Vodafone Warriors legend Ruben Wiki joined fellow former Kiwis Kevin and Howie Tamati in being inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame in Auckland on Saturday.
The former Kiwi captain played 55 Tests for New Zealand from 1994-2006 and made 311 NRL appearances from 1993-2008, the last 87 of them for the Vodafone Warriors.
Made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2007, Wiki (46) was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and, later that year, was an inaugural inductee into the Otara Sports Hall of Fame.
He was one of six New Zealand greats honoured for their lifetime achievements at the 2019 Māori Sports Awards dinner on Saturday night.
Also inducted were 1980s Kiwi legends Kevin and Howie Tamati – who both started their Test careers against Great Britain in 1979 – along with ex-Black Ferns rugby union captain Dr Farah Palmer, champion Tall Blacks basketballer Judge John Macdonald and former rugby union-netball dual international Louisa Wall.
On the same night, foundation Warriors captain Dean Bell was inducted into the Otara Sports Hall of Fame.
Bell captained the Kiwis during his 26-Test international career and made 253 appearances in a glittering career with Wigan when he was a Challenge Cup winner seven consecutive times from 1988-1994.
As well as captaining Wigan, he was the Lance Todd Medal as man of the match in the 1993 Challenge Cup final and was named English rugby league’s Man of Steel in 1992. A Manukau junior, he also played for Carlisle and Leeds in England as well as Eastern Suburbs in the Winfield Cup.
