Legends of the Jubilee Cup: Frank Walker (Petone)

Frank Walker (pictured above top row, second from the right) was Petone's hooker throughout their golden era in the 1970s and into the 1980s. As a player, Walker won Jubilee Cups with Petone in 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1980 and 1982. Later as Petone's coach, his teams won the Cup in 1989, 1992 and 1993. He played 65 matches for Wellington and was a Maori All Black, and was Wellington's first coach in the professional era in the mid-1990s.

Do you know how many Senior 1 [Premier] appearances you made for Petone and when were your first and last matches?

I played 198 games for Petone and I finished in 1982. I ruptured my ACL in the last rep game in 1981 for Wellington against Counties and I never really recovered from there. I started senior 3^rds in 1969 and played for the senior 1^sts between 1970 to 1982.

Last weekend you attended a Gisborne Boys' High School First XV reunion - was this a one-off or do you regularly return to your school rugby roots?

The school has its First XV re-unions every year. I was in the team for four years, 1963-66, so I have four consecutive 50^th re-unions and for the 50^th year they present the players with a special memorial pin. It's also a great occasional to renew friendships with old teammates some of whom I have not seen since I left school. Of the 1964 team 13 players attended, three have died and two we can't find, plus the coach. The teams in those days had very small squads, usually only 17 players.

Did you move to Wellington straight out of school, and how it you come about joining Petone?

I came to Wellington in 1967 to study at the Pharmacy school at the Petone Polytechnic and the Petone Pharmacy team were aligned to the Petone Club which was right on our backdoor step. We played 3^rd First grade, which was an U20 grade that included the Police Cadets and some big rival clubs like Wellington, Poneke, Upper Hutt, Marist and University. I started my hooking career here and only played there because there was no one else. Don Griffin was our coach and we only trained once a week (for six hours) and he certainly moulded us into a very good side. In the two years I was there we only lost two games, winning the competition in 1967 and losing to the Police Cadets in the 1968 final. Petone Pharmacy was a very strong team in this grade and they even continued with Petone when they shifted to Heretaunga in 1972 and in the latter years the team included other technical students not in Pharmacy. Pharmacy then shifted to Otago in the late 1980s.

Who were the big-name players at Petone at that time? What was it like playing for them and with these players throughout your career?

When I first played you virtually had to displace a Wellington rep player to make the team, so one of the reasons I played for them was because if you made the team you had achieved a benchmark that was set pretty high and that increased your chances of being noticed for higher honours.

The talent was immense in 1970. There was Ian Stevens, John Dougan, Jimmy Brown, Richard Cleland, Ben Koopu, Jack Seymour, Bernie Teen, Richard Whittington, Gareth Head, Andy Leslie, Pat Abrahams - all Wellington reps - plus all the rest were in the Wellington Bs. Then as the years progressed these teams included Vern Winitana, Geoff Skipper, Alan Hewson, Mark Stevens, John Heale, Ian May, Allan Pollock, Mike Clamp, Graham Duffy, Tera Arthurs, Mark Verhoeven and a host of others.

This was not the only reason why Petone was successful, a contributing factor was the depth of our second team and the fact was once mentioned if a lot of our second players were playing at another club they would have all made their top sides. Even when a Senior 1 player was dropped or not picked in the Senior 1s he would not leave the club and that was the sort of loyalty players exhibited in those days.

Coach Ian Upston was also a key factor at the club. He was a great selector and he had very good man management skills. Though he was close to his players socially he had no compunction in dropping a player and this only increased the great respect we had for Uppy. Off the field he kept the team together during the summer playing cricket.? Luckily we had some very good cricketers like Ian Stevens, Jim and Don Brown, Jack Seymour and Uppy himself as he was a Plunket Shield selector. Plus Uppy was a terrible loser and it didn't matter what he was playing. We also ventured away on local and overseas club trips and were involved in pre-season Champion of Champions tournaments, which always cemented team camaraderie and loyalty.

Can you remember your Senior 1 debut?

In 1970 I started against Athletic because Pat Abraham was injured and I scored from the front of the lineout. Ian Upston remained loyal to Pat and I had to wait in line before eventually being selected in 1971. I did play quite a number of games in 1970 though. Pat was the Wellington Hooker at the time and I was also picked as reserve hooker to Tane Norton for the Maori All Blacks against Fiji in 1970.

