Ponsonby Rugby Club

By the start of the 1970s, the Gallaher Shield drought was more than just a mild annoyance. It had become a real burr under the Ponies' saddle, and everyone was trying to find ways of ending it. The Seniors had come close in 1968, getting beaten by Manukau in what was effectively a final; the match was described as 'one of the best seen in Auckland for years'. Given the strength of the Ponsonby forwards - already with Peter Whiting aboard and soon to add Andy Haden - winning ball wasn't a problem. You'd think that the all-All Black three-quarter line Ponsonby could put on the park wouldn't have any trouble using it, but apart from a big year in 1969 things didn't quite work out. And everyone was getting antsy.

There was still a bit of edge going back to the Third Grade Takeover, and most felt it was time to get over it. The antagonists probably felt the same way, but simply couldn't bring themselves to apologise. Both sides wanted the club to do well, but it was like the Hatfields and the McCoys; by now it was unlikely anyone could actually remember where and why the bad blood started in the first place. As luck would have it, the Centenary was just around the corner and this outstanding weekend was the final curative for grudges that had been held far too long.

The tours were an outstanding success; the Seniors got invited to the USA and Canada, Britain, South Africa (the full club membership was polled before this invitation was taken up in 1975) and to a variety of high-end games in New Zealand over the decade; each time they acquitted themselves well on the park and were outstanding ambassadors off it.

Coaches were, by now, promoted from within. It was a bugbear of Keith Nelson's that he felt an outside coach was looking for results that would keep his name in the mix for an Auckland gig, but was never prepared to push hard enough to complete the deal. Keith actually became one of the first player-coaches and would be one of the few who didn't actually win a Gallaher Shield despite a few close calls; it was probably the only unfulfilled ambition of his rugby life.

The drought was finally broken in 1976, when the coach was 10,000km away on final day. Bryan Williams was with the All Blacks in Bloemfontein preparing for the second test but was woken early with the news that the 11-9 win over Otahuhu, sealed with Lin Colling's dropped goal, had done the trick. Buoyed by that result, Williams and Peter Whiting (and the other All Blacks) went out and levelled the series a few hours later.

It was almost as if 617 Squadron had flown over Blake Street. Once the dam was breached, the flow never stopped. The McEvoy Trophy - Gallaher Shield double, which had proved extremely elusive until 1976, was completed by Ponsonby six times in the next 15 years. Three other times they won the McEvoy without the Gallaher, and three times won the main prize but didn't collect the first round one. So in those 15 years Ponsonby bagged at least one of the big two 12 times. Nobody else can match that, except Ponsonby a generation later.

Ponsonby was at the forefront of many changes in Auckland; doing promo ads for sponsors, pushing here, improving on that, always trying to stay on top and actually get better rather than coasting. There were any number of really determined individuals on board, including five of the club's seven double centurions. It was an atmosphere where it was easy to thrive in, but impossible to stand still in.