Best & Fairest competitions Teams of the Season

Best & Fairest starting halfback Esi Komaisavai celebrates a try for Paremata-Plimmerton against Johnsonville in early June. Photo: Stewart Baird Photography.

• By Scott MacLean, of the WRRA

A big part of our end of season pieces is to name teams based on the Men’s Billy Wallace and Women’s Erin Rush Best & Fairest standings, which represent the outstanding and consistent performers across the Premier club season.

With the WRFU having announced the two winners – Murphy Taramai and Anastasia Kerr – at last week’s Awards Night, we can now name these

Our selection criteria remain largely unchanged. Players are selected on the basis of the points they accumulated and then placed into the position the primarily played during the year; as you’ll see below this created a point of contention for us. Any ties are then broken by the number of times a player got three points.

With the change in timing of Super Rugby Aupiki, we’ve also made the decision to exclude non-Wellington players from the Women’s selection, which is in line with the Men’s side.

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Men’s

Once more, there’s plenty of turnover in our Billy Wallace Men’s side. This year has eleven players named for the first time; seven in the starting side and four more on the bench. While that’s common across the history of this paper team, having four players – Upper Hutt duo Senio Sanele and Ietitaia Campbell, Tawa’s George Risale, and Pare-Plim’s Esi Komaisavai – all repeat as starters in the same position is not.

Sanele is our starting loosehead for the third time in his four years of senior rugby. Bookending with him is MSP’s own propping star Corban King, making his debut in this team with the two youngsters having bright futures still ahead of them. At the other end of the spectrum is the man between them; Norths’ Jerome Va’ai brought up his 150^th Premier match for his club during the season and the veteran was leader amongst hookers in a surprisingly quiet year for the position. It’s his second selection, having been on the bench in 2023

Behind them are two more debutants at lock.  MSP captain James Zino is selected for the first time in his lengthy club career, while alongside him is the season’s top try scorer, Wellington Axeman Archie Treadwell.

Risale packs down on the blindside, with Upper Hutt’s Taramai at No.8 for his first start and second selection – he was our loose forward cover in 2020. But the openside gave us our biggest headache with HOBM’s Rupeni Raviyawa and Wainuiomata’s Elijah Solomona tied on points and both having played there this year. In the end we’ve gone with Solomona as he played there exclusively while most of Raviyawa’s points came while playing No8. We also had to factor in the latter’s red card in the playoffs.

Komaisavai is at halfback. It’s his fifth selection in this side and third at halfback following last year and 2018 when with Norths. He’s also been our bench halfback in 2023 and fullback in 2024, and becomes the first person to make this team in four successive seasons.

Outside him is another regular of this team. Johnsonville’s Jacob Walmsley seemingly plays everywhere across the backline but shone when handed the #10 jersey at Helston this year and that’s where he is for us as well. It’s his fourth selection after being on the wing last year and on the bench in 2023 and 2019.

Tomasi Connor is the third MSP debutant in our starting side, and he’s alongside Campbell as our midfield pairing.

Two more debutants are in our back three, with both Petone’s William Davis on the left wing and Ories’ Jordan Soli and fullback playing their way into the Lions squad. The third member is Pare-Plim flyer Louis Northcott on the right wing making his second appearance after being in our 2023 side.

The Axemen provide both members of our bench front-row options. To’e Lokeni is our hooker cover, while Tui Tuiatua has prop sorted. Lokeni debuts while Tuiatua was a starter last year.

Tawa’s Hemi Fermanis covers the engine room, becoming the first person selected six times and breaking a tie with HOBM duo James O’Reilly and Brandyn Laursen for most ever. It is his first time off the pine, having been a starter on the five previous occasions. Raviyawa joins him to complete our forwards.

Petone’s Logan Henry is our bench halfback or the second time, and he’s joined by two first-timers. Ories’ Declan Hay ran the cutter for the Magpies this season and does that from the pine for us here, while the outside backs are covered by OBU starlet Hunter Kennedy.

