Unusually for a lock, Lewis was Hiku’s top tryscorer this year, heading off a group that included his 19-year-old son Caleb on the wing, and first five-eighth Kris Palmer.
But to be fair, Lewis’s height, bulk, long stride and strong running mean he’s a loose forward in the Kieran Read mould, who happens to lock the scrum for Hiku.
The fact that Lewis has played a bit of league in his time, and was asked to trial for the Newcastle Knights in his 20s, is portrayed by his hit-ups in both tight and open play — an imposing sight.
First rugby game at age 6Lewis is of Ngati Ruapani and Ngati Porou descent. He was born in 1969 and grew up between Manutuke and the East Coast, playing his first game of rugby at the age of six at Manutuke School.
His father Alan, a staunch YMP player, played on the wing for Poverty Bay, and was one of the five renowned Lewis shearing brothers — who included 1980s champion Larry Lewis — who competed together. Alan Lewis passed away this year, and Horace dedicated the East Coast club final game on Saturday to his father.
Horace was one of a family of five boys and two girls, and while he was growing up his elder brother Mark led the way in family sport. Mark was an athletics champion and a top tryscorer, and was shortlisted for the New Zealand schoolboy rugby team.
Horace and Mark were members of the Gisborne Boys’ High School first 15 in 1985 and 1986 under coaches and mentors Brian Cairns and Dick Glover. Horace’s speed and size were natural assets, and he began to build up his skills.
Horace Lewis began his 129-game first-class rugby career with six games for Poverty Bay in 1987, the year after he left Gisborne Boys’ High.
After moving to Auckland to attend teachers’ college, and playing for Glenfield against the likes of Walter Little and Buck Shelford, he was selected for North Harbour and played 12 games for them during the 1990s. His spell there included games for the North Harbour Colts.
Lewis was 21 when coach Peter Thorburn told him to cut his dreadlocks before boarding the plane to play his debut game for North Harbour against Queensland in 1991.
He marked No.8 Sam Scott-Young in that game.
Their opponents had 13 members of the 1991 Rugby World Cup-winning Australian starting 15, including John Eales, who became a friend of Lewis.
Played for Northern Maori in the Prince of Wales CupThe following year, Lewis was selected for Northern Maori in the Prince of Wales Cup, and for the New Zealand Maori Pacific tour that year. However, he didn’t get past the first game, against Tonga in Nuku’alofa.
“Throughout my career I’d never had injuries, never went off hurt, but this time was different,” Lewis said.
“I broke my arm against a Tongan head. The bone was poking out. Eric Rush told me I couldn’t go off or I’d be sent home from the tour. So he pushed it back in and it was strapped up. No pain for the rest of the game, but once the adrenalin wore off it really hurt.
“The hospital set the arm and I was sent home anyway.”
After that, Lewis started seeing the rest of New Zealand, as well as playing sevens. The 1993 season found him down in Otago, where he played for both the province and an Otago select.
He was back at North Harbour in 1995, and the next year went to Hawke’s Bay, where he played for the Hastings Sports Club, and represented the province and Central Vikings between 1996 and 1998.
In 1999, North Harbour called him back. He played one first-class game for them, and then the squad went on a tour of the East Coast.
“That made me homesick,” Lewis said.
“The 1990s had been wonderful, playing rugby with and against some players and characters I really enjoyed and respected . . . Eric Rush, Buck Shelford, Michael Jones, Zinzan Brooke, Apollo Perelini, Josh Kronfeld, Gordon Falcon, Norm Berryman.
“But it was time for me to come back to the Coast, although I continued to play club rugby with Hastings Sports until 2001.”
