I'm a Hawkeye Guy

11th defence:

Marlborough

 

McLean Park, Napier. Saturday, August 24th, 1968

 

HAWKES BAY 30, MARLBOROUGH 3 (Half-time: 11-0)

 

For Hawkes Bay: Kel Tremain (2), Mick Duncan, John Dougan and Rod Abel tries. Ian Bishop, 3 conversions and a penalty goal. Blair Furlong, 2 dropped goals.

 

For Marlborough: Kerry Hodges, a dropped goal.

 

Hawkes Bay: Ian Bishop, Doug Curtis, Mick Duncan, Dennis Smith, John Dougan, Blair Furlong, Hepa Paewai, Tom Johnson, Gary Condon, Rod Abel, Kaaran Crawford, Kel Tremain, Neil Thimbleby, Myles Reddy, Hilton Meech.

 

Marlborough: Lin Sparks (Woodbourne), Nigel Avery (Awatere), Alec Mowat (Awatere), Graeme Blackmore (Blenheim Old Boys), Jack Gleeson (Blenheim Central), Kerry Hodges (Woodbourne), Richard May (Blenheim Old Boys), Alan Sutherland (Opawa), Ross Neal (Moutere), Ray Sutherland (Moutere/captain), Adrian ‘Bloke’ Schultz (Opawa), Ricky Waiariki (Woodbourne), Jim Joseph (Opawa), Gary Lowe (Opawa), Monty Bell (Woodbourne)

 

Referee: L (Laurie) O’Keefe (Taranaki)
Net profit to HBRFU: $6.686.42 Crowd: 20,125 (11th/22)

 

 

“This was the brightest shield match of the year simply because Marlborough tried to get the shield from us and they tried through both backs and forwards. Of all the teams, they were the only one which tried to do something positive and endeavoured to attack. This produced the sort of rugby that the crowd and the players enjoyed. Too many other sides who came here were much too defensive. You would have thought they were holding the shield.”
Colin Le Quesne (Shield ’68 & ‘Shield Fever’)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hawkes Bay side returned from a largely triumphant mini-tour of the South Island, only to face in Marlborough, yet another southern province, in their fourth Ranfurly Shield match of the season, the eleventh of the current tenure.

 

The loss to Otago aside, the Bay achieved a number of successes on their trek away from home. A four match tour, right in the middle of an already elongated eighteen match programme for the season was the first hurdle to be overcome, especially having had to face the might of Canterbury just three days after a Shield match, without some key players.

 

To come out on the credit side of the ledger in matches where the Shield was not at stake and being able to experiment by bringing in and developing younger members (who all stood up to their responsibilities admirably), was justification of the tour’s success in itself. Three solid performances down South had earned Phil Pratt a spot on the bench for the Marlborough challenge.

 

And when the day before the Marlborough challenge it was announced that Ian MacRae would be in plaster for six weeks (in an effort to correct a back injury) the southern experimenting that had gone on with John Dougan playing outside Blair Furlong took a quantum leap into the shield arena.

 

This came on the back of Bill Davis having already withdrawn, owing to a leg injury that had been troubling him since before the match with France. Davis had also been involved in a motor accident earlier in the week.

 

Mick Duncan was once again moved in to the centre position and Doug Curtis called in to replace Davis on the left wing. Myles Reddy held onto the hooker spot, with Gus Meech relegated to the reserves.

 

Marlborough were a bit of an enigma, in that not a lot of information could be gleaned regarding their realistic chance of wrestling the log from Hawkes Bay’s grip. They were the current holders of the Seddon Shield (a challenge shield played for between the ‘top of the south’ provincial unions; Marlborough, Nelson, Golden Bay-Motueka, West Coast and Buller), a trophy they had held for four seasons and 16 consecutive wins.

 

They had unexpectedly beaten the French in their tour opener and in their six outings prior to the shield challenge, they were unbeaten but – France aside – had only played the other Seddon districts and a ‘Wellington XV’.

 

In their own history, they had previously only had two digs at winning the Shield, the first of these was the first challenge of 1908 when thrashed by Auckland, 32-0. Twenty years later in 1928, they were beaten almost as thoroughly, this time by the Wairarapa by 26-8.

 

The Unions of Hawkes Bay and Marlborough had also had little contact, with only four matches ever having been played between 1889 and 1936, with the Southerners victorious on three occasions.

 

In 1968, Marlborough contained only seven club sides, spread across a geographically vast and population sparse province. Central, Blenheim Old Boys and Opawa were based in Blenheim, the most populous town in the region.

