PREMIER DIVISION 2 MEN'S TROPHIES
The Waka Nathan Cup is awarded to the winner of the pre-season knockout competition among the top eight teams from the previous year’s Premier grade.
The Waka Nathan Cup has different rules governing play when it is a stand-alone competition (interchange rather than outright replacement, number of reserves and a few others) so it is one of those rare competitions played under more than one set of bylaws. Because of the way it has to be conducted, the tournament does not have the impact of the Alan McEvoy Trophy, but it is normally a very good indicator of who might be expected to influence the upcoming season.
Waka Nathan was one of Auckland’s greatest loose forwards, playing 88 matches for the union in a career that stretched from 1959 to 1967. His ability to cover ground was instrumental in Auckland’s successes.
Nathan was also a key member of Otahuhu club teams that won six Gallaher Shields (1959-69), and an outstanding All Black during one of New Zealand rugby’s greatest eras; of Nathan’s 37 matches (14 tests) in black, only one – 0-3 to Newport early in the 1963 tour – was lost. He was a man whose contribution to Māori rugby was both massive and massively important. The famous photo of his try against Canterbury in 1960 which allowed the Ranfurly Shield to be retained was the cover shot for the 1967 version of the Auckland Union history.
By his own efforts he put Māori rugby back in the forefront of the New Zealand game; in his spare time, he gave to his Otahuhu club and the Auckland Union in equal measure and was made a Life Member of both bodies. He was the man chosen to run the ball onto Eden Park before the first-ever World Cup match in 1987 (and he must have enjoyed the way the All Blacks played that day) and was a prominent figure in the New Zealand game at all levels.
This trophy is awarded to the round robin winners of the Premier Division 2 grade.
As a coach, Dave pursued excellence and achieved this from his players. More than a coach, Dave was a mentor, a friend, and always there to lend a hand or ear, making everyone feel valued. He was instrumental in cultivating a culture of belief, innovation, alignment and community at Eden Rugby Club.
In 2021 Dave achieved what many in the rugby fraternity thought impossible - the Club’s first Gallaher Shield victory in its 100 year history. His unwavering belief in the players, emphasis on alignment and dedication to the ‘Eden Way’ transformed the club into a family of winners, producing a record number of representative players.
Dave ended up with an 82% winning record as Premier coach for Eden and in 2021 received the ARU Auckland Premier Coach of the Year award.
Dave’s life was tragically cut short in 2024 aged 44, when he died unexpectedly in his sleep after a flight from Europe. He was in the prime of his life - leaving behind a loving wife, 2 small children, brothers, parents and thriving business.
This trophy is played in remembrance of the impact he left on his club community.
This is the challenge cup for the premier development grade. This is played for at all home games of the team that holds the cup.
The Lawrie Knight Challenge Cup is one of a number of similar trophies which have been presented in recent times and named in commemoration of some of Auckland’s finest players. Each grade now has such a prize, which is defended each time the holder plays a home match – similar to the Ranfurly Shield.
Lawrie Knight is best remembered for one particular moment in a long and distinguished career that ran to 101 first-class matches. That moment, however, is etched into national consciousness for he scored the try late in the fourth test which allowed the All Blacks to beat the 1977 Lions 10-9 at Eden Park and 3-1 in the series.
Lawrie followed the family path through Auckland Grammar School and to the Grammar Old Boys club; from there he was called into the Auckland rep team as a 20-year-old No 8 in 1970. He eventually managed to fit 30 matches for the A team around his medical studies, before leaving Auckland after the 1974 season and settling in Gisborne. He was already an All Black; his first trials had been in 1972, and his first selection was as one of the 15 new players named for the Australian tour in 1974.
For all his ability on the paddock, Knight’s biggest contribution was made away from the playing field. As a doctor, he was an invaluable man in any touring party when expenses only covered 30 players (at most), one manager and one coach. Too many All Blacks had suffered serious and poorly treated injuries as they were bounced from one doctor to another on tour; with Knight in the team, they got consistent and calculated treatment.
Known throughout his career as a fanatical trainer, Knight closed his career in New Zealand rugby by being one of the two-man lineout combo that ran the French ragged in the 1977 Paris test and won the lineout that led to Stu Wilson’s try. He has since resumed contact with his old club, and his contribution to the game is ongoing as of 2023. The man known as ‘Spock’ to his team-mates, after the best-selling American child expert of the day, was a player all respected and many were extremely thankful to have around when their injuries needed urgent attention.
The Peter Fatialofa Memorial is awarded to the winner of the second section of the Premier Development grade, after the competition has split following the completion of the first round.
Finding who donated it, or why, has proved to be a challenge. Normally for a memorial trophy the family of the named person will be involved but Anne Fatialofa, Peter’s widow, knows nothing about the how or why either. There is another Peter Fatialofa Cup out there, contested between Ponsonby and East Tamaki seniors – these were Peter’s two clubs through his years of renown – whenever they meet in the first round of any given season.
Born in Auckland and raised in both New Zealand and Western Samoa, as it was then, Fatialofa emerged onto the Auckland rugby scene in a small way, playing for Grafton in the late 1970s, before moving to Ponsonby.
He won seven Gallaher Shield medals, played 72 matches for Auckland, was the Keeper of the Shield during Auckland’s phenomenal 61-match reign in 1985-93, and came as close as a man could to becoming an All Black without actually getting selected in the mid-1980s. Fatialofa made the switch of allegiance to the land of his ancestors and quickly became one of the main drivers in that country’s emergence from the shadow cast by Fiji and Tonga, who had attended the 1987 World Cup while Samoa had not.
Fatialofa made his Samoan debut in 1988 and within a year had been promoted to the captaincy. Western Samoa qualified for the 1991 World Cup by winning a tournament a year before – Fatialofa scored the winning try against Tonga which sealed their place and later noted: ‘I only went one yard with the ball, but it was the best try of my life.’
In 2019 Fatialofa was inducted to the IRB Hall of Fame; in the group chosen that year were Richie McCaw and Sir Graham Henry, so he was keeping elite company even six years after his passing.
The President’s Cup is awarded to the team which wins the fourth level post-Alan McEvoy Trophy section of Premier competition, or the team that finishes 13th overall.
Donated in 1992, the President's Cup filled a space which had not, until that time, existed. The various ways of determining the Senior rankings below the Gallaher Shield section, which was a lot larger than just four teams, did not previously run to a fourth section except very briefly just before North Harbour left the Auckland RFU umbrella in 1985.
More grades had such a prize at some stage of their existence than didn't: as late as 1975, there were no fewer than five being contested in Senior grades that year. The President's Cup is a variation on the same theme. It was named for the office rather than for any particular holder - in 1992, the President was Eric Boggs, a former Auckland rep and All Black, a coach and selector for Ponsonby and Auckland, a newspaper columnist and a man who always had the game's best interests at heart.
Given the calibre of Auckland's Presidents down the years, any team receiving this trophy will be getting it from one of the true stars of the local game.
