NEW ZEALAND RUGBY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 14 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND RUGBY.

INTERNATIONAL CONTESTS. MATCHES.IN EARLY DAYS. THE GREAT ALL BLACKS OF 1905. BY C. S. TENDALn. CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNING OK THINGS.

In tho previous chapter I gave a list 6f New Zealand's remarkable successes in international Rugby football matches from the iimc the hist, game was played against New South Wales in 188-1, until Ihe end of the season of 1922. In 3884, tho AH Blacks beat' New South Wales very decisively in tin three test matches played; this was tho jeginning of our intern atioual Rugby ca-iecr, and from then on we. have never looked back. Prior to 1884, New Zealand's football activities had been confined entirely to inter-pro-"vincial malches, (lie first series of which ■was inaugurated by an Auckland tram. In 1875, a party of Ancklanders toured "the then colony. They fared badly as far as the winning of matches was conrerned, but 'hey paved the way for better things and can be regarded as pioneers of the. greatest game New Zealand has yet seen. In 1882, a New South Wales fifteen visited New Zealand and played Auckland. They did not meet a. Now ZeaJaud representative side, however, and it Mas left to the New Zealandcrs two years later to begin our participation in international contests with the result already stated above.

It is a far cry to 1884. Those -were ihe days of J. A. Warbrick, H. Roberts, and G. H. Helinore, tlie .famous backs, and Stilton, the great Canterbury forward, who captained the side. What a long list of mighty players New Zealand lias produced since then, and wc can take 310 small satisfaction from the fact that our present team is worthy of the old traditions!

Harking back to 1884. I have found a brief but interesting description of the All Blacks' first'test match, which *is given in the HsBALO, of June 2, of that year as a cablegram from Sydney, dated -May 31, as follows: — "The New Zealand footballers played a match this afternoon against a strong team representing New South Wales. The weather was. splendid, and 'the ground hard, and in excellent condition. The, attendance was large, fully 3000 persons being present. The New Zealand team played splendidly, and were victorious by two goals and one try to nil. The winners' first goal was- obtained by Warbrick by an excellent kick from the field. ,The second was secured by Milton from a touch-down obtained by Taiaroa, who throughout the afternoon showed magnificent form. A try was also secured by Kobertson." The New Zealand Bugby Annual is a never-failing source of interest- to the football enthusiast, To some extent necessarily incomplete, especially where the very early days are concerned, it is cram full of information with which few of the younger generation are ::amiliar. At a random glance, one finds, for instance, that in 1896, New Zealand beat Queensland at Wellington by nine points to nil. and that Mr. J. P. Firth, the beloved "boss"' ,of Wellington. College until he retired a few years ago, was the referee. There was onlv one Aucklander in this team, but H. Frost (Canterbury), the present president of the New Zealand Jtugbv Union, who has since repented, ■and como North to join us, was playing in the front row of the scrum. Harry Erost bv the way did more for football in Canterbury than probably any other man living to-day, and his appointment as president of the controlling body was a well-deserved honour. Some dav, perhaps, some oue will write a history of Rugby in the early days; if eo, it will make good reading.

CHAPTER VI. THE FAMOUS ORIGINAL ALL BLACKS. It is the writer's intention to deal in some detail with the tour of Britain by the All Blacks of 1924-25, but it is first necessary to record the remarkablo performance of the All Blacks of 1905, "who •first made us famous on Rugby fields. The following table, gives the details:— Played New Zealand Re- Atlen--1005 Versus suit Scores dance Sept. 16 Devon County Won 55 4 0000 20 Cornwall Won 41 0 10.000 I.' 23 Bristol Won 41 0 8000 28 Northampton Won 32 0 12.000 " 30 Leicester Won 23 0 18.000 Oct. 4 Middlesex Won 34 4 15.000 7 Durham Woo li> .5 13.000 11 Hartlepool Won 63 0 18.000 I I.' 14 Korthimb'l'n'd Won 3) 0 12.000 19 Gloucester Won 44 0 13.000 ! 21 Somerset Won 22 0 10,000 25 DVport-Albion Won 21 3 20.000 23 Midla:nd-C'fs. Won 21 5 20.000 Kov 1 Surrey Won 11 0 12,000 4 Blackhenth Won 32 0 15.C00 7 Oxford 'Vaisity Won 47 0 0000 " 9 Cambridge „ Won 11 0 7000 ; , 11 Richmond Won 17 0 8000 i .. 15 Bedford Won 41 0 10,000 18 Scotland Won 12 7 21,000 22 W. of Scotland Won 22 0 20.000 ' " 25 Ireland Won 15 0 12.000 '.' 28 Munster Won 33 0 5000 Dec 2 England Won 15 0 50,000 * 0 Cheltenham Won 18 0 7000 9 Cheshire Won 34 0 8000 " 13 Yorkshire Won 40 0 28,000 1G Wales Lost 0 3 45.000 !! 20 Glamorgan Won 9 0 30.000 23 Newport Won G 0 15.000 ' 26 Cardiff Won 10 8 45,000 !.' 30 Swansea Won 4 3 20.000 1900 * Jan. 1 Fiance Won 38 S 10,000 In addition, the All Blacks played two matches against British Columbia winning the first by 43 points to 6 and the sorond by 65 points- to 6. They _appeared in an exhibition match in New York ai.so. and easily defeated their opponents by 46 points to 13. A total of 27 (.'layers' made the trip ■to Britain in 1905. the personnel of the "team being as follows:—