How tough was it coming into Swindale Shield/Jubilee Cup rugby at the time, particularly as a front rower?

We had very good front row forwards at the time, all 6 foot (183 cm) plus and around the 15 to 17 stone (95-107 kg). Gareth Head and Grant Campbell were our props backed up by Derek Campbell, and there were always huge battles with the competitive clubs of that era, University Wellington, Athletic and Poneke.

Who were some of the tough combatants and players you played with and against in Wellington club rugby throughout your career?

The toughest and hardest player I ever played with or against was Graham Williams, he never gave an inch and didn't expect anything less in exchange and it was all fair play.

I played a couple of games with Ken Gray. In a pre-season encounter against Ponsonby he showed his strength in the scrum that day by tossing around the Ponsonby scrum that contained Pol Whiting, Andy Hayden, Ben Hathaway, Leon Toki and Lew Fell - a virtual Auckland pack. Ken could play both sides. Scotty Crichton was also a terrifically strong tighthead prop and he totally smashed every scrum in 1981 Scotty was like a crane and you could instruct him on the opposition ball as to how high or low you wanted the scrum.

Kevin Horan was a very quick and clean striker and very hard to ever pinch a tight-head off.

What were some of your best moments in Wellington club rugby for Petone?

There were several but the undoubted highlight is when you win a final that you aren't expected to win, like Poneke beating us in the 1975 final. For us it was the final against MSP at the Petone Rec in 1980, which ended a lengthy MSP winning streak of 40 odd games.

As a player I was involved with teams winning or sharing the Jubilee cup in 1970-71-73-74-76-80-82. Losses in 1972 and 1975 interrupted a 10 year era in which we were a dominant rugby force playing a brand of high paced and entertaining rugby that I don't think will ever be replicated in Wellington club rugby. So the period I played starting and ending with winning the Jubilee Cup and all the intervening years was a highlight.

What Wellington representative teams did you play in and when?

I started in 1974 in Frank Ryan's team, in 1975 in Ray Delabarca's side, missed the 1976 rep season through injury, 1978-79-80-81 with Ian Upston. I started the 1982 season but retired from rep rugby because of my ACL injury from 1981. I was also in the 3^rd grade reps 1967-68, Senior 2^nd rep 1969 and Wellington B 1970-71-72-73. ?In all I played 65 first-class games.

What are your highlights playing for Wellington?

My favourite year was 1981. Uppy selected one of those teams that clicked right from the onset .Our scrum was unbelievable because we never spent much time at practice on the scrum and Brian McGratten and Scotty became All Blacks because of their scrumaging that year. Brendon Gardiner and Steve Hinds were solid hard working locks and Paul Quinn, Maurice Standish, Murray Mexted and John Wootton were outstanding in the loose. Our backs were no slugs either and they all became All Blacks except for Dan Fouhy and John Heale.

Another most satisfying win that year was crushing Canterbury on the Saturday and winning the NPC, before we played Waikato for the Shield the following Wednesday. We scored a pushover try from about 10 metres out, Scotty and Grats lifting their front row (Billy Bush and Ashworth their props) of the ground and smashing them back over the goal line for Mex to score.

The Manawatu game that season was also significant because we played them the day after the final All Blacks - Springbok Test in Auckland and Bernie Fraser, Stu Wilson, Allan Hewson and Murray Mexted played in that Test. A couple of those characters were not always compliant with pre-game protocols when it came to post-match activities and their presence in the changing rooms under Athletic Park that afternoon was reminiscent of strong vapours that could easily ignite flames. Uppy threw his arms up and said to them don't let us down as an empty beer bottle rolled out of one of their bags and clattered on the concrete floor. In the meantime the Manawatu All Blacks, Gary Knight, Bullet Donaldson, Geoff Old and Doug Rollerson, left straight after the Test and arrived home at 3 am after their flight detoured all around the East Coast of the North Island. When we ran out on to the park that day there was this huge crowd of 30 odd thousand roaring us on, all our All Blacks played brilliantly and we won convincingly [28-10] to set-up our NPC season.

