Rugby History

Rod Heeps was a speed merchant and national sprint champion and a prolific try scoring wing or centre in Wellington club rugby and for Wellington and the All Blacks, whose career spanned the latter part of the 1950s and the early 1960s. Heeps’ topflight career wasn’t long, but it left a

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

Above: Paul Russo highlighted in the back row, winning the Jubilee Cup with Marist in 1960, in his second year out of school at St Pat's Silverstream. Paul Russo was a feature No. 8 of Wellington club rugby competitions and representative rugby throughout the 1960s. Russo was a four-time Jubilee Cup winner

Cam Stewart was Marist’s first-five and playmaker and vice-captain of the side that won or shared the Jubilee Cup in 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He also played for the Wellington representative team over several seasons and played in many of their big matches at the time. He later played for