Old boy takes over at Smedley

The new team in charge at Smedley Station and Cadet Training Farm Rob and Jenn Evans and children Jake, 11, Kyla, 9, and Aimee, 7. Photo / Supplied

A former world champion rugby player started work this week as manager of Smedley Station and Cadet Training Farm in Central Hawke's Bay.

Rob Evans, who was a Year 2 cadet at Smedley when he helped New Zealand to victory in the Under-19 Rugby World Cup in Wales in 1999, was appointed with wife Jenn following the departure of Terry and Judy Walters, who had been in charge for 13 of their 19 years at Smedley before moving to Northland in April.

Mr and Mrs Evans' farming career has been around Central Hawke's Bay since they met in 2000, including some time off to concentrate on rugby, in which Rob Evans played almost 50 games for the Hawke's Bay Magpies and also played for the New Zealand Divisional XV.

They leased a property in partnership with Jenn's parents for five years, went from stock manager to operations manager on the 1600ha property Watergreen Tourere and in December 2013 moved to the 560ha deer, sheep and beef property, Clovelly, in the Hatuma area.

They had not intended such an early change, but Mr Evans said going to Smedley is a "once in a lifetime opportunity".

"We heard Terry and Judy were leaving and I asked Jenn if we should have a crack," he said. "Jobs like this don't come along very often.

"Terry was a one-in-million guy. He was stock manager when I was a cadet. Big boots to fill. Everyone has so much respect for the guy and it's an honour to be stepping in after him."

Governed by the Public Trust Office and Howard Estate Advisory Board, and gifted to the Crown almost a century ago for the purposes of agricultural training, the 5054ha Smedley Station winters 28,000 stock units, and has an intake of 11 prospective farmers each year for its two-year cadetships.

"I'd like to think we would be here for at least 10 years," said Mr Evans, expecting it to see children Jake, 11, Kyla, 9, and Aimee, 7, through their schooling years.

Mr Evans was raised on a farm at Culverden, North Canterbury, and moved north with his family to Ohingaiti near Taihape in 1991. His parents have the Mapari Perendale and Romdale Studs, and he boarded at Wanganui City College before being accepted into Smedley for the 1998 intake.

"It was a bit different then with no bulls and more breeding than trading," he said. "Onepoto was a lease block (now purchased) and we used to ride the pack horses over to the Baker block. The junior cadet side is much the same with general farm skills but the stock work in the second year has changed with that exposure to more intensive farming."

He broke his leg playing rugby in Fiji in 2004, and gave up the game in 2009 after suffering a serious head knock. He has been coaching the Central premier team and also teams including son Jake.

Rugby is a large part of life at Smedley with most cadets either playing for the Onga Tiko Colts or supporting the team.

"They're all part of the team even if they're carrying on the water," he said.

Mrs Evans grew up on a dairy farm in Waikite Valley and moved in 1990 to Flemington where parents Dave and Yvonne Parry still farm. She has previously been a supervisor at Silver Fern Farms (then PPCS) in Takapau and part of the Gateway programme administration team at CHB College. She will continue to work part-time as office manager at Plus Rehab in Waipukurau and is likely to resign as board chair from the Flemington School Board of Trustees.