Ponsonby Rugby Club

It had to happen at some time, of course, and there were even signs in 2011 that the time wasn’t too far away, but it still felt a little raw in 2012 when Ponsonby watched someone else lift the Gallaher Shield following a final we were not involved in. The greatest period any club has ever known in Auckland rugby was over, and the only remaining question was when ‘Dave’ would return to his spiritual home for the 34th time.

Most of the old faithful expected a few leaner years to pass before that happened.

Those scenarios played out as the Premier side, weakened by the loss of the stalwarts who had formed the core for years passing into retirement, finally left that plateau nobody else ever had a hope of reaching. There wasn’t a sudden plunge into the lower reaches of the table by any means, but a Gallaher Shield win in the 2012-16 period would have been something of a surprise.

Before that, of course, were two more Shield wins, running the string to a mind-boggling eight. That’s a sequence reached only rarely anywhere in New Zealand, and since most of the others have happened in smaller unions Ponsonby’s effort really has no true counterpart. Smaller unions tend to have lower player churns, players do not leave one club to play for another, star players do not, as a rule, leave to take up overseas contracts and there are simply not the number of real contenders in any given season that the Metro clubs face.

Perhaps the closest approach was by All Black-laden, rep-heavy Petone teams between 1967 and 1976, as they won five straight Jubilee Cups and eight in ten years to completely dominate the Wellington club scene. The two clubs are similar in their origins (both were born in working class suburbs well over 100 years ago) and achievements (more championships, All Blacks and rep players than anyone else in their cities), so the comparison is a fair one.

Ponsonby folk could live with the decline, but parts of it rankled. There was, for example, a dire day in 2015 when Grammar TEC gave us a 12-67 hiding; it was the first time we had even given up 50 points in any match and naturally the margin was the worst the fans had to endure. Two years later there was, if possible, a worse one against Suburbs, a 0-36 loss that really hurt because that day Ponsonby hardly had possession inside Suburbs’ 22, let alone threatened to score. But if that display was a shocker, plans already laid to turn things around were starting to bear fruit.

Nathan Kemp, the former captain, had returned home to take on the Director of Rugby role (in reality it was almost a CEO position) and he knew an instant fix wouldn’t work. He gave it three years, and 2017 was the middle of the three. Ponsonby probably should have made the Gallaher Shield final that year but ran out of ideas in a winnable semi-final against Varsity. Nevertheless, signs were there.

The last game under Kemp’s reign, in 2018, was against the same University side and this time there were no mistakes as Ponies broke what was starting to look like a drought. Hardly anyone had a career which covered the decade so only Rocky Khan and Willie Uili knew what winning felt like, but the reception back at the Springs was the sort which could set smouldering ambition alight. A repeat in 2019, this time with Joe Royal back among the troops, was harder fought – Marist was one score away from putting the game to bed early in the second half but never got those crucial points – but just as well received.

Lower down things were changing. A shrinking competition offered fewer options below first team, and the age-grades, so long regarded as a Ponsonby preserve, stopped yielding the fruit enjoyed for decades. The EPs carried on; they were so rugby wise that even as 50 approached for some and 40 loomed for almost all, they could still win from seemingly impossible positions.

Perhaps the biggest advance came towards the end of the decade and it involved the Fillies. Some real talent, almost all of it young, arrived within a couple of years and for the first time in what seemed like ages Ponsonby was more than just competitive. It was clear, even after a wrenching loss to Marist in the 2019 semi-final, that better times were just over the rise.

Financially the club was in a good place and even if the Council kept touting ideas that seemed faintly ridiculous for Western Springs a second 15-year lease had been organised and several smart clauses inserted therein. The quality administrators who had done so nobly in the 2000s were still around and, for the most part, still active.

As the decade wound down Ponsonby was a good place to be playing your rugby, and the future only looked bright.

Making sense of the last 11 years