 

Waitohi (Picton), Moutere (Spring Creek) and Awatere (Seddon) made up sides from the smaller centres and, because the RNZAF had a base in Woodbourne, the Air force club was always one of the stronger sides in the senior competition.

 

Although they had never held the Ranfurly Shield or had ever been regarded amongst the ‘Southern giants’ – Canterbury, Otago, Southland, principally – they did have two current All Blacks in Alan Sutherland and Phil Clarke, relatively uncommon for a so-called minor union.

 

The raw boned Sutherland did not play rugby at any high level at secondary school, but made the Moutere seniors – with older brother Ray – in 1961. He then represented Marlborough as a 17 year old the following season and in 1963 he moved to the Blenheim based Opawa club. In 1965, he was in the combined Nelson-Marlborough-Golden Bay-Motueka side that played the touring Springboks in Blenheim, a match won by the ‘Boks by a healthy 54-6.

 

He played for the same combined provincial regions in a 14-22 loss to the Lions in 1966 and gained wider national recognition with a fine display for the New Zealand Juniors against the same tourists in Wellington. Sutherland was called into the All Blacks as a forward reserve for the Jubilee test in 1967, played for the South Island, but was not required for the tour of the UK.

 

His big chance came when named in the side to tour Australia early in 1968. He ended up equal (with Graham Williams of Wellington) top try scorer on tour with nine and his goal kicking proved a useful asset adding 15 conversions and three penalty goals for a personal haul of 66 points. Alan Sutherland had been a forward reserve for New Zealand during the recent series with the French.

 

Brother Ramon (or Ray as he was better known) – also one of New Zealand’s leading rowing sculler’s – was captain of the Marlborough side. He had first played senior rugby in 1957, making his provincial debut the following year (one of thirteen new representatives chosen by Selectors Marfell, Dwyer and Jensen) in the third match of the season against Golden Bay-Motueka.

 

He played for the combined Nelson-Marlborough-Golden Bay-Motueka side against the 1961 French, the tourists winning the tour opener in Nelson by 29-11 and captained the same combined outfit against the 1965 Springboks and the 1966 British Lions. He hadn’t missed a match for Marlborough since 1962.

 

The vice-captain and centre was Alec Mowat, a fast and elusive runner who first played for Marlborough in 1965. He represented the South Island in 1967 and had been an All Black trialist in 1967 and again in 1968.

 

Although he did not play in the shield match, Phil Clarke, the younger brother of Auckland’s All Black, Adrian, because of Air Force postings, played most of his rugby for either Canterbury (1963) or Marlborough (1965 – 1968). He played for the combined unions of Marlborough-Nelson-Golden Bay- Motueka against the 1965 Springboks and the 1966 Lions and had represented the New Zealand Combined Services in 1960 and again in 1964.

 

Several other members from the R.N.Z.A.F. airbase in Woodbourne, had played for the New Zealand Combined Services outfit, including Lin Sparks, Rick Waiariki and Monty Bell. Born in Waikari, North Canterbury, Sparks first played rugby for Marlborough in 1966, but had made his RNZAF debut in the 1962 Inter-Services tournament, when an 18 year old trainee aircraftsman at Wigram.

 

In 1964 he made the Services side which toured Fiji, kicking the side to a 9-3 victory against the Western Unions with three penalty goals in the tour opener in Lautoka. He added another three in the following match against Nadroga, two of them from 50 yards, which enabled the Services to hold on for a dramatic 15-11 victory.

 

To compliment his accurate and long range goal kicking ability (he had also knocked over three conversions and two penalties, 12 of Marlborough’s 24 points posted against the French) was a raking line kick, as indeed the French again were to discover, with him continually carving off chunks of real estate and so being described by Alex Veysey as ‘a touch finder of superb skill’.

 

He brought up his 100 points for Marlborough in just 16 matches played during 1966 and ‘67 and 14 of these came in one match, another great day in Cardinal rugby history, a 20-17 victory over Canterbury on Lancaster Park. In all, he had made 23 appearances for Marlborough (at full back, first five-eighth or centre), nine for the NZ Services side and 20 for the R.N.Z.A.F.

 

Lin Sparks was also a talented cricketer, an accurate medium-paced bowler and a fine batsman. Out of the Wairau club, he debuted for Marlborough in 1965-66 season and achieved a best return of 6-56 in a match against Nelson. The Central Districts selectors brought him into their side to play the touring Indians in February, 1968 (a team which included kiwi test spinners in Vic Pollard and Bryan Yuile), but undaunted, Sparks got himself amongst the wickets, taking 4-63.

