Wairarapa was once a powerful side

Press, 7 September 1984, Page 18

Wairarapa was once a powerful side

Even before it takes the field tomorrow, WaiarapaBush has one distinction. It is the first union to come back for “seconds” in Canterbury’s present shield tenure. Wairarapa-Bush followed Counties as Canterbury’s second challenge after the shield was taken from Wellington in 1982 and although given some chance before the game, Wairarapa-Bush was well and truly beaten at 51-6. ■ This was WairarapaBush’s third bid for the shield since the two unions amalgamated in 1971. It was Marlborough's first rival after Marlborough took the shield from Canterbury in 1973 and was beaten 36-0. There was a better effort in 1977 when it pushed Manawatu hard before losing 12-6. . Hdwever, .'while Wairarapa-Bush has yet to win ;the shield, Wairarapa, on its own, did so four times and lit figures prominently a—iw ■

in the history of the trophy.' Wairarapa and Bush are very old unions, both being established before the turn of the century, and Wairarapa came close to its first shield success in 1905, the year after the challenge system was introduced. It drew 3-3 with the first holder, Wellington.

It was not until 1914 that Wairarapa made its second bid and this time it was beaten, 22-3, by Taranaki.

The 1920 s were its best years, and at one time it had seven All Blacks, including Quentin Donald and lan Harvey, of the 1924-25 “Invincibles”. Later it was to gain the services of Bert Cooke and Jimmy Mill, two other “Invincibles”, from Hawke’s Bay. So far as shield rugby went the 1920 s belonged to Hawke’s Bay. With probably the greatest provincial side New Zealand has seen, it held the shield for 24 challenges between 1922 and 1926.

Wairarapa was almost an annual challenger in these &and it finally ended ’s Bay’s run when it was successful, 15-11, in the first shield game of 1927. The closest it had come in four previous bids was a 6-0 loss in 1923 and in 1926 Hawke’s Bay was the victor, 77-14, which was a record shield score until Canterbury’s 88-0 win over North Otago last year. After winning the shield from Hawke’s Bay early in 1927 Wairarapa held it for just one game. It beat Bush (and this was Bush’s first shield appearance), 53-3, before Hawke’s Bay got its revenge, 21-10, in the famed “Battle of Solway”. But if the game itself was a sensation, both the Hawke’s Bay captain, Maurice Brownlie, and Quentin Donald were ordered off, controversy had only just begun. The Wairarapa union protested on the grounds that one of the Hawke’s Bay players, Wattie Barclay, did not fill the residential qualifications. After much debate, both public and within the N.Z.R.F.U., the protest was upheld and the game awarded to Wairarapa. However, in the meantime, Wairarapa had been beaten by Manawhenua (now split into the Manawatu and Horowhenua unions), 18-16, and as this was to have been a shield game if Wairarapa had beaten Hawke’s Bay it was to Palmerston North, not Masterton, that the shield was delivered. It was less than 12 months, though, before Wairarapa had the shield back. Canterbury won the trophy for the first time when it beat Manawhenua at the end of the 1927 season and Wairarapa made the reign a short one by beating Canterbury, 8-7, in the second challenge of 1928.

This was to be the start of Wairarapa’s most successful shield period. It held

the trophy through eight defences and with Cooke at the height of his powers a much longer run was predicted.

However, Southland sprung a major surprise by beating Wairarapa, 19-16, in the final challenge of 1929. Southland had no form to speak of and so confident was Wairarapa that it did not even bother to take the shield to the ground.

Between 1930 and 1949 Wairarapa failed in three attempts to lift the shield, against Canterbury in 1935, Southland in 1939 and Southland again in 1946. Its chances were not highly rated when it met Canterbury in 1950, but a huge dropped goal by its fullback, Albert Mahupuka, was all it needed to win, 3-0.

The boot that kicked the goal went on display in Wairarapa shops, but the

province was not so keen to put the shield on the line in the month that remained of the season.

However, despite protests about the players being "preoccupied with lambing,” Wairarapa was made to play South Canterbury and a tty by Lachie Grant two minutes from full-time gave South Canterbury a 17-14 win. .

After.that, and.before it joined forces with Bush, Wairarapa appeared in six shield games, and the only time it posed a threat was against Hawke’s Bay in 1969. Hawke’s Bay won 1811, but Wairarapa won a lot of praise for its spirited challenge. Bush made seven shield challenges during its years as a union in its own right, and was well beaten every time. Its best result was 229 against Wellington in 1957,-