The Waikato Shield challenge in 1981 was also an amazing day because being mid-week we didn't expect too many Wellingtonians to be there. It all started at the street parade that morning? every car that went up the main street was full of Wellingtonians with horns blasting, yellow and black flags and scarves everywhere. When game time came there was a massive crowd and lots of Wellingtonians. In the first scrum on their ball I said to Scotty as we set in after the hit "lower Scotty, lower Scotty," with my nose just about touching the ground. Then I said "up an inch Scotty and another, and another, hold it now." They then rolled the ball in and no one could strike for it because we were so low, just high enough for the ball to come in. As it rolled under my nose I said to Scotty "hit it Ace," and that's when Scotty grunted and along with Grats smacked their scrum back, spat their front row out and claimed a tight head for our backs to cut Waikato up. Our scrums in those days never collapsed and it didn't matter how low we were. Bambam Koteka became very frustrated that day and ended up being sent off for kicking Scotty in the head. It actually deflated our game because they reverted to only three-man scrums and that de-powered our strength. But the match was in the bag by halftime and we lifted the Log o' Wood back to Wellington. I think we celebrated a bit too long and hard that week because Counties whipped us on the Saturday.

The 1978 season was also very enjoyable I ended up playing prop in the game against Manawatu as Al Keown pulled out on the Friday when his mum died. This was also a Shield match. I propped against Perry Harris from the tighthead side and Kevin Horan and I pinched a few tightheads off their hooker Clare so Gary Knight had to come to their loosehead to sort us out, but we still managed a few more. We lost that game because we went to sleep on defence from a quickly taken penalty by Donaldson on halfway and they scored in the corner, which was the difference on the day.

My first game for Wellington A was on a Southern Tour in 1974 against Southland on a Wednesday. Then we played Otago on the Saturday, South Canterbury on the Tuesday (winning the Ranfurly Shield), Mid-Canterbury on the Thursday and Canterbury on the Saturday. We only lost to Otago but the games in those days were quite compressed and to play five games in 11 days now is unheard off. In this team we had the two most entertaining and funniest people I have ever been involved with, namely Dave (Charlie) Henderson and Mark (Twig) Sayers. We never stopped laughing because of their witty humour. That year we retained the Shield for two challenges before Auckland whipped us and started Shield tenure.

You played for the Maori All Blacks - tell us about that?

I was first picked in 1970 as reserve hooker to Tane Norton against Fiji and it contained ABs Mike Parkinson, Mac Herewini, and Norton and a lot of well known provincial players like Brian and Ken Going, Lally Haddon, Hepa Paewai and Jim Maniapoto. In 1973 we toured the Islands Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa, also with a few All Blacks in Norton, Bush,Kent Lambert, Buff Milner, George Skudder, and Bob Barber and with? Waka Nathan as our coach. We were billeted in Samoa by the locals and we were not quite used to some of the local facilities so it made this part of the trip quite difficult, ?but we managed to win all three games in Samoa in the heat. In Tonga we managed a local motel but lost to Tonga and won the other two games against local teams. ?In Fiji the Local provincial teams were very strong and we lost two of those three games but won the two Tests. I didn't play any tests but played four games on tour.

I was again picked in 1979 and we toured Australia for three games, Fiji for Two tests and Samoa and Tonga for one Test each. We won six and drew against Queensland. I played in all the Tests and against Queensland and New South Wales. Queensland was full of Wallabies, such as Peter and Paul McLean, Roger Gould, Brendon Moon, Mark Loane, Greg Cornelius, Peter Horton, Andrew Slack, Tony Shaw, Stan Peleckie and Tony D'Arcy.

The two tests against Fiji were memorable because the one in Suva was played in very stormy conditions so we planned the game by having as many scrums as possible and keeping them in the scrum as long as possible because they hated set piece rugby. They tired quickly and we ground them down and I scored the only try from a lineout drive to win the game.The second game was in Lautoka where the temperature was around 36 degrees and if you stopped moving - to get wind on your face - you felt like fainting. Our tactics that day was to move the ball close to scrums and lineouts to set up driving malls and rucks and deny them any ball and that also worked that day.

Against Tonga I saw the most devastating tackle I have ever seen. The Tongans are known for their tackling and it was right from the kick off to us. It was a good kick and everyone looked at it all with one eye on the chasing Tongans. Mac McCallion, the captain, called his ball and we were all quite happy to let him take it as he was a very tough SAS soldier and this Tongan took off like a torpedo from the 10-yard line and flew at Mac about five yards away. He hit Mac at ankle height, breaking his ankle, sliding up his body and knocking him out cold. Mac unfortunately never recovered to full fitness from this tackle and I don't think he played much rugby after that tour. The All Blacks on that tour were Bill Bush, Kent Lambert, Vance Stewart, Tu Wyllie, Fred Woodman and Frank Shelford. I was picked again in 1980 against Fiji in Rotorua and we won 29-9. New or to become All Blacks in? this team included Mike Clamp, Kevin Boroevich, Frank Shelford, Tu Wyllie, Fred Woodman and Bill Osborne.

