50 years of the Billy Wallace Trophy: Part 3

Above: Marist St Pat's first five-eighth Tu Wylie and Poneke hooker Dave Mahanga were joint winner of the Best & Fairest competition in 1980. Image credit: The Dominion, August 1980. 

Celebrating 50 years of the Billy Wallace Best and Fairest Wellington Premier club rugby competition. The Billy Wallace competition has been contested annually since its inception in 1966. Players in every Premier match are awarded points on a 3, 2 and 1 basis.

Part 3 below profiles the winners between 1976-80.

1976
Winners: John Fleming and Graham Williams (shared)
Positions: Fleming lock and Williams flanker
Clubs: Fleming Marist St Pat’s and Williams Wellington Axemen
Best and Fairest points accrued: Shared on 19
About: A decade after first winning the Best & Fairest competition (1967), Williams became the first man to win it a second time. The competition could have been his outright but for a late rally by MSP lock John ‘Bones’ Fleming. Williams held a 3-point lead with three rounds to play. Fleming, who missed some earlier matches as he was away with the Junior All Blacks, soared into contention with a Man of the Match performance against Onslow. In the last round of the season, Williams failed to pick up a point and Fleming was again awarded 3 and the spoils were shared! Hutt Valley Marist’s Murray Tocker finished third. Neither Wellington or MSP won the Jubilee Cup – Petone were champions. 31-year old Williams announced his retirement after his side’s last match. The Dominion said of soon-to-be All Black Fleming: “His development has been one of the more remarkable aspects of Wellington rugby this season…when he arrived in Wellington from Auckland two seasons ago he immediately won friends with his soaring lineout leaping and earnest approach to the game.”

1977
Winner: Paul Quinn
Position: Blindside flanker
Club: Marist St Pat’s
Best and Fairest points accrued: N/A
About: In his 3rd full season in Wellington Premier rugby, MSP flanker Paul Quinn was a deserved winner of the Best & Fairest competition, the third Marist man to win after Paul Russo (1969) and John Fleming (1976). The 1977 season was one of the tightest ever, with Athletic, captained by a future MSP captain, Tony Meachen, going from a Hardham Cup club to a Jubilee Cup champion in 12 months. MSP beat Petone 22-12 in the last round to finish second. MSP’s title challenge had been extinguished a fortnight earlier after losing 10-16 to Athletic, despite Quinn scoring two tries in this match. Quinn was later part an MSP side that won 41 matches on the trot and he won the Jubilee Cup with them in 1978, 1979 and 1981. He played 109 matches for Wellington between 1975-83 ad led the NZ Maori team in 1981.

1978
Winners: Bernie Fraser and Brian Cederwall (shared)
Positions: Fraser wing and Cederwall fullback
Clubs: Fraser Hutt Valley Marist and Cederwall Athletic
Best and Fairest points accrued: Shared on 17
About: Another two-horse race that went down to being decided on the final afternoon of the season. Heading into the last round of the season Hutt Valley’s dynamic wing Fraser and Athletic’s Mr consistent Cederwall were tied on 17 points, after both had been awarded 2 in their penultimate round matches. Neither HV Marist or Athletic were in contention, the former beating Titahi Bay 6-0 and winning the Hardham Cup and the latter losing 12-13 to MSP to hand them their maiden Jubilee Cup title ahead of Wellington in a dramatic finale. It was also an anti-climatic last afternoon for both men, Fraser seeing little ball and Cederwall pulling out injured pre-match. Earlier, after an injury hit start to 1978, Fraser hit top form in the Hardham Cup and finished with 20 tries, while Cederwall scored 166 points and also received an All Blacks trial match. Taita’s player-coach and former All Black first five-eighth John Dougan finished third.

1979
Winner: Allan Hewson
Position: Utility back
Club: Petone
Best and Fairest points accrued: 30
About: Petone’s Allan Hewson finished the competition with 30 points, a whopping 12 clear of second placed Murray Mexted of the Wellington Axemen and with Naenae Old Boys halfback Gavin Lamb and Marist St Pat’s first five-eighth Tu Wylie equal on 17. Hewson hardly gave the others a chance; collecting the maximum 3 points from five of the opening seven Swindale Shield games in April and May. Hewson was versatile too, playing matches at wing, centre or first five-eighth. Hewson said that his teammates had contributed much towards his Best & Fairest success. “I think I played a bit better this season but Petone played better too and that helped create a few more opportunities for me. Later in 1979, Hewson toured with the All Blacks to Europe and he made his Test debut in 1981, kicking a match and series winning penalty in the Springbok series that year.

1980
Winners: Tu Wylie and Dave Mahanga
Positions: Wylie first five-eighth and Mahanga hooker
Clubs: Wylie Marist St Pat’s and Mahanga Poneke
Best and Fairest points accrued: Shared on 25
About: Wylie held a narrow lead in the competition all season, but Mahanga caught him on the last day of the season. August 1980 was a busy time for Wylie, with North Island and New Zealand Maori and Wellington representative commitments as well club rugby ones for MSP. Wylie and Paul Quinn played five games in nine games, including playing the Jubilee Cup final against Petone on a Saturday (and losing 3-12) and backing up the next day for Wellington in a crunch match against Auckland (won 10-4). Mahanga quietly went about his business. A builder during the week and a hard-hitting hooker on weekends, Mahanga had been Poneke’s hooker when they upset Petone in 1975 to win the Jubilee Cup. In the last round of the season Wylie failed to add to his 25 points, but Mahanga was awarded 2 point in his side’s 7-0 win over WCOB (to also lift Poneke to third) and they pair shared the competition. Petone’s Allan Hewson finished third on 19, ahead of Athletic’s Brian Cederwall on 17 and Avalon’s Honi Tainui on 14.

Part 4: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985