Dion Waller

Dion Waller may well have enjoyed a more significant spell in the All Blacks for he was a leading performer as a vigorous lock in New Zealand rugby in eight seasons between the 1995 and 2002 seasons during which he amassed 180 first class games.

But Waller too often undid much of his admirable work as a lock and as a successful lineout jumper because of his many discipline lapses, especially when he was playing with Wellington in the NPC between 1999 and 2003 and for the Hurricanes in the Super 12.

In Waller’s time Wellington and the Hurricanes both topped the dubious tables for red and yellow cards and one who received more than his share was Waller. He also incurred the wrong side of several judicial decisions.

All of this and of course competition from other fine locks such as Robin Brooke and Ian Jones in the early stages of his career and then Chris Jack and Royce Willlis in the latter years meant he never had much of a run at All Black level. He made the All Blacks only when an original selection, Brad Thorn, withdrew for the short tour of Ireland, Scotland and Argentina at the end of the 2001 season.

Waller played in only the midweek matches against Ireland A and Scotland A in Europe and in Argentina earned a test cap when he was a temporary substitute for Norman Maxwell.

In 2002 many of the players who had been spelled for the 2001 end of year tour returned and Waller again fell back down the pecking order. He finished out the season with the Hurricanes and with Wellington in the NPC and then departed on an overseas contract.

A product of King Country who played much of his early club rugby in Waikato, Waller entered first class rugby with King Country in 1995. He played 21 games for that union in 1995-96 and in 1995 was also in the New Zealand Colts side.

In 1996 he began, too, a lengthy association with New Zealand Maori rugby and his 14 games for the national Maori side up until the 2001 season included matches against Tonga, England, Scotland Argentina and tours of Scotland (1998) and Fiji (1999). He was a New Zealand A tourist in 2000 to Europe.

Moving to Manawatu for the 1997 season, Waller played in 25 matches for the Central Vikings over the next two years and as part of the Hurricanes franchise he played in 65 Super 12 matches between 1996 and 2002.

The collapse of the Vikings saw him join his third provincial union and between 1999 and 2002 he played in 43 matches for Wellington. The highlight of his stint with Wellington was as forward mainstay of the 2000 NPC first division title win though his blatant professional foul in the closing minute of the final against Canterbury probably deserved a penalty try rather than a penalty.