All Blacks punched as police rescue ref. from mob

Press, 17 July 1980, Page 1

All Blacks punched as police rescue ref. from mob

By

TIM DONOGHUE,

NZPA reporter,

in Lautoka.

A rioting crowd prematurely ended the All Blacks’ match against Nadroga at Churchill Park, Lautoka, amid scenes of uproar and confusion yesterday afternoon. The crowd invaded the pitch two minutes before the end of the match during a fight between members of both packs of forwards.

The All Black prop, Gary Knight, and the lock, Graeme Higginson, were involved in a fight with the Nadroga lock, Ilisona Paomea, and the wing, Tevita Makitu. The Nadroga prop, Petili Kina, joined in the fight after it had been under way for some time.

Thousands of spectators then invaded the pitch and the combatants were surrounded by the crowd. New Zealand was leading, 14-6. But the crowd was not

only interested in striking at Knight and Higginson. A few spectators turned their attentions on the New Zea- , land-born referee (Mr Rod' Jepsen) and struck him as he was escorted from the pitch by policemen. Like the referee who controlled the curtainraiser, Mr Jepsen had earned the ire of the crowd by awarding 18 penalties to New Zealand and five to Nadroga. As he was escorted from the field, at least two spec- ■ tators lunged at him, hitting him with strong blows to the body. Many of the remaining All Blacks were surrounded by the inquisitive spectators and also had to be escorted from the ground by baton-waving policemen. When he saw that the referee had been escorted from the ground the All

Blacks’ physiotherapist, Mr Malcolm Hodd rushed on to the field to tell the New Zealand players that the match had been abandoned. “The crowd was hostile,” he said.

All of the All Black party subsequently made straight for the team bus behind the grandstand.

At the insistence of the manager (Mr Ray Harper), a roll-call was made and all were found to be present, apart from the Counties centre, Bruce Robertson, who had acted as comments man for a Fijian broadcaster during the match. -

A policeman was sent hastily to find him, and after an anxious wait of five minutes the policeescorted All Black bus began the 32km journey back to the team’s hotel at Nandi.