RUGBY FOOTBALL

Northern Advocate, 15 August 1931, Page 12

RUGBY FOOTBALL

GREAT DAYS OF THE PAST,

THE INTER-ISLAND GAMES,

FIXTURES SINCE ISO*.

Great memories of some great games and some great players will be recalled this season by .the revival of . the North Island v. South Island Rugby match, to be played in Wellington on August 15. Since the first, played in Wellington on .June 30, 189 there ; have ,been 23 of these contests, which rank in this country as second only in : importance to the international games played with visiting overseas combinations. Nine matches have been won by the South Island to 14 wins by the North, and two have been drawn. After the first game there was not another till 1902, but then the match Was maintained as an annual one till the Great War broke out. In 1919 it was played again, and there was not another break till last season, when it was. considered., that, with trial games, intcrprovihcial matches, and the ; matches with the British team the programme of “big” Rugby was so overcrowded that it was not’ worth while playing the inter-island game. The first match was a fine one, won by the'North by 16 points to'3, Wellington contributed six players to the winning team, Auckland four, and Taranaki four. These three provinces were- about the jnost powerful in the country at this time. In this year Wellington beat Canterbury at Christchurch by 4 points to nil; in the fol- ’ lowing season Auckland beat Canter- - bury, at Auckland, by 24 points to'3; and the year after that Taranaki Seat

Canterbury, at Christchurch, by 5 points to 3. Oldtimers will be sure to say there have never since been such tine players as those who strove for mastery in that great game that day. In the North team were: Alien, A. Bayly, H. Mills, and A. L. Humphries (Taranaki), W. Roberts, Toni Pauling, W. McKenzie, W. Hardcastle, , F. A. Laws and J. Caiman .(Wellington), R, A. Handcoek, F. S. Murray, Alex. Wilson, and G. W. Smith ((Auckland), and .1. Blair (Wanganui). .

Great ..Personalities, ‘ ‘ Offside ’ ’ McKenzie was one of the greatest of the early ' wing-forwards, and a brother of Ted, Norman and Bert McKenzie, who have since become famous a® selectors and referees. Alf Bayly was one of the great Taranaki family of footballers, whose deeds are still talked of under the shade of Mount Egmont. The South Island team was: A. M. Armit, J. Duncan, W. Harris, P. J. Priest, W. Smith, R. J. Stewart, D. McLaren, and T. Wood (Otago), B, Fanning, J. Brooker, E. Glennie, A. R. Johnstone and Sid Orchard (Canterbury), W. Rhodes (Buller), and A. Benjamin (West Coast). Bernard Fanning, the “Village Blacksmith, ’ ’ was one of the greatest of the early lock forwards. He played for Canterbury in .1895-97-98-99 and 1900-04, and New Zealand in 1903 and 1904. Not his least claim to fame was that he could strike matches on the palms of bis hands —a most useful accomplishment when a team is touring! E. Glennie and Sid Orchard both represented New Zealand in 1896-97, and E. Brooker did so in the latter year. There was a lapse of five years before the next game, afso played at

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Wellington, and won by tlie South Island this time by 20 points to 14. The South Island won again next year, at Auckland, by 12 points to 5, but in the following year, at Dunedin, one of the two draw's of the scries eventuated, the score being 3 points each.

Canterbury's contribution. Canterbury contributed a goodly proportion of the players to these teams —A, Brunsden, R. J. Cooke, T. Cross, B. G, Deane, W. Duggan, E T, Harper, P. Harvey, J. Lavery, D, McGregor, H. D. Thompson, S. Turtill and M. E. Wood appearing in the white jersey in one or more games. Several of these men became prominent in higher spheres later. Monde Wood, who played for Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury, and Wellington in his time, also represented New Zealand, and some good judges class him as one of the, cleverest inside backs this country lias ever had. He captained the South in the two games it won. R, G. Deans, E. T.

