SCHOOL RUGBY SEVENTY YEARS AGO

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27107, 1 August 1953, Page 9

SCHOOL RUGBY SEVENTY YEARS AGO

Christ’s College And Otago

MR E. R. WEBB’S REMINISCENCES OF FIRST MATCH

The Rugby match to be played at Christ’s College on Wednesday, beginning at 1.30 p.m., between Christ’s College and Otago Boys’ High School, will be the sixty-eighth in the series, which is possibly the longest-standing inter-school sports fixture in New Zealand. The first match was played in 1883, in Dunedin. Mr E. R. Webb, of Christchurch, a member of the 1883 Christs’s College team, has supplied his reminiscences, which appear below, of the first trip to Dunedin, 70 years ago. What Mr Webb says is of special interest at this time, for the Otago Boys’ High School—opened on August 3, 1863 is about to celebrate its ninetieth anniversary.

“As the game to be played next Wednesday is the seventieth anniversary of the match between Christ’s College and Otago Boys’ High School, and as I was the person to suggest the game, and am possibly the sole survivor of both teams. I am naturally very interested. I say ‘possibly’ the sole’ survivor, because I cannot find whether R. F. Cook, who was a solicitor at Calgoorlie, is still alive,” Mr Webb says. “I have been asked whether the trains ran through to Dunedin in 1883. They began to run on this line in 1878 —I remember the year because a boy

named Maitland and Mr Nichols (father of Colonel Nichols, of Maheno) were killed in an accident to the coach coming over the Black Horse range the day before the train started.

“We played a game against the Timaru Club on the way to Dunedin. The whole team stayed at Beverley, the home of Mr Arthur Perry. I can’t remember much about the game, except that it was played on Woollcombes’ paddock and we got a good licking. * “One of the members of our team, we thought, took an unfair advantage of his very distant relationship with the Perry family to monopolise the attention of the daughter of the house. We found, on leaving, that he had a camellia in his buttonhole, given him by this young lady. As it got dark in the train he was mobbed and the flower taken away from him. “There was quite a scrimmage, and I can see now Mr J. B. Harrison, the master in charge, with his legs tucked under him, quite enjoying the fun. However, sorry to relate, a window of the carriage was broken. The next morning the captain of the team and I called on the traffic manager at Dunedin to pay for the damage. He said it had already been paid for by “a shortish gentleman who spoke as if he had lately come from Home.” That good sport was Mr Harrison, who would not allow us to refund him the cost of repairs to the window. “A number of our team lived in Dunedin, and quite a lot of old boys, so there was no difficulty in billeting us out. “I stayed with four others and Mr Harrison at Mr Wright’s, of Wright, Stephenson and Company. The house was on Maori Hill and had been built as Bishopscourt by Bishop Nevill. I understand it is now Columba Girls’ College.

Match Won By College “The match was played on the Caledonian Ground, which was very sticky and did not suit our backs. We won by a touch-down by Rowley, a forward, for which the score was two points. “After the game we were taken into the hotel by Mr G. M. Thomson, the master in charge of the Rectory, who provided alcoholic drinks such as shandy gaff, sherry and lemonade, and port wine, which were drunk as beverages by boys of our age at that time.

“I have been asked who was our coach. We never had one. The Rev. F. A. Hare, our chaplain, and a great supporter of cricket, received a letter from a friend at Edinburgh giving a description of Rugby as played there. “Instead of two full-backs, two halves, and two quarters, there were now one full-back, three three-quar-ters, and two halves, with much more passing. This game we were almost the first to adopt here. We were fortunate in having to practise with us twice a week W. V. Millton, the captain of the first All Black team, George Helmore. a member of the team, M. Lewin, the founder of Rugby in Canterbury, and other members of the Christchurch Club. Coming off the ground we got a lot of tips from them. “I remember Millton saying to me, Young ’un, you’ll never be any good if vou collar like you do now—go low and hard.’ A god was speaking, and naturally I carried out his instructions to the letter. “On our way home from Dunedin four of us were asked to stay at the

McLeod Orbells, at Waikouaiti. The homestead, Matanaku, had been trie home of the celebrated Johnny Jones, and is supposed to be one of the oldest homes in Otago. I was particularly interested, because my grandfather in his brigs used to buy whale-oil from Jones. The Orbells had arranged a real country dance for us. We helped to prepare the ballroom, among other things, cutting sconces out of tin to hold candles. And so home.”