Swansong match for Uawa vet Mathias

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: John Mathias and son Charlie in the Uawa colours. John, 48, plays his last game for Uawa this Saturday before returning to the Mainland. Picture by Kirsten Mathias

He and his boy came in, did a job and did it well.

Veteran tight-forward John Mathias — who is shortly to return to Otago after three seasons with Ngāti Porou East Coast club rugby titans Uawa — played for five different clubs down south over 30 years but won his first club rugby title proper with Uawa in 2021.

John, 48, manages Whangara Farms and had the pleasure of playing alongside his son Charlie for the then-defending NPEC champions Uawa in a pre-season game against Enterprise Cars OBM at the Oval in Gisborne last year.

Mathias senior will bow out for Tolaga Bay’s finest against Ngatapa at Paddy’s Park this Saturday.

Former-Gisborne Boys’ High School and Otago BHS first 15 front-row forward Charlie, now 18 and with the Kaikorai Demons in Dunedin, said: “Uawa have great supporters and they took us in as if we’d been here for years.

“Every other conversation is about rugby between me and him. He tries to get better and teach me things all the time, which is awesome. Rugby will always be a big part of his life. If he hadn’t found Uawa he’d be itchy — wouldn’t know what to do with himself.”

NPEC front-row coach and Uawa teammate Laman Davies has a high opinion of Mathias.

“He’ll speak when he needs to speak but otherwise he just gets on with the job,” he said. “You want guys like John next to you in big games — no-nonsense and honest.”

John, the man of the hour, well remembers the 1991 season in which he made his first appearance in the top club flight for Otago’s Gimmerburn-Patearoa.

“I’d been there for a couple of seasons in the under 21s, and as juniors we were allowed to play three games for our seniors to help them out when they were short. Man I was just a wee fish in a big pond back then.

As for this Saturday, John said: “all about the rugby, not about me.”