 

Originally from the King Country, Jim Joseph at prop had played for the province since 1963 and had been involved in several Prince of Wales Cup matches for Southern Maori, including an appearance (at lock) ten days before Marlborough’s challenge, a 14-45 loss to their northern counterparts in Palmerston North, a match which also featured (for Southern Maori) Rick Waiariki and Hepa Paewai. Both Marlborough men then played for New Zealand Maori two days later against Manawatu, an 11-6 victory for the Maori side.

 

On the wing, Nigel Avery had scored a 70 yard try against the French in only his third match for the Cardinals, outpacing the French speedsters Jo Maso and Jean Trillo on his way to the line. After two years in the Marlborough Boy’s College 1st XV, Avery came up through the junior and ‘B’ representative sides, before marking his senior debut with two tries against a ‘Wellington XV’ at Queen’s Birthday weekend.

 

On August 31st, he would come on as a replacement at half-time for PK Hatchwell of Canterbury in the Inter Island match in Christchurch and by season’s end would be named in the Rugby Almanack of NZ, 1969, as ‘’one of the five promising players of the year’.

 

A battalion of enthusiastic Marlborough supporter’s arrived in Napier numbering thousands and amidst great fanfare, with their own recent addition to the mascot family, ‘Blennie the Beaver’ (alias Jim Diedrichs). The injection of Shield fever they brought with them had been missing in the earlier challengers of 1968 and also helped spark back into full swing, the ‘Hawkeye Club’.

 

 

“It is not until one makes such a trip and is captured by the atmosphere that prevails – and it is almost impossible not to be captivated – that one realises the part that the famed “log o’ wood” plays in national life. There are ‘Mr. Ranfurly Shield’ competitions, folk of all ages wearing an assortment of headgear proclaiming they are ‘Hawkeye Guys’. Observers back in Blenheim say it was like Melbourne Cup day with all ears on the radio.”
Rhys Morris 'Marlborough Pictorial', August, 1968

 

 

Members of the Marlborough Supporters Club, led by their hard-working President, Alby Lawrence, had planned a measured assault on Napier months in advance and had chartered planes such as N.A.C’s Skyliner ‘Tauranga’ and DC3’s, which brought many followers to the Bay. Special Interisland ferry sailings and link trains had also been put on, to accommodate the demand for folk, equally determined to get across Cook Strait and to head for Hawkes Bay.

 

Once again Napier came alive to the noise, humour and gaiety of a mid morning, pre-match diversion along Emerson Street. The Marlborough fans joined the festivities with gusto and certainly brightened up the city, plagued during the week by dark skies and rain.

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The ground had dried out quickly following the recent rain and the crowd - in excess of twenty thousand – packed into the park amid warm sunshine, but with a strong breeze favouring the challengers in the first spell. Most of the Marlborough players had never have played in front of a crowd so big and they made it obvious from the onset that they were here to play rugby, noted later by Le Quesne.

 

Using the wind intelligently, they attacked the Bay with vigour. Unfortunately for them, Blair Furlong employed some immaculate tactical kicking into the stiff breeze and repeatedly thwarted any advances as offered by the Cardinals. Furlong opened the scoring with a dropped goal.

 

 

“We had a scrum on our 25, so I kicked the ball out at halfway. We got the ball and I kicked it out on their 25. We won the ball and I drop kicked a goal”

Blair Furlong (Shield Fever)

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Furlong was back in the action during the Magpies next excursion into Marlborough territory, which resulted in Kel Tremain racing down the touch line to score. Ian Bishop converted – across the wind and from touch – and then added a penalty for the Bay to take a commanding 11-0 lead into the half time break, knowing in the second spell they’d have the advantage as offered by the conditions.

 

Fifteen minutes after the restart, Blair Furlong drop kicked a second goal, essentially dampening any flame still left in the Marlborough fire. John Dougan, Rod Abel, Tremain and Mick Duncan added further tries, with Ian Bishop converting two.

 

On sixty-nine minutes, Kerry Hodges drop kicked a goal, the sum total of the challengers points. A handsome 30-3 victory for the Bay – the biggest winning margin of the three year tenure –and all questions answered pertaining to the Marlborough enigma.

 

After the match, the Marlborough selector-coach, Jim Fraser, was full of admiration for the Hawkes Bay team, but added that mistakes made by his team, largely owing to nerves, contributed to their own downfall. Lack of ‘big time’ matches was also a factor for the majority of his players.

 

A pre-match procession float carried perhaps the most poignant slogan applicable; “easier Seddon done”, illustrating the quantum gap between Seddon Shield rugby and that of top flight provincial rugby played in New Zealand.

