Growing Taller - Jason Love Celebrates 150 Games for Wainuiomata

Above: Jason Love makes a break for Wainuiomata v Hutt Old Boys Marist in the 2014 Jubilee Cup final - his favourite game.

"Bro, I need to hug you for that try," exclaimed John Morrissey to Jason Love after the Wainuiomata winger scored the winning try against Northern United at Porirua Park in the early 2000's.

It's a phrase Love has heard often in his long career which reaches 150 games this Saturday and inspired Morrissey to wear a Wainuiomata number 11 jersey to every game thereafter.

"I can't remember what year it was, a lot of the tries I have scored blur into one, but the Norths try is my favourite." Love gleefully recalls.

""We were down by six points and behind our goalposts when the hooter sounded. John Monu got the ball and dummied four times, including an overhead Michael Jordon pump-fake. This guy Lima who used to play for us then received it after 30-metres. I am unmarked on the outside screaming, 'bro give me the ball.' Lima was greedy and took it to halfway by which point the cover defence had drifted across. 

“I eventually got the ball, stepped the blindside winger and raced away, but I knew I had to score close to the posts to make the conversion easier. I got into the goal box and stepped another defender, hurdled past the last one and got it under the posts. It's on YouTube if you don't believe me. I felt so vain making a highlights package," Love laughs.

Love's Premier debut was far from a highlight. Wainuiomata were whipped by MSP.

"The first time I touched the ball they sent a high kick in my direction. I caught it just outside the 22 and thought 'phew, first job done'. Then I got smashed in a head high and blood pissed out of my nose like a broken gas canister." Love laments.

Taking hard knocks is not unfamiliar for Love. Diminutive in stature and thick-skinned from a sometimes torrid upbringing, Love like his club has matured greatly.

"I was brought up in Otaki for eight years. Most people drive to Otaki stop at the petrol station and bail. Turn left and you'll get stuck. I lived with Mum who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. I love my Mum, she is my loudest supporter, but we had to work through that which taught me a lot in the coming years." Love says.

Love attended St. Patrick's College, Silverstream which was a stabling influence, but his rugby wasn't noteworthy. He only played one game for the First XV against St. Pat’s Town in 2004.

"These days a lot of college kids are put on a pedestal. They make the First XV then get into the Hurricanes, but they can't even survive a full club game. It's unbelievable you have to pay your dues." Love believes.

Love spent his first year out of school with the Hutt Old Boys Marist Under-19's, following his good mates the Sellers family to the Eagles. However his father Yogi Rogers, a Wainuiomata centurion and Manly league representative, would soon lure Love over the hill.

"Dad asked me to go to Wainui, but I was real happy at Hutt. I asked, 'how do I gain from leaving a place I love?' Dad replied, 'trust me son I am building a real strong team at Wainui.' One weekend Wainui had a game and Hutt didn't so I played for Wainui. We won by 100 points and I was sold." Love remembers.

Glen Angus, Tau Mamea and Ben Tupuola, regulars today, were also members of the same Colts team who initially were a cast of misfits.

"Ben came from Auckland to escape the gangs. In one game he threatened to kill the referee. Four or five guys had to hold him back. We were pretty loose." Love chuckles.

The team ultimately gelled and became the first Wainuiomata side in a quarter of a century to make the Division I final.

"We played Petone who had been unbeaten for four years. They had a beast forward pack and we had a gun backline. Unfortunately there was a hurricane on the day of the game. The wind was like 122km per hour. We wanted it to be cancelled, but Petone insisted we played. We lost, but started something bigger at the same time," Love reflects.

When Love was 23 his nose for the try line attracted interest from the Northampton Saints. The chance to play professionally in England was tempting, but life had taken an unexpected twist.

"My girlfriend Chontel Foley fell pregnant with my boy Carter Jay-Love. I met Chontel when I was 15 and she is the love of my life. There was no way I was going to ditch her for England," Love insists.

Working as a case manager at Work and Income wasn't absent of challenges either.

"It was rough man. Some of the things you would hear were tragic and the abuse got to me after a while. That job taught me to have empathy for the less fortunate and take greater responsibility for my actions."

Wainuiomata came of age in 2012 when they reached the Jubilee Cup semi-finals for the first time. In 2013, Love was the top try scorer in club rugby.

"Wainui is not the wild west anymore. A lot of the guys have been together a long time and grown up. Work, family and God have taken over. Maybe the social side of the club has suffered a little, but it's different. We see ourselves as annual contenders. When teams come to William Jones Park, our swamp, they aren't leaving without a fight." Love states.

Videos, letters and banners of support from kids to local celebrities flooded the Wainuiomata clubrooms in 2014 when they made the Jubilee Cup final for the first time. Loves rates this game as a pinnacle achievement.

"Dion Waller brought the Jubilee Cup from Tawa and spoke to us in our clubrooms before the game. He told us, like Tawa, Wainui is a small club that had come from nowhere. He told us that winning the Jubilee matters in the community. I was salivating at the sight of the trophy. That's when it registered how far we had come as a club."

Wainuiomata was beaten 14-11 by Hutt Old Boys Marist.

"We were devastated to lose, but partied like we had won it anyway. We thought why not. We had beaten them in the season and look where we had come from. It might be different if we lose another one." Love says.

Interestingly Love has never played representative Sevens. When he was at high school best mate Anton Pereia introduced him to his summer passion.

"I used to go to Anton's house and we would play Madden NFL on Play Station. I love American football. I answered a newspaper ad to play for the Hutt Valley Spartans when I was 16 and I haven't looked back. I play wide receiver because my rugby skills are easily transferable. I have won a league championship and MVP." Love enthuses. 

Love ranks Cory Jane as his favourite player, but a unique relationship with another All Black shows how much taller 'Bubu' has become.

"One night I was on the town and Dane Coles came up to me and asked, 'Do you remember me?' I hesitated not entirely sure what he was on about. He then told me he was the fullback in the Under-13 Otaki reps. I replied, 'No way I thought I made it the furthest out of Otaki,'" Love concludes.