Harper and D. McGregor became famous later as members of the original All Blacks to tour Great Britain. Peter Harvey, who played in 1902-03,. is now one of the selectors of Canterbury representative teams. The North won the next two games. Then the South won a couple' in succession, and the North took the honour® in two more. The last of these, in 1912, was played in Napier, the only occasion on which this fixture had up to then been .taken away from one of the four centres. An opposition code had started in Hawke’s Bay just at this time, and the inter-island game was played there to counteract its in-, fluence. W. Maxwell, in later years a New Zealand selector, was one of the Canterbury men in the South Island team this year. “Paddy” Burn®, of Canterbury, was captain, the fourth time he had acted in this capacity, a record not equalled by any other player before or since. It was the turn of the South again in 19.13, when the game was played in Christchurch, and it won by 25 points to 0, only one point behind what was then the record score, established by the North at ■Wellington in 1904. The late J. F. Peake, for many years secretary to the New Zealand Cricket Council, was the referee of this game. The South won again next year,, by 8 points to 0, and then the sterner games overseas occupied attention for five seasons. Post-war Period.

The post-war period has been one of almost consistent superiority for the North, the South winning only three of the 11 games played since 1910, though that of 1923 was drawn. Up to the present, the North, in.win-, iiing 14 out of 25 games, has pilccj up 500 points against 261.

The North gave a magnificent display in winning by 26 points to 0 at Wellington in 1905, players who were later included in the 1905 All Blacks showing great form. H, D. Thompson scored two tries, and W. S. G-lenn, J. Hunter, A. Johnston and G. W. Smith one each, W. J. Wallace converting four. When the South replied uith a 25-0 score at Christchurch in 1913 T. W, Lynch, South Canterbury three-quarter, scored three tries, and J, E. Cuthill, J, McNeece and P'. Williams one each. Cuthill converted one and goaled from a mark. The North’s greatest and most surprising win was undoubtedly that of 1924, at Wellington, when it defeated what looked like a strong South team by 39 points to 8. A, E. Cooke, then a rising star, was in wonderful form that day, and the speedy A. H. Hart, on the right wing, had a great time ns a result of the openings the fairheaded will-o'-the-wisp made for him. The Taranaki flyer scored three tries and Morrie Brownlie got two. But the groat hero was George Nepia, who had one of his wonderful days. He could do nothing wrong, and converted flve tries, kicked a penalty goal and potted a goal. Hart also potted a goal. The South's pack included such men ns "Son" White, Jock Richardson, Read Masters, Ron Stewart, Brian MeCleary, and "Baldy" Munro. but the backs were in and out, so that Bert Cooke, Mark Nichols, Jimmy Mill and Gus Hart simply tore -through. The one redeeming feature of the South's back play was the great defence of Neil McGregor.

The 1927 Match.

The most remarkable match of all was probably that of 1927, in Wellington. The New Zealand team to tour South Africa was being chosen at this time, and the players were all anxious to catch the eyes of tlm ' selectors. Hence the forwards did next to no work in the tight and the backs declared defensive play “black.' ’ With one accord the members of both teams oet out to “shine,” and certainly succeeded. The final score was 31 points to 30 in favour of the South, after the advantage had see-sawed from one team to the cdher. The character of the play is illustrated to some extent by the fact that Jack Swain, a hooker, scored three tries for the North, a feat never equalled by any other forward in these matches. He said afterwards that ali he did was to keep close to Monde Brownlie and turn to account the openings that great forward made!

Tuna” Swain ’s jrorformanee draws attention to some of the great personal triumphs that have been achieved in / these games, A. H, “Gus” Hart, Taranaki three-quarter, scored throe tries in 1924, and Tom Lynch, a South Canterbury winger, did so in 1913. Frank Fryer, Canterbury threequarter, accomplished the same feat in 1909, and D. McGregor attained the distinction of being the first to do so, in 1902.

The record of points scored in one day, though, goes to Mark Nicholls,

who got 20 points off his boot in 1926 —four conversions and four penalty goals. George Nepia’s tally of 17 points in 1024 stapds next. Two players who achieved great records for the South Island were 7 Canterbury men—Paddy Burns and "Doddle" Gray, both of whom wore six different cape. Burns represented the South Island in 1906-07-08 09-11-12 and Gray did so in 1908-09-10-11-12-13. .lack Steel represented the South Island seven times in 1919-20-21-22-23-24-25.

Three men have represented the North six times, Maurice Brownlie (forward), Teddy Roberts (half back), Ranji "Wilson (forward) sharing the distinction. Brownlie played in 1922-23-24-25-26-27. Roberts in 1910-12-13-14-19-20, and Wilson in 1901-08-11-12-13-14.