GEORGE NEPIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 26, 22 April 1927, Page 7

GEORGE NEPIA

CLASSIC FULLBACK HERO OF MANY SAVES BRILLIANT RUSH-STOPPING George Nepia, at 19 years of age the greatest fullback the Rugby game has seen, will always be remembered as one of the outstanding figures in New Zealand sport. Nepia a man of iron went through every game during the strenuous tour of 1924-25, and his play was consistently brilliant. Opposition and criticism greeted the selection of the Hawke’s Bay man as fullback for the All Blacks. He had made his reputation as a five-eighth, and it was not generally known that hi 3 first representative honours were won as fullback for the Hastings subunion. Not long afterwards the popu-

lar Maori, then a student at the Mormon Agricultural College, Hastings, graduated to the Hawke’s Bay represenatives as a five-eighth partnering Paewai, who was then better known. Nepia’s early performances, however, stamped him as a player beyond ordinary measure. His powerful physique and fabulously accurate handling made him rock-like in defence, and on attack he was alert, speedy and resourceful. POWERFUL KICKING His superb kicking, more consistent then than it has ever been since, first won him popular recognition. From long ranges and wide angles he could place-kick with phenomenal success, and his punting was unbelievably powerful. When he was on tour with the All Blacks Nepia used the qualities which had made him a good five-eighth to make him a superlative fullback. Improving in his ground-fielding, he displayed a facility for rush-stopping in spectacular style by charging backwards among the onrushing forwards. No one can challenge George Nepia’s gallantry and courage. On the tour, and subsequently for Hawke’s Bay, he was a deadly tackle, and a man who never lost heart. In a match against Taranaki in 1925 he caught a winger named Coulson just as he crossed the line, and lifted him bodily into touch in goal. On other occasions he has downed tw'o men, one after the other. Rarely is he seriously at fault. Even the crowds which adored him have thought that once or twice recently their idol was a trifle casual, but even at that he always rose to an occasion and never let them down. GREAT DROP-KICK One of his greatest performances was the magnificent drop-kick which soared over the posts, and opened Hawke’s Bay’s score against Wellington last year. After the tour of the All Blacks Nepia settled on his father’s farm at Nuhaka, but returned to Napier to work in a wool store. Subsequently he married the daughter of a Maori lieutenant killed at the war, and later, when his father died, returned to the farm at Nuhaka. Stories circulating about his

negotiations with the English League were mostly inspired piffle, and subsequent developments gave them the lie. To those who know him personally Nepia is a genial soul, and his frank smile is infectiously pleasant. Off the football field he is a capable singer, a genuine humorist, and a distinguished performer on the steel guitar. The name Nepia is a Maori corruption of “Napier,” and should be pronounced that way when Aucklanders are watching the Shield match to be staged here this season.