Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 118: Alan Clark – ClubRugby.nz

Alan Clark was a bustling No. 8 who played 59 matches for Wellington A between 1952 and 1957.

Not to be confused with the Clark brothers, Bill and Tony, who played for University,  [Leslie] Alan Clark was a leading light and the captain of the Wellington Axemen club who were battling hard in the lower part of the Senior A Championship throughout his career.

Clark was perhaps just as well known for his success in another sport; he was a first-class cricketer who played 14 matches for Wellington and later represented both Otago and Auckland.

In the second of his three seasons as a Wellington cricketer in 1956/57, Clark won the domestic Plunket Shield. That previous spring he had been a Ranfurly Shield winner with the Wellington rugby team, so he entered 1957 as a dual Plunket Shield/Ranfurly Shield holder with his home province.

Leslie Alan Clark was born on 16 December 1931 and started his rugby life in the backs. Like a number of notable loose forward contempories and many more through to the modern day, Clark moved from the backs to the forwards and he became an automatic selection for the Wellington representative team as a back-rower.

He burst on to the representative rugby in 1952, making 14 appearances for Wellington A, which was his most prolific season playing for the province. He scored three tries that year, including one each in Wellington’s 31-11 win over Auckland and 32-9 victory over Taranaki.

He was in the wider squad in 1953, but generally Graham Mexted was the first-choice No.8 that season (Mexted playing 11 games) in which Wellington won the Ranfurly Shield and defended it five times and then lost it to Canterbury, all in 50 days.

Clark was a regular in the side in both 1954 and 1955.

In 1956 he was at No. 8 for Wellington against the Springboks in a narrow 6-8 defeat.

The Rugby Weekly pronounced afterwards that “Alan Clark played one of the outstanding games of his career. He frequently caught the opposition backs with the ball, took part in numerous attacking movements and tackled like a real international No. 8.”

Later that season he was Wellington’s No. 8 when they won the Ranfurly Shield off Canterbury and then defended it once at the end of the season against Auckland in a 9-6 win. He was a try-scorer in Wellington’s 34-14 win over Otago, their first win in Dunedin since 1932, and in another game against Auckland won 37-11 in which Ron Jarden scored four tries.

Nev MacEwan and Bill Clark were Alan Clark’s fellow loose forwards in most of these big games in 1956.

L.A. CLark (highlighted in white box) and the 1956 Wellington representative team.

In 1957 he played in two New Zealand trials, scoring a try. He also found himself in a losing Ranfurly Shield, as Otago came to Wellington and won it 19-11.

Clark’s club, the Wellington Axemen, had their best season the year after Clark left in 1958 to head down to Otago, the Axemen finishing second in the Jubilee Cup to University.

As is often the case with players like Clark, he was the talisman that kept them competitive. The Axemen were a midtable team at best throughout most of his tenure, but he helped build the culture and develop young players coming through to improve their fortunes.

Keith Quinn in his 2020 book Give Em The Axe! Wrote “the period through to the end of the 1950s and into the 1960s was one of progress on the field for the club. The Senior team, first under Norm King and then Jack Cragg, winched themselves out of the bottom six into the top bracket and we twice runners-up in the Jubilee Cup.”

Clark had joined the Axemen a couple of years after they had been Jubilee Cup champions in 1947, and with such players like hooker and later Wellington representative captain Brian Lloyd in their side up to 1953.

In 1955 Clark took over the Axemen’s captaincy from H. Guild, and after an early season narrow loss to then three-time defending champions University, the Rugby Weekly wrote that “Alan Clark was in lively and intelligent form. He made a bonnie run to pave the way for Wellington’s first try. The Wellington pack worked well as a unit and should hold all opponents.”

They did fade later in the season, a 1955 teamlists between Wellington and that year’s Hardham Cup champions Marist Old Boys:

The line-ups when Wellington played Marist in 1955

The 1956 club season saw the Axemen struggle further, almost being relegated. Clark continued to be mentioned by the media for his wholehearted performances.

In a heavy early season 34-0 defeat to defending Jubilee Cup champions Onslow, this was said of Clark:

“Alan Clark raced over a fair part of Nairnville Park on Saturday trying to plug the gaps and rally his men against Onslow. He did a man-sized job but hardly had a gallop left at the finish.”

And later that year after a clutch 13-5 win over Taita with the wooden spoon on the line:

“Wellington can thank their lucky stars that their captain, L.A. Clark was playing for them against Taita on Saturday. He played one of his best club games ever. He ran with the pace of a back when he got the ball – actually he looked far more dangerous than any of Wellington’s backs – and there was never a movement that he started that did not gain ground. His contribution to his team’s total was a try and two conversions.”

Future All Black lock Ron Horsley’s stocks were also rising, and Horsley took the captaincy over from Clark in 1958 when Clark transferred to Dunedin and played for Pirates and for Otago that season. He retired from rugby in 1959.

After playing 14 first-class cricket matches for Wellington over three seasons as a bowling all-rounder and taking 5 for 52 on first-class debut against Central Districts, Clarke continued his cricket career in Dunedin for the next two seasons.

He then moved to Auckland and captained Auckland over the next two summers. He subsequently became an Auckland cricket selector.

Clark passed away in Auckland on 21 September 2017, aged 86.

References

Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.
Carman, Arthur H. Wellington Cricket Centenary 1875-1975. Sporting Publications, Tawa, 1975.
Quinn, Keith. Give ‘Em the Axe! 150 years of the Wellington Football Club. Wakefields Digital, Wellington, 2020.
Rugby Weekly – various editions 1950s
Swan, Arthur C.; Jackson, Gordon F. W. (1952). Wellington’s Rugby History 1870 – 1950. Wellington, New Zealand: A. H. & A. W. Reed.
Swan, A.C. History of New Zealand Rugby Football, Volume 2 1946-1957. NZRU, Wellington, 1958

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