The manager was Mr, i~;. fl. Dixon, and tho coach (a "luxury" the present AJi Blacks have been denied) was Mr. J. Duncan.

CHAPTER VII. AN ALMOST I'NBKATEN RKCORJ». ; The original All Blacks, like (Tic presenl • learn, lauded at Plymouth after an uneventful voyage from Wellington. They played the opening match of their tour against Dovon on the afternoon of Saturday Sopt.ir.ihor 16, 1905. They were not takerr very seriouuly when they arrived and English folk knew little o>- nothing ..1 the standard of N PW Zealand football in those day;j. This of h ag since boon *AU U tti y . ch * n * ed W* »t was the original All Blacks who wore responsible for it As nn indication of how cheaply tho U*m was held in Britain before it" made W» »ppwianco wo have the case of the

shrewd Scottish Union. Tbo latter offered the All Blacks tho entire profits ot the match against Scotland rather than give anv guarantee. As a result the New Zealandcrs netted a cool thousand pounds! To return to the opening of that great tour of 1905 the first game ...gainst Devon was plaved at Exeter and resulted m a runaway win for the All Blacks by 55 points to 4. There was a memorable scene in the'town after the game and the good folk of Exeter heartily congratulated the visitors who were delighted with theninitial success. Not so the football critics however; they did ell they could, to belittle (lie. All Blacks' win. As a matter of fact very few of them knew much about Rugby football though many thought they did. Wc cannot altogether blame them' for the game in England at that time, was at a low ebb. The All Blacks won the following matches of their tour without much (rouble as the table already given shows. When they took the field for tneir first international game against .Scotland they had 19 wins to their credit, and no losses. They had piled up 554 points as against only 15. On November 18 the New Zealandcrs beat Scotland by 12 points to 7 and incidentally collected that thousand pounds of profit The weather was as unkind as the Scottish critics after the game. It was bitterly cold and the ground was partly frozen. It was a hard fought contest and the better side won without a doubt. Nevertheless the. Scottish press showed a lamentable waul of. taste in its comments on the game. "The All Blacks escaped to-day, when if not beaten they got a great. fright and they showed they were grateful for their let-off by their demonstrations,'' said one paper. As further evidence of Scotland's extraordinary antipathy to the AIJ Blacks in those days it is interesting to lecatl 'he fact that at the dinner given to the Hew Zealanders after the game the memoeis ui the Scottish tea.ni. were mostly conspicuous by their absence. The New Zealandcrs won their next match fairly easily defeating West, of Scotland by 22 points to nil. Their second international match was against Ireland and again they triumphed to the tune of 15 puints (threo converted tries) to nil.

On tho day they accounted for .Ireland | they had 646 points on the board and 22 ! points against them with 21 successive victories. The game was played in Dublin 1 and the visitors received a great reception from the Irish crowd. The late Bob | Deans scored two tries and McDonald one, j Wallace converting the lot. The Dublin press was very generous in its praise of the all-conquering team. The All Blacks played England at the Crystal Palace on December 2, 1905. The ground was heavy, tho attendance being j estimated at 45,000. The game was played in a friendly spirit and New Zealand won by a clear 15 points. Their record llien was:—24 wins, no losses, points for 709, against 22. Speaking at a dinner given in honour of the All"Blacks the same night the English captain said the New Zealanders vere a fine side and he hoped they would go through the tour without defeat. They were " the best sportsmen" he had ever met.

