PEOPLE IN SPORT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23211, 24 March 1950, Page 4 (Supplement)

PEOPLE IN SPORT

; T. DENNIS i I Maori All Black j I The Y.M.P. club is to enter a . 1 team in the senior competition of i I the Poverty Bay Rugby Union this i ! season for the first time since 1034. 1 ] The appointment of Tom Dennis as I ! coach will create a good, deal of I satisfaction among the district | I Rugby fraternity, for besides being I one of the best and most travelled | 1 footballers in the Bay, he is well . qualified to guide the coaching in- I I terests of a senior team. i I At the Waercnga-a-hika Native I College he began to play Rugby, and | I on leaving school joined the Y.M.P. . I club, being a member of the junior I I side which won the P.B. competition . 1 in 1921 and 1922. He was associ- ' I nted with the late P. Tureia, an i 1 eminent Maori All Black, in the I | Y.M.P. senior side which won the | • premiership in 1923. In the succeed- J I ing three years Dennis represented 1 j Poverty Bay while in his 'teens. | I Selected for the Maori All Blacks in . I 1928. he represented the P.B. union j j with distinction in a tour of Aus- | . tralia, France, England and Canada. | i During the operation of the 2-3-2 I j scrum Dennis played in the lock | I position and later changed to I I hooker, where he achieved outstand- | j ing success. A fast, powerful for- I I ward, he revelled in the hardest i i going and always kept in perfect ! I physical shape. Dennis was at the i ■ peak of his form when P.B. defeated 1 I a strong touring Auckland side, i , which subsequently carried oil the I * Ranfurlja Shield. j I Dennis unfortunately could not . 1 give a big amount of his time to | I Rugbv and it was with regret that ■ I he ‘ had to forgo his chances of I | selection in All Black sides. j I Two of his sons are making names . ■ for themselves in local Rugby. They | I arc T. Dennis, a P.B. junior repre- . sentativc of last season, and W. I I Dennis, a prominent player in the I ! Gisborne High School first XV. !