Murray Tocker on Jubilee Cup's
On the eve of the 2013 Jubilee Cup final, clubrugby.co.nz's Adam Julian caught up with Murray Tocker (pictured below right scoring a try in his youth), who won eight Jubilee Cups and as co-coach guided his club to the title last year.
There are few people in Wellington who can claim to have won eight Jubilee Cups, but Murray Tocker is one of them.
A legend in Marist circles, Tocker boasts a career in schoolboy and senior club rugby that few have matched.
Additionally Tocker played 34 first class games between 1976 and 1986. In 1977 he played for Hawke’s Bay against the touring British Lions.
The Tocker story starts in Stratford. Brought up in a passionate rugby family, Tocker attended Francis Douglas Memorial College until the second term of 1971. As a fourth former Tocker moved to St Patrick’s College, Silverstream.
Tocker recalls he was a member of the 2nd XV and got a chance in the flagship team following a famous, but unrecorded incident.“In those days the First XV trained on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdayand always played the 2nd XV on Wednesday. We beat the 2nd XV by 3-0 one week and the following week I was in the First XV.”
Few players have dominated at First XV level like Tocker. A winger and fullback, Tocker played 78 out of a possible 81 games over four years. An attacker with speed, flair and anticipation, Tocker was a prolific points scorer. He scored a record 601 points for Silverstream, through 49 tries, 108 conversions, 62 penalties and 3 drop goals.
His best effort in a single season was 231 points in 1972, which was a school record for 17 years, until being broken by Petone All Black Simon Mannix in 1989.
In 1973-74, Tocker was captain of the First XV. Tocker is one of only five Silverstream players to have led the First XV in consecutive seasons.The 1973 First XV was the last Wellington school to have won the coveted Moascar Cup. They won 18 of 19 games during the season.
Not surprisingly Tocker earned several representative honours. He was in the Centurion Colts for four years, two of which he was captain, the Combined Colleges for four years, two of which he was captain. He also played for the Wellington Under 18’s, North Island Under 18’s and Wellington Colts.
Tocker was quick to advance into the senior ranks of Wellington club rugby. He made his debut for Hutt Valley Marist against Wellington in 1975. Tocker recalls he had a rough start. “Early in the game I was taken out late by Graham Williams. He stood over me and said welcome to senior rugby. It was almost a badge of honour to be tackled by the great GC.”
In 1977 things improved for Tocker. He played in the Hawke’s Bay where he won the club championship with Marist. Tocker’s career in sales and marketing brought him back to Wellington in 1978 where he began his long and legendary association with Marist St Pats.
In his first season with MSP they shared the Jubilee Cup with Wellington.In 1979 MSP went 20-0, competing a Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cup double.
In fact from 1978-1980, MSP won 42 games in a row and boasted five Wellington players in the forward pack alone. Tocker explains chemistry and coaching was a big part of the success. He recalls the seeds of the winning-streak were planted in 1978.“We went on an overseas tour at the end of 1978. It was a fabulous trip through Los Angles, New York, Ireland, England, France and Singapore. We played maybe a dozen games and built a really close bond. Guys like Kevin Horan, Tu Wyille and Colin Jackson were outstanding to play with.”
Coach Brian Coulter was a fine mentor, Tocker reflects, “Brian was a methodical and intense coach. He studied the game very hard and was so thorough. Everybody knew what to do.”
Despite the brilliance of those MSP teams from 1978-1980, Tocker rates the 1981 Jubilee Cup success as his favourite.
“In 1980 we lost controversially to Petone in the final game of the season which gave them the Jubilee Cup. I was denied a try, that I was convinced I scored. We all knew we owed Petone one and we played superbly during the whole season.” Tocker went onto win further Jubilee Cups as a player in 1984 and 1985. He finished his playing career as a centurion.
Despite his decorated record at club level opportunities at the top were remote. His career coincided with All Blacks Stu Wilson, Clive Currie, Alan Hewson, John Gallagher and Bernie Fraser. Tocker is philosophical about his relative lack of success in first class rugby.
“It was frustrating, but I had my chances. Back then the game was amateur so moving would have been more difficult than it is today without the financial security. Also the bench was used less frequently then.”
After playing, Tocker turned almost immediately to coaching. Brain Coulter asked Tocker to do some coaching at the lower levels of MSP, Tocker enjoyed instant success. In fact he completed his coaching certificate at Massey University and from 1995-2001 served as the Rugby Development Officer for the Wellington Rugby Union. He then coached professionally in Japan.
In 2008 Tocker took over the Premiers at MSP and won the Swindale Shield, Andy Leslie Trophy and shared the Jubilee Cup.
MSP led Norths 10-0 at halftime in the Jubilee Cup final, but Norths came back to earn a draw.
Was a draw an unsatisfactory ending? “At the time it was about minus three degrees and I knew what the rules were at the end of the game, so I wasn’t disappointed that there wasn’t extra time.”
In 2009 MSP started the season slowly finishing fifth in the Swindale Shield. However they won through to the final of the Jubilee Cup and beat Northern United, 21-15. Chris Slade kicked seven penalties.
How was Tocker able to get MSP to peak at the right time of the season?
“We had some young guys coming through who were really talented, but it took them a while to find their feet. Guys like Arden David and Alex Tulu were huge once they got a bit of confidence.”
Tocker attributes much of the 2009 success to Peter Sciascia. Tocker says Sciascia played a“masterful final” and argues “he is consistently one of the best halfbacks in Wellington”.
In 2010 and 2011 MSP missed the semi-finals. Tocker concedes that these seasons were a massive challenge. Tocker is concerned about the number of injures in the game. Tocker elaborates. “One season we had 25 unavailable players. It’s becoming very expensive to run rugby clubs and if we don’t do anything about reducing the number of injures then the sustainability of clubs is at stake. Community trustsare under pressure from other groups and with money being tight at the moment why would you invest in rugby with such high risks.”
Tocker would like to see the rules around the tackle ball area change.“The tackle ball area is a major concern. I don’t understand how players can go past the tackle and take out another player when they don’t have the ball. It’s illegal to tackle players without the ball. The contest at the breakdown is causing a lot of injures in the game.”
Despite the challenges, MSP bounced back in 2012 and won Tocker an eighth Jubilee Cup. Captained by Samoan International Kas Lealamanua, MSP beat Oriental Rongotai 14-8 in a wet and brutal final at the Hutt Recreation Ground.
The final was decided by a lapse in discipline by Ories, when they lost two players to the sin-bin for fighting with about twenty minutes to go.Tocker recalls “I was surprised to see two Ories players punching one of our players on the ground. In a tight game something was always going to give. We held our discipline and in a final one mistake can cost you the game.”
And if anybody is qualified to say that, it’s Murray Tocker.
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