Kaikorai Rugby Football Club, Lynn Street, Dunedin – a brief history
Colours: Blue Black and White hoops
The white was added in 1960 and blue shorts in 1976.
1883 The Kaikorai Football Club came into being after a meeting of local youthful enthusiasts.
1884 Kaikorai affiliated with the Otago Rugby Football Union and the entry of a team into the Junior Competition was the highlight of the 1884 season.
1885 and 1886 were building years
1887 the team came of age and was entered in the Senior Competition.
Competitions
1888, under Captain Dave Torrance, Kaikorai won the premiership or, in today’s terms, the Premier I competition. Their record for 1888 was played 7, won 6 and drew 1. Points for 20, against 3.
1889 they again won, their record this time being 7 wins and 3 draws from 10 games. 63 points for and 13 against.
1893 Kaikorai won the Premier banner again and this was the start of an amazing run of winning for 7 years. 1893 – 1899, this record in the Dunedin club competition remains to this day.
The next win was 1901 and then not until 1914. They were again victors in 1921.
The competition for the next 75 years was dominated by University and Southern winning 58 times.
Kaikorai next won the banner in 1997 captained by Andy Hunter.
2016 Kaikorai won its 14th Premier banner. Captained by Blair Tweed and coached by Andy Hunter (1997 Captain), Kaikorai defeated Dunedin 29-22 at Forsyth Barr Stadium on 23rd July 2016.
Players:
During its 138 year history Kaikorai has produced 3630+ rugby players, many of whom have gone on to higher honours.
Over 150 players have been selected for Otago; in 2021 Kaikorai contributed 5 players - Jonah Aoina, Slade McDowall, Henry Bell, Will Tucker and Christian Lio-Willie. Grayson Knapp, Kaikorai's 2021 Captain, was selected and played for Southland.
Eighteen Kaikorai players have been Highlanders (refer Hall of Fame). Kaikorai has been a host Club for five other Highlanders - Ash Dixon (2017), Dan Pryor (2017, 2018), Adrian Smith (2017), Jack Whetton (2019) and Ngani Punivai (2021). In 2021, 3 Highlanders were allocated to Kaikorai – Ash Dixon, Mitchell Hunt and Ngani Punivai – only Punivai had the opportunity to play for Kaikorai as the season was shortened due to Covid-19.
This season, 2022, has seen Christian Lio-Willie as a home-grown Highlander.
In recent years, 12 players have been selected in age and other sides for New Zealand; brothers Arthur and Shane Stone NZ Maoris 1987-88-89, Kelvin Middleton New Zealand A 2000, Alando Soakai NZ Sevens 2006-07 & Junior All Blacks 2009, Tony Ensor NZ Sevens team 2014.
NZ Under 21; Tom Harding 2002, Toby Morland 2003-04, Craig Clare 2005
NZ Under 20; Kyle Harris 2014, Josh Renton 2014
NZ Under 19; Glenn Kenworthy 1993, Tom Harding 2001, Toby Morland 2002, Ezra Taylor 2002
Also coming from Kaikorai ranks have been players selected for national teams of other countries: Brendon Laney Scotland, Mike Mika Samoa, Seko Kalou Fiji, Tomasi Palu Tonga, Iakopo Petelo Mapu Samoa and Jonah Aoina in 2021 for Manu Somoa.
Last but most important are our 14 All Blacks and our one 1888 New Zealand Native team member. While most of our All Blacks were selected from 1897 to 1929, our 2 most recent have been Mike Brewer (1986) and Byron Kelleher (1999).
Mike Brewer played for Kaikorai 1987-1992 and played a total 61 games for the All Blacks including 32 tests.
Halfback Byron Kelleher, born in Dunedin, was a member of Otago Boys High School First XV for 3 years 1993-95 being captain in the last year. In 1996, he played for the Kaikorai winning Colts team and 1997 was a member of the Premier winning side. Byron scored 11 tries in 1997 including 4 in one match. The 4 in one match remains a club record that he holds with 4 other players. Byron went on to play 46 matches for Otago, his first being in 1997 against Bay of Plenty. He first played for the Highlanders in 1998 and played 54 matches in total. His All Black career started in 1999, his first game was against New Zealand A coming on to replace Justin Marshall after 59 minutes. His first test was a week later against Samoa again coming on as a sub for Marshall. His first starting test was in New Zealand’s 101-3 win over Italy at the 1999 World Cup. Byron went on to play 58 games for NZ, all were tests except his very first game. He played in 3 World Cups – 1999, 2003, 2007 – a fine record for an outstanding Kaikorai rugby player.