Three more victories followed against j Cheltenham, Cheshire, and Yorkshire and j then came the fateful match against Wales | in which the All Blacks sustained their one and only defeat by 3 points to nil. This memorable game was played at Cardiff on December 16 and was witnessed by 40,000 spectators. It should have resulted in at least a draw; Deans scored an obvious try which was not allowed by the referee and this cost New Zealand the match. The rest of the tour was plain sailing and with only one loss to their j debit the original 'All Blacks had made; football history. The New Zealanders took their one defeat at the hands of Wales very sportingly in spite of the fact that the referee's mistake had spoiled their unbroken record of successes. That Deans scored a fair and square try was generally admitted at the time by most of those who saw the game. It is therefore gratifying to have this borne out by the one Welsh player best able to judge, Dr. Teddy Morgan, tlie brilliant- wing three-quarter who scored the winnir.rr try of the day. "In the second spell," said Dr. Morgan. when referring to the incident, " Deans 1 got the baa under his arm and simply flew for the Welsh line. He easily rounded Winfield, the Welsh full-back, and I could see that the movement would bring a try for New Zealand. I tried to cut off Deans and to force him to take a corner try which would have been next to impossible for the New Zealanders to convert and did not, think the score could be saved. Five yards from the line I tackled Deans, who was running at tremendous speed, and the impetus carried us both over the line, a moment bofore one. of the Welsh forwards came up and hauled Deans back into the field of play. "I am personally convinced that Deans grounded the ball before being pulled back into the field of play, but the referee disallowed the try on the grounds that the ball had not been grounded. A number of the Welsh players, including R. T. Gabe. had no do»bt that tlie Colonial try was legitimate, and Mr. Ack Llewellyn, the Welsh touch judge, remarked after the match that had the referee appealed to him for a ruling he would certainly have awarded the score.

"Of course, the point is one of fact, and as such, the referee is sole judge. His decision wc.s that no score was made, and, consequently, that remains binding." On his return to Guy's Hospital, Dr. Morgan saw Arthur O'Brien, the noted Christchurch athlete. "1 was very sorry for New Zealand," he told Dr. O'Brien. "Undoubtedly. Deans scored a try." (To be continued. 1

BACKS Wght. Tight. Aire s(. lb. ft. in. W. .7. Wallace. Wch . ... 27 12 0 5 8 K. T. Hnrp*CT. Cauterbury 27 12 7 5 11 >:. E. Booth. Otago 26 11 10 o •:{ <r. W. Smith. Auckland ... 33 11 12 S 7 Tf. Abbott, Taranaki ... 2.1 V.\ o 5 in' F. Roberts, Wellineton ... 23 12 \ 5 7" 31. ft. Doatis, Canterbury ... 21 13 1 li 0 .1. Hunter Turanaki ... 2fi 11 S r> c S. .7. Mynott, Taranaki ... 20 il 0 .") 7 .1. \V. Stead, Southland ... 2ft 1] o r, o ft. ftillelt, Canterbury ... 2fc l;i (i c, 0 H. D. Thomson, Wsncanui 21 10 n ;, a J). McGregor, Wellington 23 11 :j 5 :)

FORWARDS. T>. GallaW. (Oipt.), Anck. '20 1,1 fi fi 0 W. H. Glenn, Taranaki .. '27 12 12 ."> 11 fi. Civspv, Olngo 22 12 1 :■> iti .\. McDonald, Otasro ... '22 1.1 0 :. in W. .Tohnatonc, Ota en ... 2:) 1:1 ii fi 0 f. Seeling, Auckland ... t\> "■:: 7 1; 0 <t. Nicholson. Auckland ... 2'i 13 in (i 3' ('. Tyler. Auckland 2fi 13 0 5 10 .1. Corbett. Wesl Coaft ... 25 13 a :, M 1''. Newton. Canterbury ... '2M 1", u r, 0 !•',. Glasgow, Tiir;iiiiiki ... 23 13 3 ", m •T. O'Sullivan, Taranaki . . 22 13 7 :, in W, Mackreli, Auckland . 23 12 7 ;, in ,\V. Cunningham*, Auckland 29 ; l i; ,"i ]1