 

But when one considers the limited resources from which the Marlborough side was drawn, their performance against Hawkes Bay was more than just creditable. And in essence, that is all the Marlborough union wanted and required at the time; more fixtures against major union.

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*****

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Also played on this day...

 

Other first class matches around New Zealand on August 24th, 1968 were; South Canterbury 18, Southland 9 (Timaru). King Country 6, Waikato 3 (Te Kuiti). Otago 17, Wellington 14 (Dunedin). Wellington XV 19, Bush 15 (Wellington). Manawatu 15, Wairarapa 3 (Masterton). Auckland 18, Canterbury 14 (Auckland). Taranaki 8, North Auckland 6 (Whangarei). Mid-Canterbury 22, North Otago 12 (Ashburton).

 

*****

 

On August 31st, 1968, Hawkes Bay played and defeated Manawatu in Palmerston North by 9-6, with Paul Carney scoring all the points from 3 penalty goals.

 

Besides Carney, Le Quesne continued his development of the younger brigade by playing Bruce Albert, Neil Armstrong, Phil Pratt, Jeff Brownlie, Robbie Stuart and Graham Wiig. Kel Tremain was on duty for the North Island in the annual Inter-Island match in Christchurch, won by the Northerners by 34-17, scoring six tries in the process.

 

*****

 

The Napier-Hastings senior rugby competition also ended on August 31st, with the Havelock North club defeating NHSOB by 10-0 in the final of the Lane Cup, claiming that trophy for the first time in their history. The much improved on previous seasons senior side had won the Bowman Cup earlier in the year and they had developed an attractive brand of rugby which was paying off for them.

 

The star of the win – on a cold and blustery Napier afternoon – was first five-eighth, Jim Francis, who showed considerable talent as an individual with a sound appreciation of the tactical aspects of the game. Francis had scored more than 100 points in club rugby in 1968 and was earmarked as a player to watch for in the future.

 

Napier Old Boys were well below full strength, with Tremain playing in the North-South match and the front row with the rep team in Palmerston North, but those who braved the cold were treated to a thoroughly worthwhile final and an exceptionally good display by the Havelock North team.

 

But generally, there had been a considerable lack of both interest and support for senior rugby during the 1968 season, most of the matches being played on the mornings of shield days in both Napier and Hastings.

 

The impact on regional club rugby – as had often been expressed by folk of other unions – when holding the Shield was beginning to rear it’s head. The parochial black and white fanatics were saturated enough in rugby as holders of the log and with representative players often missing from the club sides main line- up, senior rugby lurked in the shadows of higher provincial attainment.

 

 

Conclusion to the Marlborough season, 1968.

 

Three days later, two tries by Nigel Avery were not enough to prevent Marlborough being narrowly beaten in Gisborne by Poverty Bay, by 15-17. Their representative season in turn completed on September 7th, by defeating Nelson (in Blenheim), by 9-5 and in doing so retaining the Seddon Shield. (Had Marlborough defeated Hawkes Bay, this would have been their first defence of the Ranfurly Shield)

 

 

The challengers, post 1968.

 

Although he had been a test match reserve against the French in 1968 – and against the Welsh in 1969 – Alan Sutherland had to wait until the South African tour of 1970 to take the field for his country again, making fourteen appearances (including the second and fourth tests, both as a lock), scoring four tries in the matches against Border, Eastern Transvaal and a double in the 19-15 win over Northern Transvaal.

 

Sutherland played for the combined Marlborough-Nelson Bays side against the 1971 Lions on the Tuesday prior and then in the first test match of that series, where ignominiously it was his kick that was charged down, leading to the games only try, scored by the Scotsman ‘Ian’ McLauchlan.

 

Playing in a charity match – after his selection for the second test – he broke his leg and was out of all rugby for the remainder of the season.

 

He was back in black in 1972 as part of the ‘internal tour’ of New Zealand, playing in eight of the nine matches, scoring tries against Mid-Canterbury in Ashburton, won by the All Blacks by 52-7 and one in the final match against Manawatu (37-9).

 

Alan Sutherland played in all three tests against the Australians at home, scoring a try in each match and then for the South Island in the Inter Island match in Christchurch. He made the fifth All Black side to embark on a tour of the United Kingdom and beyond, playing in eighteen of the thirty-two games including the Internationals against Wales, England, Ireland and France.

 

He only missed the test against Scotland through illness. He scored seven tries on tour against New York Metropolitan (2), Cambridge University (2), London Counties, Edinburgh & Glasgow and Midland Counties East.

