From Bench to Benchmark - Joe Walding-Karaitiana

Above: Joe Walding-Karaitiana (white headband) enters Evans Bay Park in a recent match with his MSP teammates. 

In the space of two games this season Joe Walding-Karaitiana has gone from a regular bench warmer to captain of Marist St Pat’s. His captaincy position wasn’t initially obvious when first bestowed.

“Nick Harrison was the original captain, but he got injured in the Wellington Axemen game and told me I was captain. We have a leadership group, which Ryan Setefano is a part of. Ryan is much more experienced than me so I was surprised when Nick told me I was captain,” Walding-Karaitiana explains.

MSP battled unimpressively to a 25-16 win over Wellington in round two and later summoned a meeting of their leaders.

“I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but Ryan insisted I was captain. He wanted to focus on his own game while offering strong support. Were a tight group with a lot of leaders,” Walding-Karaitiana reveals.

Leadership is something Walding-Karaitiana is previously familiar with. In 2014 he was captain of the Hastings Boys’ High School First XV.

Between 2006 and 2013, Hastings played 56 games in the Super 8 competition and lost 53 times. Under the tutelage of Walding-Karaitiana, Hastings won three games in the 2014 competition and in 2017 were the National Top Four champions.

“In 2013 we were beaten 71-21 by New Plymouth Boys’ High School. That game is still the worst feeling I have ever had in rugby, it was embarrassing. The Year 13’s didn’t like been told some home truths, but a group of us revolted and took control,” Walding-Karaitiana recalls.

Tony McBride was Hastings First XV coach in 2014 and previously told Sky Sport College Rugby.

“Joe is a very impressive young man. He has the boys full respect. He is approachable, confident and honest, but he is prepared to do the hard yards. He is humble and listens to advice which is rare in modern youngsters.”

Walding-Karaitiana helped Hastings Boys’ surge to new heights, but his impact at Marist St Pats hasn’t been as obviously profound to outsiders looking in. He has spent most of the last three years on the reserves bench supporting former skipper and Samoan international Valentine Meacham.

“Valentine is an awesome player and bloke. I have a lot of respect for him, but to be honest it was tough spending so much time on the bench. I learned you can’t control the uncontrollable. If you’re coming up against an established guy you have to really outplay him to earn a spot. You have to stay positive and keep your standards high,” Walding-Karaitiana says.

The official captaincy debut of Walding-Karaitiana was a resounding success. Wainuiomata was trounced 44-19 at home at William Jones Park in round three with Ryan Setefano scoring two tries and Walding-Karaitiana also crossing the chalk.

“We were on edge after Wainui beat OBU [22-20 in round two]. That was a surprise to us. Everything clicked that day. It was a really good performance,” Walding-Karaitiana acclaims.

How is captaining schoolboys different from seniors?

“There’s not a lot of difference. This group is similar in a lot of ways to Hastings, but with older guys they generally have a better grasp of what to do so you feel like you don’t have to do as much,” Walding-Karaitiana responds.

In the next three rounds staged over a week from Saturday MSP face three of the leading five clubs in the Swindale Shield tussling with Old Boys University, Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist. In the past fortnight MSP have beaten two of the bottom clubs Paremata-Plimmerton (39-5) and Johnsonville (32-21).

“The next week will tell us a lot about ourselves. We will know exactly where we stand and we are ready for the challenge,” the Arts and Spanish language student employed by Red Bull Promotions concludes.

It starts this coming Saturday at home at Evans Bay Park against Old Boys University for the Jack Lamason Cup after the former Wellington rugby and cricketing identity. Last year OBU won this one 28-20 at Nairnville, but MSP pipped OBU 22-21 at Evans Bay Park in their Jubilee Cup round-robin clash.