Inevitably there’s a player or two that polls well but misses out, and this year they’re Petone tearaway Braith Ingram and halfbacks Isaac Bracewell (Ories) and Waylon Tuhoro-Robinson (HOBM).

Every club bar Poneke and Avalon have a representative in this side. Ifeanyi Nnebechukwu was the leader points-getter for the Kilbirnie club, and Caleb Pohipi topped the count amongst the Wolves.

Men’s Billy Wallace Team of the Year

1.Senio Sanele (Upper Hutt Rams)
2. Jerome Va’ai (Northern United)
3. Corban King (Marist St Pats)
4. James Zino (Marist St Pats)
5. Archie Treadwell (Wellington)
6. George Risale (Tawa)
7. Elijah Solomona (Wainuiomata)
8. Murphy Taramai (Upper Hutt Rams)
9. Esi Komaisavai (Paremata-Plimmerton)
10. Jacob Walmsley (Johnsonville)
11. William Davis (Petone)
12. Tomasi Connor (Marist St Pats)
13. Ietitaia Campbell (Upper Hutt Rams)
14. Louis Northcott (Paremata-Plimmerton)
15. Jordan Soli (Oriental Rongotai)
16.To’e Lokeni (Wellington)
17. Tui Tuiatua (Wellington)
18. Hemi Fermanis (Tawa)
19. Rupeni Raviyawa (HOBM)
20. Logan Henry (Petone)
21. Declan Hay (Oriental Rongotai)
22. Hunter Kennedy (Old Boys-University)

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Women’s

Nine of this years Erin Rush Women’s side are first-time selections, largely mimicking the turnover of the men’s side, but two players make it for the fourth time in the five years we’ve been doing this; Ories’ Black Fern try machine Ayesha Leti-l’iga and Avalon powerhouse and both doing so in limited club action.

It’s an all-debutant front row. Poneke’s Pride and Poua prop Keiana Roffey is at loosehead, joined by veteran Jane Bryce from Wellington and Wainuiomata’s Tee Queeva Ben-Tupuola.

Zoe Clark returns from last year’s side, albeit at lock where she played this year rather than prop where she was twelve months ago, and alongside her is Petone standout Trilaine Raika-Suitauloa.

Our loose forwards are all returnees from previous years. Norths’ Leah Conley is on the blindside for a second time, the ageless Jackie Patea-Fereti is at openside in her third selection, while Aumua is once more at No. 8 having scored all her points in the closing weeks of the season.

The OBU Impalas made their return this season, and supply our inside back pairing in first-timers Baylee Merioti and Te Arani Te Puni. Pare-Plim are represented by Mele Kupa-Cummings who returns having been our No.8 a year ago but wears the #12 this time, and she partners Petone star Kerr in midfield. Our back three all come from Ories, with Leti-l’iga joined by debuting clubmates Rosie Darrah on the right wing and Drenna Falaniko at fullback.

The unlucky player here was Stokes Valley veteran Kim Coffey, who tied with Merioti for the halfback position but lost out on the tiebreak.

Women’s Erin Rush Team of the Year

1.Keiana Roffey (Poneke)
2. Jane Bryce (Wellington)
3. Tee Queeva Ben-Tupuola (Wainuiomata)
4. Zoe Clark (Wainuiomata)
5. Trilaine Raika-Suitauloa (Petone)
6. Leah Conley (Northern United)
7. Jackie Patea-Fereti (Petone)
8. Hosanna Aumua (Avalon)
9. Baylee Merioti (Old Boys-University)
10. Te Arani Te Puni (Old Boys-University)
11. Ayesha Leti-l’iga (Oriental Rongotai)
12. Mele Kupa-Cummings (Paremata-Plimmerton)
13. Anastasia Kerr (Petone)
14. Rosie Darrah (Oriental Rongotai)
15. Drenna Falaniko (Oriental Rongotai)

Murphy Taramai and Ana Kerr win Best & Fairest competitions