GBHS, led by loosehead prop Jamie Vette, featured future captain Joe Duffey at hooker, goal-kicking tighthead prop Josh Maynard, 2001 Boys’ High skipper and Super 12-winning Chiefs captain Craig Clarke, and current Boys’ High head coach Duane Hihi at second five-eighth.
The opposition included international scrum-anchor-to-be Neemia Tialata, who with hooker Darryl Gore and loosehead prop Otto Rasch formed a front row bigger than that of the All Blacks Wellington College trained against that season.
The game was a 20-20 draw, although Gisborne outscored the home team by three tries to two, courtesy of Maynard, New Zealand Schools representative Vette and centre Te Kori Luteru.
World Cup-winning GBHS head coach Kim Harris recalls the opposition.
“They were bigger than us as a group — it took us a while to subdue them: their powerful centre Anthony Heal scored twice before we could deny them the ball,” said Harris, whose 1993 side won the Moascar Cup and whose ’94 team won every trophy on offer.
“Vette, Duffey and Maynard were the best forwards on the paddock that day.”
College hero Heal played eight games for Ngati Porou East Coast while with the Tokararangi club as a fullback in 2007.
Rasch has had immense respect for Gisborne Boys’ High School rugby since before the 1999 clash in front of a house of 20,000.
“We were gobsmacked by how hard they were physically,” he said.
“We thought, ‘Never mind playing this every week.’
“Joe (Duffey) was built like a brick outhouse, and was fast and tough. Jamie (Vette) was immense in that game — very skilful for a big man. I’d never had to scrummage that hard at schoolboy level and the previous season, we’d played Kelston BHS and Rotorua BHS at the Top 4 . . . 1999 was my third year in the first 15.”
Tialata, who caused the world’s top scrummagers great discomfort over 44 games for the ABs, said: “I remember Jamie chatting away, with his sleeves rolled right up and his socks pulled down to his ankles. The score, 20-all, was a true reflection of the game: Gisborne had great players with huge character. I later played with Jamie and Joe, and we ended up being good mates.”
Former All Black captain and halfback Piri Weepu, who with Tialata coached Wellington College on Saturday, played for the mighty Te Aute College against GBHS at the Rectory in 1999 (a 20-14 win to the visitors) and a 20-8 win to Boys’ High away in 2000.
“We treated the traditional fixture with Gisborne as a test match,” said Weepu, whose elder brother Billy had played against GBHS at Rugby Park in 1993.
“Their crowd created a great atmosphere and they had big, physical teams.
“In those days, with footage not being available and not knowing much about the opposition, teams had a game-plan but tried to create something out of nothing. At halftime, coaches (in our case, former All Black prop Kent Lambert) had a word.
“We had a job to do then as on Saturday, but this year with the floods and roads, it was awesome that Gisborne did the hard yards and came down.
“Rugby brings people together.”
