50 years of the Billy Wallace Trophy: Part 8

Above: Blly Wallace (centre) with All Blacks fullbacks Bob Scott and George Nepia in 1955, 11 years before the Best and Fairest competition in his name was started in Wellington. Photo credit: National Library collection. 

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 8 below takes a look at the winners 2001-05

2001
Name: Scott Waldrom
Club: Avalon
Position: Openside flanker

A winner two years in a row, after taking out the Billy Wallace Trophy in 2000. Waldrom was and remains the third player to win in successive years, after Marist St Pat’s halfback Neil Sorensen in 1982 and 1983 and MSP No.8 Zac Feaunati in 1993 and 1994.

Avalon also won the Swindale Shield in 2001 in dramatic circumstances involving MSP. Avalon beat minnows Wellington 49-5 in the last round on their Old Timers’ Day and MSP lost 22-23 to Petone to hand Avalon the title. Waldrom’s continuity between backs and forwards was a key ingredient in his side’s first round win.

Avalon remained in contention throughout the second round. A late Mano Flutey penalty that gave them a 32-29 win over Ories propelling them to third as the semi-finals approached. In the last round there was little Waldrom could do as Avalon lost to Petone 6-9 in appalling conditions. At the same time, MSP beat Wests 30-27, meaning that Avalon had to play top qualifier Poneke in the semi-final. They lost that 21-30 and their season was over.

Waldrom went on to forgo a second straight year playing for the Wellington Colts to play in the Wellington B side.

2002:
Name: Roy Kinikinilau
Club: Oriental-Rongotai
Position: No. 8

Oriental-Rongotai made the Jubilee Cup semi-finals for the first time in 2002, setting the platform for the strong club at Premier level that they are today.

Roy Kinikinilau was the dynamic No. 8 in a big pack that was complemented by some hard-running backs such as the Nonu brothers, Samson and Ma’a, in the midfield. Ma’a and Roy scored 22 tries between them for Ories in 2002.

Kinikinilau scored 10 tries alone in 11 matches of the first round Swindale Shield. Described by the Dominion’s Jim Kayes as a ‘rangy and deceptively quick loose forward’, the former Wellington Colt and Hurricanes U23 player earned his place in the Wellington XV for matches against Manawatu, Wairarapa-Bush and Manawatu. Ories finished fourth in the first round behind first time winners Poneke, with six wins and five losses.

In the Jubilee Cup, Ories were in the hunt for a top two finish for the semi-finals, but a 19-21 loss to OBU – in which Shannon Paku scored a 100m try to win in the dying moments – set them up for a semi-final against Marist St Pat’s. MSP won that and went on to win the title. Nine years later, Ories defeated Northern United to win their maiden Jubilee Cup title.

2003:
Name: Darren Kapene
Club: Avalon
Position: First five-eighth

Darren Kapene took over from Mano Flutey as Avalon’s goal-kicking first five-eighth and was a strong influence off the tee and running an exciting backline.

Avalon made a horror start to the season, losing three of their first four matches including a 13-38 defeat to first time Swindale Shield winners Northern United, before recovering to finish fifth in the Swindale Shield. Avalon’s season ignited over Easter when they beat the previously high flying Old Boys University 22-6, while the Waldrom brothers combined to score three of five tries in a 36-20 win over Hutt Old Boys Marist the following week. Kapene scored all the points in a 15-18 loss to powerful Poneke, while he helped spark Avalon’s backs in a stirring come-from-behind 40-34 win over MSP.

They started the Jubilee Cup round with narrow wins over Ories (24-23), MSP (16-15) and Norths (14-8), before falling to qualify in fourth for the semi-finals. They led MSP 12-11 at halftime and were still ahead with barely 10 minutes remaining but MSP rallied late to win 27-17 to end their season. Kapene was the year’s leading points scorer with 194, ahead of Northern United’s Peato Lafaele with 161 and Ories’ Joe Tawhara with 157.

2004
Name: Tui Meavao
Club: Northern United
Position: Openside flanker

Having won their first Swindale Shield in 2003, Northern United annexed the Jubilee Cup for the first time in 2004. Norths had a pool of up and coming players to call on such as Tamati and Jacob Ellison, John Schwalger, Anthony Perenise, Faifili Levave and Serge Lilo ,who were to make their marks over the next several years, both home and overseas.

Tui Meavao had been in the Norths side for a few seasons and was well regarded as one of the hardest working and committed of the many all-action loose forwards in the competition.

The specialist openside started his Best and Fairest points run with Player of the Match performance in an 18-14 win over Johnsonville in round 3, earned another against Ories in a 41-10 win in round 6, and he kept accruing points. He led the competition at the conclusion of the Swindale Shield, with HOBM’s Polonga Pedro second. Consecutive losses to champions Petone and Wests saw Norths finsh fourth in the first round.

Norths started the Jubilee Cup round off with a 6-3 win over Poneke in a mud bath, before hitting their straps to beat Petone twice to reach their first final. Meavao sealed the Best and Fairest win in their 15-8 semi-final win over Petone, while Poneke flanker Mase Leuluniu clinched second with a stirring performance in a 17-6 semi-final victory over Avalon. Norths beat Poneke 20-18 in the final.

2005
Name: Jack Tarrant
Club: Wests Roosters
Position: Second five-eighth

During the week Jack Tarrant was a TV3 cameraman who was often up at Rugby League Park filming Hurricanes stories at training.

On Saturday’s “New talent Tarrant” was a strong, skilful specialist second five-eighth who added significant value to the Wests Roosters, in their final season in the top flight.

Tarrant started the season with a Player of the Match performance for Wests over Avalon in a pulsating 24-22 win. He secured his second 3-point bag in the Best and Fairest competition a month later in a 19-7 win over HOBM, his third in a 25-12 win over MSP at his workplace at Rugby League Park and his fourth in a 30-22 round 10 win over Johnsonville. Wests won eight and lost three to finish fourth in the Swindale Shield.

Tarrant missed some games in the second round owing to work commitments and Wests correspondingly dropped to eighth in the Jubilee Cup. Tarrant was on 17 Billy Wallace points at the end of the regular season, three ahead of Petone wing Willie Moala on 14 and Norths lock Api Naikatini on 13. But neither Moala nor Naikatini could catch Tarrant in the semi-finals or final and he held on to win the competition.

Tarrant went and played in Japan for a few seasons and played seven Tests for the Cherry Blossoms in 2009. He later played a season of NPC rugby for North Harbour.