Kuiti keen to restore pride in the Wellington jumper
IT’S appropriate Mike Kuiti lives just a spiral kick away from his old field of dreams.
The former Kiwis backrower, 51, played at some storied stadiums in his 12-year professional career, but none hold quite the same memories as the Hutt Recreation Ground.
Kuiti is in the windscreen business these days. He and wife Sue run Supreme Screens and service just about all of Wellington’s major car yards. But the connection to rugby league remains, as coach of Wellington.
He played 59 games, between 1981 and 1993, in the Orcas’ colours and was part of the 1988 team that beat Auckland for the first time in 75 years and the 1990 side which defeated Great Britain 30-22, to record Wellington’s only win over an international touring side.
Not forgetting the countless appearances for an Upper Hutt Tigers team, littered with players like himself whose offseason’s were spent at professional clubs in England. How times have changed.
‘‘I do think back on the Upper Hutt days a lot, in terms of where Upper Hutt and league in general are now and my sons or guys that are playing the game now don’t believe you could go to the Hutt Rec on a Wednesday night and it would be eight-deep and the place would be packed. Most club games were like that each week and it was good football as well,’’ Kuiti said.
To be eligible for the Kiwis back then you needed a New Zealand club team, which meant that, aside from locals like himself and fellow Tiger Morvin Edwards, blokes such as Craig Innes, James Leuluai, Emosi Koloto, Esene Faimalo and Charlie McAllister suddenly appeared in the Wellington competition.
Kuiti was 26 when he made his test debut, against France at Carcassonne in 1989. Wellington’s best players now leave town in their teens and if an NRL club hasn’t come knocking by the time you’re 20, they never will. ‘‘It makes it tough,’’ Kuiti said. His Orcas suffered a 38-18 loss to Canterbury earlier this month. Kuiti hopes to have better personnel come the start of the national competition, in August, but the truth is the depth of talent isn’t what it was in his day.
He talks enthusiastically about what’s achievable, but the real glint in his eye is reserved for days of yore.
He had been a battling reservegrader at the Tigers, until firstteam coaches Steve Brewster and Kevin Tamati told him he should be in their side.
He’d thought playing prems was beyond him, but within a few years he was touring Great Brit- ain and France with the Kiwis. He roomed all tour with Hugh McGahan and had the honour of leading the haka on debut with Sammy Stewart.
Kuiti’s silky ball-playing skills were always better suited to the English competition, than Australia’s, and he played his part in one of the big stories of the era. Already on the books at Leeds, Kuiti was told to pick coach David Ward up from the airport.
The official story was that Ward was in Wellington on holiday, but he’d actually come to sign All Blacks fullback John Gallagher.
‘‘He was a good guy and I spent quite a bit of time with him off the field. It just obviously didn’t work out for him,’’ Kuiti said of Gallagher and his code switch.
He knows they’ll never be eight-deep at the Hutt Rec again, but if he can restore a bit of pride to the Wellington jumper then Kuiti will be happy.