Waate Potaka
New Zealand rugby union player (1903-1967)
Waate "Pat" Pene Potaka (c.1903 – 3 November 1967) was a New Zealand rugby union player who represented the All Blacks in 1923 and the Māori All Blacks between 1922 and 1927. He was regarded as a utility back, as he played in every back position throughout his career.
Although his birth name was Waate, Potaka was generally known as Pat.
He was born in Taihape, but was educated at Te Aute College in the Hawke's Bay region.
Career
Provincial
He initially played as a halfback, but soon found himself playing as a fly half and fullback.
For the majority of his career Potaka played for the Rata club. He had stints at the Aotea and Ratana clubs towards the end of his career.
He totalled 25 games for the Wanganui union.
All Blacks
After playing in the 1923 North against South Island match, Potaka gained his only two appearances for the All Blacks, both of which were against New South Wales. The first was played in Dunedin and the second in Christchurch where he came on as a substitute onto the wing and then scored a try.
“Waate Potaka” enters the record as new Zealand rugby union player (1903-1967). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Waate, Potaka and Zealand can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q26179621. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1967, 1923 and 1922.
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This entry incorporates text from “Waate Potaka” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.