Horowhenua’s only All Black
Hohepa Jacob features heavily in the Horowhenua Rugby Union’s history books.
But it’s the former All Black’s nickname, Harry, etched in the walls of its new community rugby centre that opened this month.
Jacob’s great-grandchildren will be at the Levin Domain on Saturday, when the men in blue, red and white run out against Wairarapa during the union’s 125th anniversary celebrations.
He is the only player to have represented the All Blacks and the regional side at the same time, donning the black jersey on eight occasions in 1920. He was not available to travel with the touring 1922 team and declined selection for the 1923 series against New South Wales.
The loose forward’s first game in Horowhenua colours came in 1911, as a 16-year-old, before retiring in 1927.
Shortly after his debut, Jacob went to war, fighting with the Ma¯ ori contingent on the battlefields at Gallipoli. He also fought in Somme, Messines and upon the field of death at Chunuk Bair. He lived to tell the tale.
It was in the trenches he earned the nickname ‘‘Harry’’, the union’s rugby assistant Cameron Prouting said.
When he enlisted to the Ma¯ ori battalion, there was already another soldier named Hohepa. To avoid confusion, officials told him: ‘‘You can be Harry. That’s close enough’’. The tale is retold in the union’s 125th anniversary book, Continuing in Jacob’s Shadow, named after Jacob. Compiled by historian Clive Akers, it follows the union’s centenary book, In Jacob’s Shadow, also written by Akers.
The Hohepa (Harry) Jacob Community Rugby Centre at Levin’s Playford Park was yet another special accomplishment for the union in its milestone year, he said.
It is the first building the union has developed since it built the Levin Domain grandstand in 1961.