In front of a packed house who attended the 50th Jubilee Dinner at the clubrooms, MC Tony Duffin announced the 'Marist St Pats 50th Anniversary team'. With many of the players in attendance, they were presented with a personalised, commemorative jersey. We were treated to video messages from Victor Vito and John Schuster from France and Samoa respectively.
The selection panel consisted of Brian Coulter, Kevin Horan, Iain Potter and John Duignan. Iain gave us some insight earlier this week into how challenging it was to select this team. In the end they selected a squad of 23 players, broken into 15 forwards and eight backs.
The side features eight All Blacks; three Maori All Blacks; four Manu Samoa players and over 1000 first class matches between all players. The full team is listed below in alphabetical order.
Grant Batty
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All Black #715; Wellington; Bay of Plenty; 78 first class matches
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Norm Broughton
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Maori All Black; Wellington; 64 first class matches
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Lome Fa'atau
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Manu Samoa; Wellington; Hurricanes; Chiefs; 131 first class matches
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Isaac Feaunati
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Manu Samoa; Wellington; Crusaders
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John Fleming
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All Black #785; Wellington; Waikato; 151 first class matches
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Robert Gray
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Wellington; 76 first class matches
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David Hansen
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Wellington; Waikato; 36 first class matches
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Kevin Horan
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Wellington
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Joe Karam
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All Black #713; Wellington; 45 first class matches
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Brian McGrattan
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All Black #850; Wellington; Waikato; 146 first class matches
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Mike O'Leary
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Wellington; 85 first class matches
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Paul Quinn
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Maori All Black; Wellington; 103 first class matches
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Brendan Reidy
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Manu Samoa; Wellington
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Ged Robinson
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Wellington; Hawkes Bay; Canterbury; Hurricanes; Rebels; Crusaders; Highlanders; 100 first class matches
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John Schuster
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All Black #880; Manu Samoa; Wellington; 105 first class matches
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Neil Sorenson
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Wellington; Manawatu; 130 first class matches
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Maurice Standish
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Wellington; 61 first class matches
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Jeffery To'omaga-Allen
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All Black #1130; Wellington; Hurricanes; Chiefs; 168 first class matches (and counting)
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Bernie Upton
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Wellington; Bay of Plenty; North Harbour; Hurricanes; Chiefs; 98 first class matches
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Victor Vito
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All Black #1103; Wellington; Hurricanes; 199 first class matches (and counting)
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Bernie Wanden
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Wellington
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Gerard Wilkinson
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Wellington; 100+ first class matches
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Tu Wyllie
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All Black #823; Maori All Black; Wellington; 110 first class matches
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