Bruce Middleton, seen here coaching rugby at Collegiate, has been made a life member of champion Border rugby club. Photo / Tracey Grant
This is the first of a weekly column on Whanganui rugby provided by WRFU life member, John (JB) Phillips.
Provided there are no Covid-19 hiccups, the 2022 Tasman Tanning Whanganui premier and senior club rugby championship seasons will start on Saturday, April 23.
There will, however, be three weeks of pre-season knockout play involving five premier and six senior teams in the two grades, starting on Saturday week, April 2.
Marist have elected not to participate in the premier KO competition with last season's champion senior side, Hunterville, playing in premiers for the knockout fixtures.
Border, Marist Buffalos, Ratana, Marton and Taihape have not entered the senior KO competition.
The premier and senior championships will consist of the same teams as last year — six in the premiers and 12 in the seniors.
There are home and away premier matches before semifinals on July 9 and finals at Cooks Gardens the following Saturday,
The senior competition has been split into two six-team divisions — Town and Country — with Taihape, Utiku OB, Ruapehu, Marton and Ratana in the Country section and Kaierau, Pirates, Marist Celtic and Buffalos, Border and Counties in the Town group.
There are five qualifying rounds, starting on April 23 in each division, with the top three sides in each group contesting the championship section and the remaining sides in the consolation.
The Top 6 and Bottom 6 series start on May 28 with the semis on July 9 and finals on July 16.
Everyone involved in WRFU premier and senior club rugby this season must have a Covid vaccine pass and spectator attendances will depend on prevailing government regulations.
• Footnote — At the time of writing there could be changes to the pre-season knockout series.
Whanganui lost a fine three-quarter recently with the death of 65-year-old Murdoch McKenzie.
Murdoch Uenuku Patumoana Kevin McKenzie repped 27 times for Whanganui in 1977-78. playing against the 1978 visiting New South Wales (lost 18-0) and Australian Wallaby (lost 8-3) teams.
Most of his matches were on the wing but he was also a sound centre and a handy goal-kicker.
Coming from the 1976 champion Wanganui HSOB club, Murdoch first played for the union under selectors Brian Murphy, Eric Weir and Jim Wallace in 1977, kicking a conversion in a 26-9 Ranfurly Shield loss to Manawatu.
The NZ Rugby Almanack described him as "showing real promise".
With Jim Wallace as sole selector the following season the Butcher Boys were unbeaten in the NPC Div 2 championship before losing 10-7 to Bay of Plenty in Rotorua and 19-18 to Waikato at Spriggens Park in the last two games.
Murdoch, who scored a try in a thrilling 28-25 home win over Wellington and also played well against the Aussies, again received Almanack mention as "a reliable winger".
In addition to helping WHSOB win the penultimate Wanganui-Rangitikei combined club title in 1976, Murdoch was also in the 1987 side that went through the union-wide championship unbeaten, scoring 349 points and conceding 42 (average score of 15-3) after beating Marist 12-6 in the 14th and title-deciding final He was also a fine tennis player, winning club titles at both Turakina and Wanganui.
Despite annoying Covid-19 interruptions the Whanganui Rugby Football Union emerged from the 2021 season with a surplus of $8471.
In his eighth annual report to the union's recent 134th AGM, chairman Jeff Phillips told the well-attended meeting:
"Even in this challenging environment, Whanganui is fortunate enough to have a supportive and passionate rugby community as well as good relationships with our stakeholders.
"With great leadership and staff, I am confident our union is in very good shape to work through future challenges.
"Financially the union is in a good position and our investment in the union offices through the Whanganui Community Charitable Trust is an asset for the future, a decision we made three years ago."
Jeff said for the first time since he was appointed chairman (in 2015) the board had budgeted for a substantial deficit but cost savings by CEO Bridget Belsham and her office staff helped turn it into a small profit.
The champion Border club has rightfully elevated one of its finest players to life membership.
Loose forward Bruce Middleton, who was a reserve for the New Zealand XV that beat the 1980 touring Fijians 33-0 on Eden Park was awarded life membership at the club's recent annual meeting.
Bruce, a Waverley farmer, played 119 times for Whanganui between 1974 and 1984 including captaining the Butcher Boys in 1981-83.
He played 144 first-class fixtures including matches for the NZ Juniors in 1973, NZ Under-23 in 1975, NZ Colts in 1976 plus for NZ Evergreens in 1972, NZ Harlequins in 1981 and NZ Barbarians in 1984.
