Wilson’s day

Press, 22 June 1981, Page 19

Wilson’s day

The All Blacks’ right wing. Stuart Wilson, could have scored eight or nine tries in the rugby test against Scotland on Saturday to set a world record which would have defied challenge. But fate conspired against him to cut his tally to three, which was still an outstanding feat in test rugby. Eight other New Zealanders have scored three or more tries in a test, with lan Kirkpatrick being the only player besides Wilson to have achieved it in the last 46 years. Wilson scored his first try in the eighth minute but stumbled just short of the goal-line in striving for a second and was caught before he could ground the ball. Then a pass from Dave Loveridge missed him, with the

line unguarded, and only a few metres away. As well as his two tries in the second half he was forced out in the right-hand corner and just failed to catch the ball as it bounced towards the dead-ball line on the left-hand side. Another chance was lost when Bernie Fraser made a powerful dash for the line only to fall in Bruce Hay’s tackle, with Wilson, unmarked, inside him. Wilson could have equalled Duncan McGregor's New Zealand record of four tries in a test when he linked with Graham Mourie in the final charge. But after being partly checked he unselfishly tossed the ball to Bruce Robertson for the final try.