Coburn family fronting up in club rugby

The Coburn family on Lyndhurst Park, including current players Bailey (second from left), Tony (third from left) and James (third from right, holding the youngest member of the family). PHOTO: Stewart Baird.

The Coburns are a family of front-rowers.

Tighthead prop James and hooker Tony are both current members of Tawa’s Premier Jubilee Cup squad, while younger sister Bailey is first round champion side Northern United’s regular hooker in the women’s competition.

Another sister, Georgia, played tighthead prop for the Tawa women’s team in 2014, while father Shane played many seasons for Tawa in the front row.

Brothers James and Tony have also both got plenty going on outside rugby. James, 26, is a builder, while Tony, 23, is an electrician. Soon after this club rugby season finishes, the trade-qualified brothers are embarking on a new career dousing flames.

“James and I have just been accepted into the fire service and will be in Rotorua training for three months from 20 September,” said Tony. “Our family in the South Island on our dad’s side are firemen and that convinced us to give it a go and we both went through it together and got accepted.”

Once qualified, the brothers will be stationed in Wellington, and hope to continue to play for Tawa well into the future.

First, there is the matter of the rest of this club season and trying to help Tawa annex the Jubilee Cup, and if successful it would be Tawa’s third title in six seasons.

But before they can entertain that possibility, they must get past Northern United this coming week at home at Lyndhurst Park in a massive round five match at home for the club and the competition.

“We seem to start off a bit slow in the Jubilee Cup every year, but I think we are back on the horse now and we get out there this week against Norths we should be ready to go,” James said.

Tawa have started the second round off with losses to Hutt Old Boys Marist (15-30) and Poneke (10-44) and a win over Marist St Pat’s (15-14).

“It was a real dogfight against MSP, we were both desperate,” James added.

They face a Norths side with their tails up, having pipped HOBM by a point on Saturday and having beaten Tawa 27-14 in the first round on their way to winning the Swindale Shield.

James is predominantly a tighthead prop and has missed just one Premier match this season. He has played 120 matches (110 starts) for Tawa and Norths.

He made his Premier debut for Tawa in this first year out of Tawa College in 2011 at the very start of the season and won the Hardham Cup that year. He returned to Tawa for all of 2012 but spent much of 2013 playing for Norths. Why the move?

“I went over part-way through the first round and played the rest of the year for them. I wasn’t getting much game time here and Thomas Perenara asked if I wanted to come over and play for Norths.”

James was starting tighthead prop for Norths when they beat the Wellington Axemen 26-16 in the 2013 [Premier 2] Hardham Cup final. The match that followed saw Tawa win its first Jubilee Cup, beating Ories 26-21 in the Premier championship final.

James returned to Lyndhurst Park in 2014, where he has been ever since. In 2016 he got to win the Jubilee Cup, starting at tighthead prop in the 24-20 win in the final over MSP.

“Winning that Jubilee Cup was a career highlight for me for sure.”

“Another memorable match would be my first game against Norths at Tawa in my first year when I only 18, playing against all their professional players at the time like Api Naikatini and Jacob and Tamati Ellison.”

He nominates former Ories loosehead prop Donal McNamara as the smartest scrummaging prop he has come against.

As well as playing several straight seasons for Tawa and Norths, James has also had two stints overseas.

“In 2012 I went over and played in Holland for a club for seven months. As well as playing in a different environment we got to do lots of travel. “They paid for us to go to Rome to watch the All Blacks play Italy and to go skiing in the French Alps. In 2015 I went over and played at Peebles in Scotland, just outside Edinburgh, as well.”

Back in Tawa, home life and a family is also keeping James busy so it is unlikely he will be off overseas again playing rugby anytime soon.

Like older brother James, Tony joined Tawa straight out of school but spent the best part of the next five years plagued by injury.

“This is my first season in senior rugby that I haven’t had a surgery,” explained Tony.

This included shoulder surgery, a dislocated collar bone (first pre-season game back after shoulder number one) and then shoulder surgery again (the other shoulder). “Then after rehabbing my second shoulder I thought I would play some American Football in the summer and get used to contact again but I dislocated and fractured my kneecap.

“This was the start of 2017 and I got back into playing and got my first ever Premier start against Wainuiomata at the very end of the Swindale Shield and found out I was having surgery again so that was the end of that year.”

This year, Tony has played 15 matches for the Tawa Premiers, including eight starts at hooker.

Tawa have also had a strong group of hookers in recent years, including Lotu Nuku, Matt Treeby and currently Sitiveni Paongo who switches between there and loosehead prop and who made the Wellington Lions last year.

Other current Tawa Premier players that the Coburn brothers played with at school at Tawa College include Jonathan Boyd (injured), Kalim Kelemete, Jordan Tyrell, Elijah Va’a-Brooking and Ryan Preston.

“Ryan and I have been playing together since under-fives, so we have been pretty close mates since we were young,” said Tony.

Tawa v Northern United, Jubilee Cup Round 5. Saturday 7 July, Lyndhurst Park, kick-off 2.45pm.