Woodlands: the country club that became a lion of Southland rugby

From minnow to rugby powerhouse is the story of a rugby club about to celebrate its 125th year after Covid-19 restrictions forced a postponement last year.

The Woodlands Rugby Club, located in the dot of a township of the same name 16km outside Invercargill, has been a force in premier grade Southland rugby since the mid 1990s and is the reigning champion.

Players like Justin Marshall, Jimmy Cowan, and the McKenzie brothers – the firecracker and ever elusive Damian and his brother Marty – and others have put Woodlands on the rugby map.

READ MORE:
* Club Rugby: 2021 Woodlands win to go down in Galbraith Shield folklore
* Club Rugby: Galbraith Shield excitement remains 21 years on
* Marty McKenzie pushes Woodlands teammates’ Stags selection chances
* Jason Rutledge, 42 years old and still leading the way on the rugby field

Yet for decades the club was a battler in rural sub-union competitions drawing players from surrounding farms, a canning plant and the railways, and next-to-nothing exists of its early history.

“The first photo we’ve got is 1897,” jubilee committee convenor Alan Duff says.

A quick check online reveals the club might have been revived from another in the district. The Mataura Ensign reported on April 6, 1897: “The youths about Woodlands have revived the football club and Mr J. Forde is captain of the team. Other coming clubs had better look out.”

Duff says the next early records the club are only a few photographs from 1919 and into the 1920s.

The club went into recess, came to life again; went into recess again and in the post Second World War era with farming booming, things picked up, although facilities remained basic: a country paddock and a wool shed dressing room.

By the 1960s Woodlands were in expansive mood.

“In 1964 the club got clubrooms built and two paddocks,” says Duff, “and there were plenty of players around.”

The club managed to have its first Southland representative in 1968, Scott Findlay, and an All Black, Ian “Spooky” Smith, a stock agent, joined their ranks for a few years before shifting away.

“The southern subdivision stopped around 1968, 1969 and in 1971 we were allowed to play in the town competition in the premiers,” Duff remembers.

This followed the Seaward Downs club merging with Woodlands.

“I was playing then. We were bloody hammered by 30 or 40 points.”

Only in the 1980s did the first signs of a transformation occur.

Brent “Pup” Shepherd, finding it hard to gain a place in the Pirates senior team in Invercargill, decided to try his luck with the country boys in 1984.

He stuck with Woodlands and went on to play 105 matches for Southland as a lock/flanker between 1987 and 1997 and was part of a Southland team that beat France 12-7 in 1989.

“In the 1980s we were not as competitive,” says Shepherd.

“We’d get beaten by 40 points, but we built on what we got.”

As other country clubs struggled and in some cases folded, Shepherd and Woodlands realised they could provide players the opportunity to make their mark and, to quote Shepherd, have “a crack” against more highly fancied players.

With active recruiting going on, both in Southland and outside the region, Woodlands then gained a reputation as a club that could launch careers.

“It was an incentive for guys trying to make the Stags. We give them the opportunity, help with accommodation and stuff, and we just kept building.”

The mouse of Southland rugby soon turned into a lion that began to roar.

The club strip was changed from dark blue with a white W on the front to blue, red and a golden lion logo.

In 1996, the club lifted the premier trophy in club rugby, the Galbraith Shield, for the first time, which Shepherd says was highly memorable.

The good times began to roll.

Former All Black Leicester Rutledge coached the team and came up with a scheme to financially underpin the club, buying some cattle, arranging with farmer club supporters to graze them for 18 months before selling. A similar prime lamb scheme ensured the club never went into the financial red.

“It’s very successful,” says Shepherd.

“We managed to get lights for both fields in 1996 and in 2015. If it wasn’t for the farmers who supported us, it wouldn’t have happened.”

The Galbraith Shield has now spent numerous summers on display in the Woodlands clubrooms – 11 in total, and the premiers are in the hunt to make it four in a row this season.

Leading players to have pulled on the Woodlands jersey at various stages of their careers have been All Blacks Jimmy Cowan, Jamie Macintosh, Justin Marshall, David Hill, Clarke Dermody, Damian McKenzie, Maori All Blacks Josh Moorby, Robbie Robinson, Marty McKenzie, Welsh international Willis Halaholo, Joe Tuineau of Tonga, Kane Thompson of Samoa, and Talemaitoga Tuapati and Pene Ravai of Fiji.

In 2015 Macintosh brought a piece of Woodlands to Twickenham. Playing for the famous Barbarians club in a match celebrating its 125th anniversary against Argentina, he wore his Woodlands club socks. However, he was not the first from Woodlands to play for the Barbarians. Current Highlanders’ head coach Dermody did so some years before.

The Mckenzie family links to the club go back to grandfather Graeme McKenzie, a Southland representative when playing for Seaward Downs whose sons Grant, Brent and Gordon played for Woodlands and Southland in the 1980s. Brent also played for the All Black Juniors, South Island and was an All Black trialist.

Brent’s talented sons, Damian and Marty, turned out together for Woodlands in a club match against Star last year.

One player who has become a Woodlands living legend is Jason “Cabbage” Rutledge. The match veteran for Southland and the Highlanders started playing for the Woodlands premiers last century, in 1999.

Aged 45, he is still there turning out each Saturday pushing towards 300 appearances for the premiers.

“Dad (Leicester) was coaching then when I was a young fella, and I was in the Star under 21s at fullback,” he says explaining how he joined Woodlands.

“Dad said if I wanted to play at a higher level I should move to hooker and at that time Woodlands had just lost their main hooker with a serious injury.”

Having made the move, Rutledge has been a key player in the team ever since with Galbraith Shield victories the highlights.

“The Galbraith is awesome when you win it; you can sit down, spend time with everyone and look back on the year.

“I’ve been blessed to be part of successful teams.”

He says it’s great that Woodlands, “a wee town” with a couple of hundred people, has a top premier team, more than 30 players attending premier B training sessions and an under 18 team.

“The clubrooms are full on a Saturday and there’s always a crowd at the clubrooms on Thursday nights for a chicken roll and beer. You’d struggle to find that with any other club team.”

Rutledge has no intention of retiring.

“I still enjoy it, and it’s great for fitness.

“We go to different clubrooms, see old mates who are either coaches or supporters, catch up with a beer, and my kids love going to the club.”

The jubilee celebrations begin at the Invercargill Working Men’s Club on Friday evening with Justin Marshall as guest speaker. Old style Woodlands jerseys will be auctioned.

On Saturday, starting at 9.30am, eight schoolboy teams will be playing at the club grounds; decade photographs will be taken from 11am. The premiers and senior reserves play Marist in the afternoon.

A band, The Yardmen, will entertain at the clubrooms on Saturday evening when playing jerseys will be auctioned. Duff says buses and minibuses will be running to and from Invercargill.

“There will be a fair crowd there,” he says.