The Rugby Patricians

What do an All Black cleric, a Wallaby player from Hunterville, an English Rugby surgeon, one of Argentina’s first rugby international players, New Zealand's most famous rugby radio commentator, and the inventor of rugby’s spiral pass all have in common?

The answer. They all attended St. Patrick's College, Wellington in its first fifty years (1885-1935) and are profiled among 50 Old-Boys of the College in the new book, “The Rugby Patricians” which was launched on ANZAC Day 2016 on the College’s old Sports Ground on Cambridge Terrace, Wellington.

Following their years at College, all played a significant role in Club Rugby around New Zealand, with 22 of the players becoming prominent in Wellington Club Rugby, as noted below:

Athletic: Lou de Vere; Ernest McDonald. Marist Brothers Old Boys: Paul Kane; Moran Mahoney. Oriental: Tom Collerton. Petone: James Barber; William Coles; Richard McKenzie. Poneke: Bernard McMahon; Daniel Twohill; Thomas Walshe. St James: John O'Connor. St. Patrick’s Old Boys: Ernie Todd. Victoria University: Irvine Hart; Cornelius O'Regan; Patrick O'Regan; Leo O'Sullivan; Edward Prendeville; Glendinning Riddell; Patrick Ryan. Wellington: Bernard Gallagher; Jack Henrys.

The Tablet newspaper of 1885 recorded “if success in athletics be an omen of distinction in a higher field – and an authority has put it on record that Waterloo was fought and won in Eton and Harrow – we may hope in the not distant future that the fresh young blood of St. Patrick’s will make its mark in the Colony.” As is detailed in the book, such heroic sentiments were to have prescient outcomes over the course of two World Wars.

Of the 50 College Old-Boys who appear in the book, 18 served in World War One, with four sacrificing their lives, while in World War Two, a further 6 served their country, with one not returning home to New Zealand at the end of the conflict.

Featured in the book are 10 All Blacks, including one of New Zealand’s finest Captains, Maurice Joseph Brownlie, as well as Ernest McDonald who represented “represented in turn almost every Rugby Union in New Zealand including Auckland, Canterbury, Bush, North Canterbury and Otago”, and Thomas Walshe who captained Auckland, Wellington and Hawkes Bay in his playing career.

“The Rugby Patricians” is a celebration of rugby from an era where communities were bound together by their love and support of the game and where rugby heroes were ordinary folk who carried the dreams of others when they represented their country, province or club.

There are only 60 copies of the First Edition still available. To obtain your copy ($50), please e-Mail trp@spcrugbyclub.org.nz or call 021 140 6118.