TARANAKI RUGBY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 28 June 1926, Page 4

TARANAKI RUGBY.

THE HAAVERA 'CLUB. FROM 1960 ONWARDS. (.Specially Written for the Star.) The team of 1900 was the combination that put the Hawera Club on the Rugby map. Up till then it had never won the championship. With the advent of the two Hunters the club’s successes commenced. After leaving Wanganui College, as indeed did his brother Jimmy also, without getting his cap for the school, Alex Hunter joined the Hawera Club about the year 1896. He was small, and aged about 17 years, hence his lack of success at college, where the school team played senior, and its third fifteen played junior. Alex Hunter soon put the stamp of generalship on •the club’s first-fifteen. He was the outstanding back, and, having been selected for Taranaki in 1897, the prestige acquired resulted in his election to the captaincy of his home team. / In- those days the principle the selector worked on in- building up a side was: if there were a good back, put him at full-baek. This resulted in backs who could collar, hut had no attack. Alex Hunter determined to build up the team from the half. He had a co-operator in J. Campbell, formerly of the Wellington rep. team, and a member of the Athletic (Wellington) Club when it acquired one of the first Rugby club gymnasiums in Now Zealand and undertook a careful study of Rugby strategy. Campbell was a great player whom some old judges consider to rank with Cunningham. Campbell supported Alex. Hunter in the theory that the hacks should be built from the half. That accomplished, Jimmy Hunter was placed in that 'position. The All Black star, however, was not recognised then as the great player he afterwards developed into. His skipper had some difficulty in keeping him in the team. During the seasons 1898 and 1899 Hunter built up his side. They were light. Their lock weighed only ten stone. But they were hard, loyal, tackled fiercely, and obeyed instructions implicitly. So in 1900 they put the Hawera Club on the map. In that year Hawera won the championship with ten matches played, nine won, and one drawn. The points scored by the club were 123, and only 13 were scored against it. Three of these 13 points comprised the penalty goal, which, incidentally, did not go over the bar, but which neutralised Hawera’s try in the opening game of the season —-the draw against Opunake. The second game was against Eltharn, and as the crowd parted to allow the Hawera players to go on the field, their small stature provoked the question: Is this the Hawera School team? The backs weighed 11.7, and the forwards 11.3. But they were harder than nails. The final game was against Star, led by Humphries and Allen* of international fame. Hargreaves played and Mclntyre also. ‘‘lt looked £IOO to a hayseed against Hawera,” said Jack Murtagh, one of the participants in that famous battle. “Star scored in the first three minutes. They were so fast we didn’t look .to have a chance.”

But the generals of the Hawera team got to work, and arranged a plan of campaign. Instructions included kicking high infield always, and letting the forwards under it. The result was that the phenomenal Star backs never got a chance, and the light Hawera team of tacklers walked victors from the championship field.

From that on till 1903 Alex Hunter led a team which was always at the head of the list, or close upon it. :The 1904 team might be classed as a more brilliant team than the veterans of 1900, but, though ten points stronger all round, they were liable to be beaten by teams which would .have gone down before the team of tacklers which preceded them, and Frank Glasgow, the All Black, appeared at this time and played for the Hawera Club for a couple of seasons. Greig also played, and is remembered as one of the best forwards who ever represented Taranaki. F. Livingston’s name stands out amongst *he players of the original All Black period. Jimmy Hunter was then—--1904-s—captain of the Hawera Club, and he had forwards ahead of him as capable and clever as he was himself. Fred Livingston was a marvel at getting possession of the ball from the air, scrum, or loose. He w r as so quick and sure that he would at'times omit collaring a back, but would unerringly grab the ball from his hands, and start his backs going while apparently having no interest in the game. Old players contemplating Rugby as played then considered that the meaning of "possession of the ball” had lost much of ' its significance to-day. -Less attention is given now to the science of having the leather yourself. As an instance of the care taken and genius shown in obtaining possession in the Hawera Club’s past teams, "Blazer” Wilson stands out prominently among well-known names. A man six feet high and well over 15 ■ stone, he literally never hooked a ball in his life, yet when he was partnered by Tyler, Casey or George Gillett’s hooker brother, there were no men in New Zealand -who could beat his side for the ball. He was a shepherd hooker. Of marvellous physique, he could hold a quick-footed front row man in position and block the opposite hookers at the same time so that his partner could scarcely fail to get possession.

J. Colman came to light about 1902, when he was talcon from the Hawera Club on tour by the Taranaki rep. team. He played at an early age, and filled well almost every position in the field. Hargreaves was considered the big kick of those years, but he was not in the hunt with J. Colman when it came to kicking into the teeth of a gale. NS! Another well-known figure in the club annals played in - 1905, and was still playing in the “Diggers’* Army team of post-war days—"Torp” Whittington. He was a phenomenal forward for a man so light, being brilliant in the loose. J. Crowley was* another good man, also Greenbank, who learned his Rugby at the Otago Boys’ High School. From a five-eighths he became a forward of whom Taranaki was proud. From 1902 until as late as 19.1.1 he played for the Hawera Club. In 1903 the club played off with Star, and were defeated by 10 points to 6. Humphries and Allen were still playing for Star. After the match "Snip” Allen said: "Give me Star backs and Hawera forwards, and we we’ll beat any club team in the world.”

Hawera first won the McMaster Shield in 1905, beating Stratford by 10 points to 8 in the final.