Walk of Fame for All Blacks trio

Walk of Fame for All Blacks trio

What’s in the water, Horowhenua?

The region can lay claim as the breeding ground for the current All Black front row with hooker Codie Taylor and props Tyrel Lomax and Pasalio Tosi all either born or raised here.

The mountainous trio were in town this week at the invitation of Heritage Horowhenua to accept induction into the Horowhenua Walk of Fame.

The Walk of Fame is a series of plaques placed in Oxford Street, Levin to “recognise and commemorate those people of distinction who were born, or educated, or lived for any length of period, or who died, in the Horowhenua”.

Heritage Horowhenua chair Kerry Geertson says the Walk of Fame committee usually waits until someone has retired before their plaque is mounted on the pavement somewhere along Oxford Street. 

But after watching Tyrel being interviewed on TV after a test match and hearing him talk about his “Horowhenua brothers” in the front row, he saw an opportunity to bend the rules a bit.

“I thought, jeepers we need to take the opportunity here,” he says.

He rang Horowhenua-Kāpiti Rugby Union chief executive Corey Kennett, who was able to pull a few strings and put the idea in front of the right people. 

Plaques with their names and a QR code leading to their citations will now be placed outside the Salvation Army on Oxford Street, joining the likes of Sir Bernard Freyberg, Godfrey Bowen, Joy Cowley, Carlos Spencer, Chubb Tangaroa, Michelle A’Court, Leslie Adkin and WD Skelton, among others.

The trio all attended an induction ceremony at Horowhenua College this week where they were welcomed with a pōwhiri led by mana whenua Muaūpoko, before each was presented with their plaque.  

Codie Taylor (Muaūpoko, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa) did most of his schooling at Horowhenua College, cutting his teeth at an early age in the school’s First XV, and played all his junior rugby for Horowhenua.

“I’m proud to say I’m from here and from this town. I don’t live in Levin any more, but it is humbling to be back and see so many familiar faces,” he says.

“It shows you can do anything if you put your mind to it. I feel blessed and grateful for what I have been able to achieve.”

Tyrel Lomax (Muaūpoko, Tuhoe), a cousin to Codie, says if anyone asks, he is proud to say he hails from both Wainuiomata and Levin.

Although he was born in Canberra and did most of his schooling in Australia, where his father played professional rugby league, he has fond childhood memories of spending time at grandparents’ John and Maria’s in Levin, mowing their lawns and doing dishes at Kawiu Marae.

“It’s not too bad when you think there are three of us that come from a little place like Levin,” he says.

Pasalio Tosi says he remembers “having everything he ever needed” growing up in Levin and it is an “absolute honour” to have a plaque with his name on it.

His citation was read by former teacher and coach Chris Wilton, who recalled a “Jonah Lomu”-like figure who was an athletics champion, winning everything from the 100m sprint to high jump and javelin.

Codie debuted for the All Blacks in 2015 and has played 96 tests, Tyrel in 2018 (44 tests) and Pasalio in 2024 (7 tests).

Both Codie and Tyrel are past recipients of the Tom French Memorial as New Zealand Māori Player of the Year.