He followed the same positional-changing path of his father, who played five-eighths for Ranfurly Shield holders Hawke’s Bay in 1924 before a series of trial matches resulted in him becoming a superstar fullback for the All Blacks later in the year.
Nepia Junior quickly displayed his talents in the HSOB strip with the Gisborne Herald describing him as being “outstanding in the last line of defence in local club rugby”.
His most prominent Poverty Bay appearance was at the Oval on September 30, 1950, when he captained the rep side against the Olympians side captained by his 45-year-old father.
It was the first time a father had played against his son in a first-class match in New Zealand and the fixture made Nepia Senior the country’s oldest first-class player.
Both men played at fullback.
The Herald said Nepia Senior was up to the task of playing first-class rugby at his age. He had played a fine match for East Coast against Waikato as recently as 1948.
Earlier in the 1950 season, he had refereed the Poverty Bay-East Coast match and “always kept up with the play”.
“Many of the large crowd came to witness the reappearance of the old master and nothing about his play disappointed – except perhaps his goalkicking.”
The veteran kicked only one goal from five attempts.
The newly formed Olympians, Poverty Bay’s Barbarians-type club playing in a black and yellow strip and featuring mainly former and present rep players, won the match 17 to 11.
A replacement for the Olympians was Poverty Bay (and HSOB) All Blacks great Tiny White, who replaced Poverty Bay selector AE Valentine who broke his wrist.
Another (former) All Black who turned out for the Olympians was lock and prop Harry Fraser, who played for Hawke’s Bay, Auckland and Waikato.
Another prominent Olympian was Jim Sheratt, the prolific try-scoring winger for the Kiwi army rugby team who toured Europe after World War II. His 22 tries in 28 matches remains a record for a New Zealand winger on a European tour.
Sheratt, who played for Wellington before the war and for Wellington and Auckland after, originated from Gisborne.
Future All Blacks second five-eighth Brian Fitzpatrick (also a HSOB player) played for Poverty Bay.
Nepia Junior tragically died in November 1954 while serving in the Malayan Emergency. Sergeant Nepia was killed in an accident in Singapore where he was buried.
He was one of 27 deceased New Zealand military personnel repatriated from Malaysia and Singapore in 2018.
HSOB know of at least six club members who were killed in World War II. They were Stuart Corson (coach), John Dixey (1936 captain), Victor Kutia, Pat Lyons (played in the first HSOB side to win the senior championship in 1937), Ronald Newman and Gilbert Redstone.
The centenary starts on Friday with a meet and greet at the HSOB clubrooms. Squash, football, netball and rugby (HSOB v Ngātapa) games will be played on Saturday, followed by a cake-cutting and official dinner at which Dame Susan Devoy is guest speaker. The centenary will end with a Sunday brunch and catch-up.
