 and joined Pōneke for whom he played every season for up until his premature death.

Grbich was a loose forward transplant. He started his rugby life as a wing and outside back and moved into the forwards to become a multi-skilled flanker and loose forward, not unlike some of the dynamic players of the modern era such as Victor Vito, Rodney So’oialo and Ardie Savea.

Grbich represented Wellington teams for six consecutive seasons from 1957 to his death.

The Rugby Weekly on 27 July 1957 praised his play. “J.Grbich has played game after game of excellent rugby from the back of the Pōneke scrum. His pace has nonplussed many opponents, and this, combined with his very good handling and kicking, would give him a berth in many senior grade back lines. He has, of course, had a couple of seasons on the wing for Pōneke.”

He was a regular New Zealand Māori representative, touring Australia in 1959, playing against the British Lions in Auckland in 1959 and touring Tonga and Western Samoa in 1960, playing against Samoa in the first ‘Test’ on that tour. He played in an All-Black trial in 1959, scoring a try.

His form for Pōneke in 1959 ahead of the representative season was duly noted by the Rugby Weekly in late June. “Grbich surprised and delighted everyone at Athletic Park. He played with more dash than ever, made some beautiful runs with the ball in hand, and his cover defence was – well, a real Grbich job.”

“He looks a sitter for the Wellington team to play the British Lions – and believe us, he is the sort of forward we are going to need.”

Then came the Lions. On 1 August, Grbich was at No. 8, along with Pōneke teammates Ralph Caulton on the wing and Moray Bevan at lock, for Wellington in their fixture against the tourists in front of 47,000 at Athletic Park. Wellington had the better of the Lions in the first half, but the visitors turned the tables with the wind behind them in the second spell and won 21-6. Grbich was singled out for having a great game for Wellington.

In early September, he played his second match against the tourists, lining up at No. 8 alongside openside flanker Waka Nathan for the New Zealand Māori side’s match at Eden Park. The only Wellington player in this team, Grbich was chosen afterwards as the home team’s ‘most outstanding forward’ in the 12-6 loss.

For Wellington A, Grbich would play 20 matches between 1958-62.

Grbich played for the Māori All Blacks in 15 matches between 1958-60, representing Tai Hauauru. He travelled on tours to Australia in 1958 and to Australia and the Pacific Islands in 1960.

Grbich had the distinction of scoring a try for every team he was selected for.

His overall first-class record was 59 games played and 24 tries scored.

Grbich had joined Pōneke in 1950 and was a Jubilee Cup winner in his second year in red and black in 1951. He then won the Hardham Cup with Pōneke in 1952, was runner-up in the Jubilee Cup in 1954 and first round leaders in 1955 (which today would have won them the Swindale Shield) only to fall away.

By 1957 they remained in the ‘top six’, finishing off the pace set by winners Petone. But one entry in the Rugby Weekly towards the end of this season read:

“J. Grbich has played game after game of excellent rugby from the back of the Pōneke scrum. His pace has nonplussed many opponents, and this, combined with his very good handling and kicking, would give him a berth in many senior grade back lines. He has, of course, had a couple of seasons on the wing for Pōneke.”

Pōneke celebrated their 75^th anniversary in 1958 and played Petone for the inaugural Fred Tilyard Memorial Shield, but again they fell away and finished down the bottom of the Hardham Cup.

In 1959 they beat eventual champions and historic rivals Petone 9-0 and drew with the following year’s winners Marist 6-6 and they made the ‘top six’ again.

In 1960 Grbich and Pōneke teammate Moray Bevan were on tour with the New Zealand Maori team and Ralph Caulton went to South Africa with the All Blacks. In their absence, Pōneke once more found itself down in the Hardham Cup and were runners-up.

In 1961 Pōneke were touted in pre-season previews as a glamour side and contenders, under coach Vic Calcinai and with players such as Grbich and All Black Ralph Caulton. The Rugby Weekly went on to write that “J.Grbich, now in his 10^th season with the team, is a top-notch intelligent loose forward, a man who will set the dangerous backline in action at every opportunity and there are few better equipped than the Maori All Black to get the backs going from broken play.”

They made the Jubilee Cup again in 1961 but struggled and finished last.

In 1962, Grbich’s final year, inconsistencies again cost Pōneke, and they went on to be second in the Hardham Cup, behind first time winner Taita.

Grbich’s death in November 1962 rocked the Wellington rugby community, not least the Poneke club and eastern suburbs community for whom he had been an integral part of for over a decade.Wellington selector and coach Clarrie Gibbons paid tribute to him at the time: “It was my privilege to be associated with Wellington representative teams of which Jim was a member for a number of years and I would say that every rugby player who played either with him or against him would agree when I state that not a fairer player pulled on a rugby boot,” said Gibbons.

“Jim played truly for the love of the game and that stood out for him whether it was a house match or a Test match,” added Gibbons. “He was indeed a grand player because he could play either back or forward and play equally well in any position.”

Noel Gardiner, a long-time member of the Oriental club, also a good friend of the Grbich family, presented the Jim Grbich Memorial Shield in 1964 and it has been contested every year since between Poneke and Oriental (1964-67) and Oriental-Rongotai (since 1968) in their first round ‘Battle of the Cutting’ clash.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016
• Chester R.H. & McMillan N.A.C. The Visitors. The History of International Rugby Teams in New Zealand. Moa Publications, Auckland 1990.
• Dominion – various reports 1951.
• Mulholland, Malcolm. Beneath the Māori Moon. An illustrated history of Māori Rugby. Huia Publishers, Wellington 2009.
• 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.