In 2021 Kaikorai fielded 7 mens sides: Premier I, Premier II, Seniors, and four Colts teams. Kaikorai also fielded 2 ladies Netball teams.
Special features of 2021:
Winning the Ainge Trophy - Top performing Club in Dunedin Club Scene
Colts - Undertakers winning a banner
Welcome to our Hall of Fame
Patrons
Carl Larsen 1962
A L Williams 1966
W T C Sonntag 1978
N G Mowat 1988
J J Spicer 2011
Life Members
F Farley
A McDonald
S Ritchie
W Burns
A L Williams
R F Herd
G McHardy sen
G McHardy jun
W T C Sonntag
J B Veitch
W D Duncan
E L Bartlett
S Markby (Mrs)
J Torrance
J A Armit
J S Rodger
H M Thompson
A V Austin
H Sonntag
L Corcoran
S R Kelk
N G Mowat
J F Marett
R G Kennedy
H A Gladding (Mrs)
H E Roger
W J Holden
D H Cunningham
G R Thompson
B Utteridge
R W A Porter
F Cadman
N Hughes
J Julian
E L Glover
J J Spicer
G R Renton
M J Grindlay
A H Chave
R J St Clair-Newman
D J Cadman
B V O'Donnell
M B Shanks
D G Smith MNZM
J W A Griffiths
G G Baird
A R Hunter
B G Lucas
A C Crawford
Presidents
R Chisholm 1884-1994
L K Kemnitz 1915
R McLellan 1920-1921
* A McDonald 1922
F Farley 1923-1924
JAS Torrance 1925
R McMeeking 1926
A O Buchler 1927
R F Herd 1928
J A Armit 1929-1930
J Mowat 1931
J Torrance 1932-1933
W Sinclair 1934
D H Cunningham 1935-1938
W J Holden 1939
A L Williams 1940-1946
T B Veitch 1947-1948
W T C Sonntag 1949-1953
* A McDonald 1954-1956
G McHardy jun 1957-1959
J S Rodger 1960-1961
H M Thompson 1962-1963
H M Sonntag 1964-1965
L F Corcoran 1966-1967
A V Austin 1968
N G Mowat 1969-1971
S R Kelk 1972
G L Gladding 1973-1974
J F Marett 1975-1976
R G Kennedy 1977-1978
H E Roger 1979-1981
J W St Clair-Newman 1982
B Utteridge 1983-1984
G R Thompson 1985-1986
R W A Porter 1987-1988
F Cadman 1989-1991
B Rodger 1992
M J Grindlay 1993-1994
A H Chave 1995-1997
G R Renton 1998-1999
J J Spicer 2000-2001
R J St Clair-Newman 2002-2003
M B Shanks 2004-2006
D J Cadman 2007-2008
G C Baird 2009-2010
J W A Griffiths 2011-2012
B V O'Donnell 2013-2014
T K Davey 2015-2016
B J McCoy 2017-2018
B G Lucas 2019-2021
A C Crawford 2022
All Blacks
P Keogh 1888 NZ Native Team
A M Armit 1897
J Duncan 1897 1901 1903
H G Porteous 1903
E E Booth 1905
A M McDonald 1905-1908 1913
W D Duncan 1920-1921
J S Turnbull 1921
G R Dickinson 1922
A L Williams 1922- 1923
D T M McMeeking 1923
W T C Sonntag 1929
J S Haig 1946
Michael Brewer 1987-1992
Byron Kelleher 1999-2003
NZ Sevens
Alando Soakai 2006-2007
Tony Ensor 2014
Highlanders - First Selected Other Years [Total Games]
R A Lawton - 1996 [6]
Brendan Laney - 1997 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 [44]
M Mika - 1997 1998 [6]
S A A Tiatia - 1997 [6]
Byron Kelleher - 1998 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 [54]
Kelvin J Middleton - 1998 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 [58]
Toby Morland - 2004 2005,2006, 2007, 2008 [23]
H Pedersen - 2004 2005 [13]
Craig Clare - 2007 [4]
Alando Soakai - 2007 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 [58]
Ezra Taylor - 2007 [8]
F Vainikolo - 2009 2010 [24]
B A C Atiga - 2011 [1]
D T Te Moana - 2011 [6]
A C Ensor - 2013 [1]
L W Allan - 2014 [2]
J D Renton - 2015 2016, 2017, 2018 [8]
A Dixon - 2017 [6]
D Pryor - 2017 2018 [3]
A Smith - 2017 [2]
J Whetton - 2019 [3]
N Punivai - 2021 [12]
C Lio-Willie - 2022 [2]
L Coombes-Fabling - 2022 [2]
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