Four Dunedin clubs - Green Island, Kaikorai, Southern, and University A - are celebrating their 125th jubilees at the weekend and memories of the old days came flooding back when Brendan Laney (Kaikorai), Ernest (Tuppy) Diack (University A) and Dean Kenny (Southern) were photographed together in the Otago dressing room.
It is 20 years since Kenny (48) won the last of his four premier banners with the Southern club in 1989.
He also won banners in 1981, 1982 and 1984.
"We weren't a flashy team," Kenny recalled. "We didn't have the star-studded players like Varsity A."
Southern won five banners during the 1980s because it had a formidable pack.
"It allowed me to control the game from halfback," he said.
Kenny was one of the many players who came to Dunedin to study at the University of Otago, fell in love with the place, and fulfilled their rugby ambitions in the province.
"I came from Manawatu and spent 10 years down here. I just loved it," Kenny said.
"It is a thrill to meet up with the greats of Otago rugby again."
He recalled the final at Carisbrook in 1989.
"Kaikorai was leading 15-3 but we came back to win 22-15 when Kaikorai shut up shop and played defensively."
Scottish international Bren-dan Laney (35) was a member of the Kaikorai team that got its revenge in 1997 when it beat Southern in a closely fought final.
Laney had won a banner with the Temuka club in South Canterbury before joining Kaikorai in 1995 and played 82 games for Otago between 1995 and 2001.
Kaikorai had finished eighth in 1996 but was a different team the following year when players such as Kelvin Middleton, Mike Mika and Byron Kelleher joined the team.
Andy Hunter was named captain and the new coaching team was future All Black assistant coach Tony Gilbert and current Otago coach Steve Martin.
"It was a mixture of old and young guys in the team and we gelled," Laney said.
In 1959, Tuppy Diack became the first member of the Otago University club to play 100 premier games.
He also topped the ton for Otago.
Diack (78) grew up in Southland and was a member of the University team that won six banners in a row from 1953 to 1958.
"We regarded Carisbrook as our home ground and played most of our club games at the Brook," he said.
"We got a great thrill coming here to play."
It was usual for University A to be given the 3pm club game at Carisbrook.
"I was hacked off one day when we had the 1pm game and I had to come back early from duck shooting at Omakau," Diack said.
Kenny played 110 games for Otago and left Dunedin at the end of the 1989 season.
He spent a year playing rugby in Spain and then coached rugby.
He got his doctorate and qualified as a chiropractor in the United States and then worked in England for 11 years and has set up two clinics in Auckland.
Laney joined the Edinburgh Reivers club when he left Dunedin and played 20 tests for Scotland.
The highlight came in 2003 when Scotland beat South Africa in a test for the first time, 21-6.
He owns the JW Sports clothing company in Christchurch.
Diack retired from all rugby in 1964, became president and was elected a life member of the Otago Rugby Football Union in 2007.
He is a retired Dunedin schoolteacher.
Kenny played three games for the All Blacks in 1986 and Diack one test in 1959.
