The 1976 Waikato rugby team. Dene Mullins is front-left. Photo / Kenneth Taylor Photography
Former Waikato rugby halfback Dene Mullins was a regular in the Te Awamutu rugby scene during the 1970s and he remembers his time on the field fondly.
Born in Rotorua in 1954, Mullins spent his early years on a farm in Reporoa before moving to Kāwhia halfway through his first year of primary school.
“My parents bought a dairy and cabin holiday park. So, we were out there for a couple of years,” says Mullins.
“They were told that Kāwhia was going to be the Mt Maunganui of the west coast but it didn’t really pan out that way.”
Mullins recalls that they would play the odd rugby tournament as well as at lunchtimes on the field as “it was the only thing we used to do”.
After a few years they moved into Te Awamutu where Mullins attended Pekerau Primary School.
His father Doug was a truck/bus driver and mechanic who worked for Hodson Motors for a long time before moving on to Self Source horse floats.
“My mum [June] got a job at the Tokanui Hospital. She started working in the laundry and then put herself through nursing school to become a psychiatric nurse when she was in her 40s. She was a pretty amazing lady and worked out there until she was 65.”
Mullins joined the Te Awamutu United side, playing barefoot rugby as well as for his school team.
He went on to attend Te Awamutu Intermediate School where he made the Te Awamutu Gwynne Shield side two seasons in a row out of the United club.
Here he first played alongside longtime friend, as well as future Waikato and Māori All Black fullback/first five-eighth, Andy Baker, and Dave Strachan (brother of All Black Ant).
“When I went to Te Awamutu College, I decided I wanted to play for their teams. I started off in their 4th XV during third form, then went through the grades - 3rd XV, 2nd XV then finally the 1st XV in 1971. Andy Baker was in that team as well, he was a bit of a star in those days, that’s for sure,” Mullins said.
“I’d always been a halfback and when I left school, Te Awamutu Old Boys asked me to come down and join the club. So I played for their third-grade team [under-21] in ‘72.”
Halfway through the season, the 17-year-old Mullins was asked to play a Sunday match for the Old Boys senior team.
His performance skyrocketed him into the senior starting line-up from then until 1978.
Former Waikato and Te Awamutu Old Boys teammate Bill Bartie remembers the injection that Mullins brought into the senior side.
“Deno came into the Te Awamutu Old Boys team quite early. He played a friendly game and scored one or two tries - he was outstanding,” says Bartie.
“He just put the team together. We had fairly good forwards, we had good backs and he was the link in the middle. He could make or break a game. He’d zip around the scrum and score a try.”
That same year saw Mullins gain rep honours, playing for Waikato Under-18s under coach and former All Black Bill Birtwistle.
“I had watched him play for the Te Awamutu Peace Cup team [in 1967], amazing sidestep and pace. He was a good coach too, very calm and direct,” says Mullins.
Within Mullins’ six-year tenure with Te Awamutu Old Boys he also represented the Te Awamutu Rugby Sub-Union Peace Cup team.
It had been an established side so it took Mullins several years to even get onto the reserves bench.
In 1975, he represented the New Zealand Colts (under-21) on three occasions, and on their short tour of the New Zealand provinces, he faced a Waikato side containing Bartie.
The Colts took the victory, and the match would become one of Mullins’ many career highlights.
“That’s what you strive for - getting selected for a New Zealand team was a bit of a buzz and seeing that silver fern on the black jersey was a buzz. [It] made you understand how the real All Blacks feel when they pick up their jersey.”
The following year saw Mullins called upon by the Waikato team, where he became Mooloo man #715.
“I only played four games, then I played for the Waikato Bs for a couple of seasons [1977-1978] before shooting off overseas,” he says.
“Waikato had Kevin Greene, Doug Phillips and Larry Greene in those days; they were the top halfbacks. So, it was always a battle getting up there.
“[One of my four games was] against Taranaki and they had the likes of Graham Mourie and Dave Loveridge. It was amazing to play against one of the best halfbacks in the country, if not the world, at that stage. It was pretty hard yakka but looking back it was a good experience.
“Growing up in the Waikato, it was always a good thing to put on the colours and to be involved in the senior team - rubbing shoulders with some of the guys you look up to.”
Several years of tried-and-true combinations within the Te Awamutu Old Boys side saw them win the Has Catley Trophy (in memory of the former Waikato centurion and All Black who died in 1975) in 1978, the first time it was on offer.
Although Te Awamutu Old Boys had finished first equal with Hamilton Old Boys, they became the first name engraved on the trophy as they had beaten HOB earlier in the competition.
After the 1978 season in New Zealand, Mullins set off for London, England where he teamed up with fellow Kiwis in the London New Zealand team.
“I ran into John O’Connor in London, a prop who had come to TA from Auckland for one season. He had played New Zealand Juniors and NZ Trials,” Mullins said.
“John was playing in Italy at the time and he teed up a job for me in Reggio Emilia. I had a season playing there which was pretty good. It was a good experience, they were only a second-division side but at the end of the season they gave me a thousand bucks, or a million lira in those days.”
Mullins then returned to play for London New Zealand where he was selected for Middlesex, a side containing the likes of local clubs Harlequins, London Irish and London Welsh.
“We went on a tour to Italy and had four games there. I think I only played two games but it was a good little trip. That was quite cool meeting a lot of those guys.”
After around three years, 1982 saw Mullins make his way back to the Southern Hemisphere, spending a year in Australia.
“I just played for a local Sydney club, Drummoyne and [headed back to New Zealand] at the end of ‘82,” he says.
“I moved to Tokoroa. Me and my partner at the time bought a takeaway cum lunch bar as Tokoroa was a booming town at that stage, knocking on the door of 20,000 people.
“We had that for about three years and while I was there I played rugby for Tokoroa Pirates. I got coached by another ex-Te Awamutu Old Boys man Tony Edgar. He was a flanker when I was playing there in the ‘70s.”
The 1983 Tokoroa Pirates team, containing Mullins as well as Waikato reps Peter Kaua and Paul Koteka, made it through to the Has Catley Trophy final against Hamilton Marist but were unsuccessful in their challenge.
“I had another couple of seasons but it started getting tough. So, I called it quits and started playing social rugby there for the senior reserves. I was about 40 by the time I stopped playing for them.”
Now based in Hamilton, the 68-year-old recently retired in November.
“For the last 20-odd years I was selling motorcars at Fairview Motors in Cambridge. I’ve made myself available though and sometimes they call you in if they need backup or to fill in for guys on holiday.”
Looking back over his journeyman career, Mullins says that some of the best players he played alongside were Te Awamutu and Waikato reps Kiwi Searancke and Bartie.
“One of the years in the Waikato Bs, Wayne Smith was in our side and he was pretty amazing even at that early stage before he went down to Canterbury. He was a skilful athlete - it was amazing to have him outside me,” reminisces Mullins.
“Playing inside Andy Baker too, you could chuck him any bloody thing. Sometimes I’d throw some pretty bad passes under pressure and he’d just scoop them up and carry on. He had hands like glue, just amazing.”