Following your playing career, you started coaching. Was this a natural progression?

Yes it was a natural progression as I assisted Ian Upston with Wellington in 1983 and Don Griffin with the Wellington Colts and Wellington Bs from 1984 through to about 1987.

What Petone teams did you coach at Petone?

1984 Petone Snr 3^rd (won the National Mutual Cup), 1985 Petone Senior B, 1986 Petone Senior B (won the Harper Lock Shield and the Ed Chaney Cup),? 1987 Petone Senior B, ?1988 Petone Senior B, ?1989 Petone A (won the Jubilee Cup - also sacked as coach), 1990 Petone Senior 3^rd (won the National Mutual Cup), ?1991 Petone Senior B (won the Ed Chaney Cup), 1992 Petone Senior A (won the Jubilee Cup and Swindale Shield) and 1993 Petone Senior A (won the Jubilee Cup).

As a Petone coach I won three Jubilee Cups, two Senior B Ed Chaney Cups, one Harper Lock Shield and two Senior 3^rd National Mutual Cup titles.

You coached the Wellington Lions for three years between 1995-97. Were you one of the last part-time coaches they had? Your tenure coincided with the start of the professional era, what were the challenges of this?

I was the last of the amateur-part-time coaches and for Wellington it was a very difficult period financially. We had very good backs and loose forwards but lacked a tight five of any quality and to attract any props and locks they needed financial incentives and so we always ended up last in the queue for players we wanted to entice to Wellington. Also local players like props Lawrence Hullena shifted to Auckland and Phil Procter wasn't available, lock Craig Sims had a job promotion in the bank so was unavailable for rep rugby.

Super rugby started in 1996 and I assisted Frank Oliver in picking the Hurricanes in their first year and the tight forwards were also, and still are, a problem that has plagued them over their history. They too have had brilliant backs and loosies but struggled with the quality of the tight five in general.

Which special players did you coach?

I suppose Tana Umaga was the highest profile player that I was associated with. His brother Mike brought him to the club in 1993. After playing league for Wainuiomata he had a few bad habits we had to change and to his credit he listened and consequently the rest is history with his All Black and now coaching career. Tana was never afraid to say what he thought and he was much more forceful and thoughtful than what he appears and those stood him in good stead and were obviously the qualities that convinced Graham Henry to make him an All Black captain.

Jason O'Halloran was also a very intelligent and tactfully aware player and was a bit unlucky in not representing the All Blacks a few more times - he and Tana will make very good coaches if they not already making their mark in that field.

What has been your involvement with rugby and with the Petone RFC over the past 15 years or so?

When I finished my coaching stint with Wellington I helped out with the Senior coaches at Petone for a couple of years but have not been involved in any club activity since. So after a 30-year involvement of playing and coaching I thought it was time I put my feet up and do want I want to do. So I play a little bit of golf badly and do a bit of fishing and I enjoy the grandchildren and am now retired after 40 years in a Pharmacy business in Johnsonville.

What are your views on the current game? Would you like to wind back the clock and play again in today's era?

I am still very interested in rugby but sometimes wonder where the game is heading primarily in connection with the rules around the scrum, mauls/rucks and tackle area. The rules will kill the game if it's not sorted out properly over the next few years. The referees are also killing the game with their different interpretations of the rules, not entirely their fault, but some are poor.

The modern game is faster than in my day but would benefit greatly by reverting back to some of the rules and techniques of scrummaging, mauling and rucking? that were used in that era. Our scrums were lower than the scrums are now and seldom if ever collapsed at the higher levels of the game. The rules around collapsed scrums, screwed scrums, referees controlling the calls and put-ins, crooked halfback feeds, props placing their hands on the ground etc. is just too controlling and requires common sense and a re-think on the amount of control a referee has especially at the first- class and international levels of the game.

So I wouldn't like to play under the present rules but it would have been nice in our day to get paid for something you enjoyed doing.