Bruce was a NZ trialist in 1979-80-82 and was a North Island rep, in 1981, the year he played for a Manawatu XV.
In 1982 he was chosen in a NZ XV to play in the Queensland Centenary and the following season was in the President's XV that played Auckland.
His career with Whanganui, often under skipper Ray Stafford, another fine loose forward, included Spriggens Park matches against touring Fiji in 1974 (lost 28-9), Tonga (lost 18-15) in 1975, New South Wales (lost 180-90) and Australia (;psy 8-3) both in 1978, Fiji in 1980 (won 16-11) and was skipper against the British Isles (lost 47-15) in 1983.
He has also played against the Lions in 1977 when Wanganui-King Country were whipped 60-9 in Taumarunui.
Bruce repped in two unsuccessful Ranfurly Shield challenges — v Manawatu (26-9) in 1977 and Wellington (61-6) in 1982.
Since his retirement from first class rugby he has made numerous appearances in New Zealand and overseas for Classic All Black teams.
He won two Whanganui premier club championships with Waverley who beat Kaierau 13-9 in the 1980 union combined final with and also in the Whanganui-Rangitikei combined winning side in 1977.
Bruce Middleton was a Whanganui selector-coach with Bruce Hodder and Neil Porter in 1998 and with Porter in 1995.
A highlight in the career of Bruce Middleton was helping Whanganui beat the visiting 1980 Fijians 16-11 on Spriggens Park.
It was the opening match of the tour and Bruce had a solid game under coach Jim Wallace who was to become a North Island selector.
It was one of the few times that Whanganui beat a touring international team although there had been a 14-11 win over the 1951 Fijians when Tech winger Allan Webby scored a try and kicked two penalties and a conversion with Marist second five Morrie O'Connell also scoring a try.
There were also two tries in the 1980 triumph, from Waverley prop Brent Dallison and Marton Athletic winger Richard Murray, with Utiku OB fullback Morie Griffin landing two penalties and a conversion.
It was a strong Whanganui team featuring All Black backs Bill Osborne (centre) and Andrew Donald (half back) and North Island forwards Graeme Coleman (lock) and Bruce Middleton (flanker).
The winning team comprised Morrie Griffin; Richard Murray, Bill Osborne (Kaierau), Shaun Crowley Snr (Marist); David Ngatai (Waiouru), Kerry O'Hara (Pirates); Andrew Donald (Ohakune); Ray Stafford capt (Marton OB); Gavin England (Hunterville), Graeme Coleman (Marton OB), Wally Browne (Pirates), Bruce Middleton (Waverley); Brent Dallison (Waverley), Mike Gordon (Ohakune), Bo Cox (Wanganui HSOB).
The Fijians won only four of 12 matches on tour.
It came as no surprise that a large crowd attended the service for 72-year-old Brian ("Porky") Green that was held at the Hunterville Domain, home of the town's Whanganui senior champion rugby club in early January.
Dairy farmer Brian, Wanganui RFU President in 2013-14 and a board member between 2015-18, who passed away on December 31, was an active member of the Hunterville community.
His history with the town's nine-times champion rugby club started as a junior player when he also helped his late father Tom prepare the playing field each week and assisted in the building of the grandstand.
Later he played in the club's senior front row, served on the committee and emulated his father by being elected a life member after serving as president.
Porky also coached at the club, was an active referee and a club delegate to the WRFU for many years, served on the Rangitikei sub union and was a member of the Pourewa Rugby Club (brief merger of the Hunterville and Marton clubs) for the few years it operated in the late 1990s.
He was also a club cricketer, keen fisherman, and had shares in racehorses with one of them (Rue Cler) winning at Awapuni the day before he died in Whanganui Hospital, having been unwell at periods for a considerable time.
In the community Porky was a member of the RSA, an active marshal for the town's popular annual Shepherd's Shemozzle and Christmas parade for many years including pitching in as Santa Claus for the town's school and fire brigade.
His services to Hunterville were recognised during the 2017 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards when he was one of 13 recipients around the country to receive a medal in the local heroes category.
Kiwibank CEO Paul Brock wrote — "Hunterville, a rural village that could easily have become a ghost town, still stands proudly in Rangitikei, a huge amount of this is down to their local hero Porky Green."
WRFU attendees at the funeral service included union patron and life member Arch Roebuck, president Tommy Kilgarriff, chairman Jeff Phillips and CEO Bridget Belsham.
Others in attendance included former union president and ex-rep selector Eric Weir and rep match centurions Bob Barrell and Adrian Bull.