2002 Old Golds
Champion team
FROM heartbreak to utter dominance. North Otago rugby had experienced devastating lows at the end of both the 2000 and 2001 seasons as it was beaten — at home in Oamaru, too — in the final of the old NPC third division.
Losing to East Coast in 2000 was a shame but tempered by the fact the Ruatoria boys had become the nation’s sweethearts, and that the Old Golds had spent 25 years or so in the FAR lower reaches of New Zealand rugby, so another year without a trophy was hardly intimidation.
Defeat to hated rival South Canterbury in the 2001 final, though? Oof. That one hurt — still hurts, if we are honest.
Were the Old Golds destined to be forever the bridesmaids? Would they (unfairly) be labelled chokers again? Had their glimpse of glory come and gone? Er, no.
What followed was one of the great seasons by a provincial side in New Zealand history.
North Otago utterly laid waste to the competition in 2002, winning all eight roundrobin games then smashing South Canterbury (thanks for coming) 5810 in the semifinal and HorowhenuaKapiti 4319 in the final to earn promotion to the second division for the first time.
It was a stable, experienced and ridiculously talented team that had no weakness, and it set team records for points (454, at a scandalous 45.4 per game) and tries in a season (62), and individual season records for points (150, Simon Porter) and tries (14, Pila Fifita).
‘‘It would have been a good team that beat us,’’ fullback Luke Herden told the Otago Daily
this week.
‘‘There was a lot of talent, and guys who had had some higher honours like our Tongan internationals.
‘‘We had no fear and nothing to lose and we all just knew what we could do. It was really an awesome team.
‘‘We were given full rein to run from our line if we wanted to — you had to get it right or we’d be in trouble — and we were just unharnessed.
‘‘There was flair and strength. We were powerful and we were fast and we were tough. It was a really rounded team all across the paddock.’’
HERDEN was part of a group of seven Dunedinbased players who had joined the Old Golds when the rules on imports were slightly more relaxed.
The King’s High School old boy loved the whole experience.
‘‘That was a great crew. It was always an occasion to get in the
15. Luke Herden
‘‘Spook’’ was built like a forward but could run with the best of them. Returned to captain North Otago to Meads Cup glory in 2010. Deputy principal at St Clair School. Can still carry a keg.
14. Toetu Palamo
Dunedin/Harbour flyer scored 15 tries in 25 to Auckland. Whereabouts unknown.
13. Fepikou Tatafu
Turned up to play for Maheno the previous year and was unbelievably good. Went on to play 23 tests for Tonga, where he lives with his family.
12. Mike Mavor
Could easily have played at a higher level but settled for a remarkably durable career in the Old Golds midfield. Turned into a fine coach and still lives in Weston, where he works as a tradie after years in the Oamaru stone industry.
11. Pila Fifita
Absolute definition of a blockbusting winger. Played in England then Japan before settling on the Gold Coast. Son Jojo plays in the NRL for the Titans.
10. Simon Porter
Classy operator who was third division player of the year in 2002 and later played for Counties. Now known as New Zealand rugby’s ‘‘super agent’’ and boss of Halo Sport in Auckland. Married twotime World Cup winner Hannah Myers.
9. Ryan McCarthy
One of the unsung heroes of the campaign. Super quick and a serial winner who claimed club titles with Waikite (Bay of Plenty), Ponsonby (Auckland) and Southern (Dunedin) as well as Citizens Shields with Athletic and Valley. Discovered CrossFit and is now, as the kids say, absolutely jacked. Teaches at St Paul’s in Hamilton.
8. Regan Laughton
‘‘Chief’’ hailed from Southland but made his name in a gold jersey as a magnificent allround loose forward. Still lives in the Haka Valley, where he works in the livestock industry.
7. Ross Hay
‘‘Bones’’ appeared to be in his prime in the championship year but had about a million years to come. The peerless flanker finished on 114 firstclass games for the Old Golds, and runs a sheep and beef farm near Oamaru.
6. Ray Ofisa
From Dunedin club player of the year to Heartland star. Ofisa went on to play over 100 games for Irish club Connacht, and played one test for Samoa.
5. Campbell Mackenzie
Gifted local lock who made the old Divisional XV twice and ended up playing and coaching in Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Canada and the US. Plays a mean guitar and builds a good house, and had a year of chemotherapy and radiation while battling cancer through the pandemic. Back in Oamaru.
4. Nathan Archibald
The rugged Green Island lock ended up in the Province That Shall Not Be Named, where he has taught at Timaru Boys’ for years.
3. Atelea Katoa
Oldschool prop did the hard yards in 58 games for the Old Golds. Still in Oamaru, where he is a freezing worker. Son Tui was a schoolboy star then on the Warriors books, and now plays rugby in Australia.
2. Barry Fox
Widely considered the greatest hooker in North Otago history, the captain played 84 games in 11 seasons. Still in Oamaru, where he is a bigwig in the world of livestock sales with PGG Wrightson.
1. Hotili Asi
‘‘Hotty’’ had been the third division player of the year in 2001. Played 57 games for North Otago, scoring a staggering 25 tries. Still in Oamaru, where he works as a social worker for Oranga Tamariki, but is looking at moving to Palmerston North.
Gary Byrne, Mike Rowe, Gary Ford, Regan Gilder, Kisione Ahotaeiloa, Ray Gutsell, Tevita Asi and Steve Kotua were the regular reserves.
van and go up there, even for trainings during the week, and there was just such a good vibe about it.
‘‘Oamaru was such a welcoming place and we just really were made to feel part of it from the start.
‘‘It was my first real chance of representing someone outside my club. And it was just really . . . it’s hard to describe.
‘‘You had so many different cultures. You had your farmers, your Polynesians, and the Dunedin crew, who were largely students. I enjoyed learning about other parts of life.’’
The tone was set by coaches Glenn Moore and Barry Matthews, Herden said.
‘‘Growler’’ Moore did not suffer fools but he had a great
ability to get the players on his waka.
‘‘Glenn just set the tone on game day. He knew what he wanted to do, and he had his ideas, and he managed to deliver them to the team in such a way that we all bought into them.
‘‘He was open to being challenged. He liked to get your thoughts. That’s what the top coaches do.
‘‘I always remember his prematch chats at Summit Wool Spinners. We’d be sitting in our chairs, waiting for him to say something, and more often than not he would just look at us and say, ‘Let’s go.’ That sent a shiver down the spine.’’
Herden appeared in the most famous photograph from the 2002 season when a local newspaper (yes, it was the convinced him to hoist a couple of beer kegs in his day job as a courier driver.
While Herden was something of an outsider that season, the man with the captaincy was as local as they come.
Barry Fox, from North Otago farming stock, was in the middle of a long, virtually unbroken run as the team’s hooker and captain and target of the ‘‘Light ‘em up, Foxy’’ chant that sprang forth constantly from a revived North Otago Rugby Supporters Club.
He was there — and, yes, those might even have been tears in his eyes — when the Old Golds were beaten in both the 2000 and 2001 finals, and acknowledged it provided some motivation going into 2002.
‘‘It was certainly in my mind, and not just going into finals day but throughout the whole season,’’ Fox said.
‘‘We wanted to make sure we were better than we had been.
So, personally, I had done a lot more fitness work to get ready for the season, and you could see the energy levels and the hard work guys were doing.’’
WHILE Fox and his beefy props did their jobs, and the locks and loose forwards and inside backs were all class, the Old Golds ran amok with the likes of Fepikou Tatafu and Pila Fifita in the backs.
Big scores were racked up and every opponent was put to the sword.
‘‘We just had the ability and confidence to have a go from