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Sutherland was not required for the 1973 one-off test against England on Eden Park, a short replacement tour arranged when Prime Minister Norman Kirk, in April, advised the Rugby Union to inform the South African Rugby Board that an invitation to send its representative team to New Zealand be deferred.

 

The fear of disruption, disorder and violence that would probably result through protest groups, opposed to the apartheid system still in place in South Africa, was cited as the primary reason for the Government stepping in and cancelling the proposed tour.

 

The Scottish Rugby Union were approached first, but when ‘unable to assemble a truly representative side’, it was the English who agreed to come to New Zealand, their own proposed tour of Argentina cancelled for ironically similar reasons, ‘fear of violence’.

 

But 1973, simply, could not have worked out any better for the Sutherland boys or the Marlborough Rugby Union. On July 28th, in an absolutely unquantifiable boil over, the Cardinals caused one of the greatest shocks in Ranfurly Shield history by beating Canterbury 13-6 in the first defence of the season.

 

Marlborough had their hands on the trophy for the very first time and retained the shield for the remainder of the year with wins over Wairarapa-Bush (36-0), North Otago (26-9), Wanganui (30-6), Nelson Bays (29-9) and Mid-Canterbury (36-9). Alan Sutherland, who appeared in all fourteen of Marlborough’s matches in 1973, dotted down in every match, bar that against Wanganui.

 

With Andy Leslie of Wellington, being named as the new captain by All Black coach ‘JJ’ Stewart (as part of the ‘clean-up job’ required post the previous season’s loss to the English), Sutherland was not involved with the All Blacks at all in 1974, but Marlborough enjoyed another fine season, being beaten only three times in fifteen matches.

 

One of those losses was unfortunately to South Canterbury (6-18) and with it went the Ranfurly Shield. Sutherland himself, spent much of the season on the injury list and missed this match, the preceding successful defence against West Coast (18-0) and the Unions victory over the touring Fijians by 21-13.

 

Unlike the age of professionalism that dawned during the 1990’s, in 1975, New Zealand played a solitary test match, that being against the touring Scots. Sutherland was again not involved – in direct competition for a spot with Andy Leslie – but did make his fifth appearance for the South Island.

 

He eventually regained his All Black status by touring South Africa in 1976, but again as understudy to Leslie in the No. 8 position. He played eleven matches in the republic, three as captain of the ‘dirt- trackers’ - as they were affectionately known - the mid-week team; v Western Transvaal (42-3), South African Universities (21-9) and North-West Cape Invitation XV (34-17).

 

Sutherland scored five tries on tour; v Quagga Barbarians (32-31), two against Transvaal Country Invitation XV (48-13) and two more in the North-West Cape match. Post tour, he returned to live in Southern Africa, representing Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) in 1977.

 

In all, Alan Sutherland played fifty-four matches for New Zealand, including 10 tests. Between 1962 and 1976 he totalled 109 matches for Marlborough and by the end of his first class career for all sides he was to represent, he had scored 102 tries, almost one per game. Rugby aside, Sutherland was a renowned rower and a competitive sheep shearer of some quality.

 

Despite being one of the better provincial locks and pack leaders in the country right throughout his playing career, brother Ray was fated to never wear the All Black jersey. He did receive a trial in 1965 and again in 1966, but over the sixteen year period of his career, had to watch on as players of lesser ability than he himself possessed gain New Zealand selection, much to the dismay of his legion of followers in his home province particularly.

 

Rugby writer, Phil Campbell, in an edition of the ‘Sports Digest’, listed Ray – along with Dave Harker, Rod Abel, David Kirkpatrick and Manu Maniapoto – as ‘hardened lock forwards who would have fitted well into an All Black pack, but none of them ever quite made it’. Sutherland himself was more philosophical about having not been an All Black, admitting that all provincial players hope that one day they might ‘get the nod’.

 

“I suppose my greatest disappointment was not making the South Island team after regional trials in Timaru in 1965. I thought I’d played pretty well then.”
Ray Sutherland, Sports Digest (October, 1973)

 

When Ray Sutherland retired at the end of the 1974 season, he had played 177 matches for Marlborough, incredibly, the last 137 of those were in succession, beginning with the second last game of the 1962 season.

 

Lin Sparks did not pay for Marlborough again in 1968, but did make an appearance for the New Zealand Services side on September 7th, a 23-3 win over Wanganui in that city. Kerry Hodges came on as a replacement in this match and played for the Services against Thames Valley three days prior in Te Aroha, won by the Valley 32-13. Hodges didn’t play for the Cardinals again in 1968 either.

 

Sparks did not play for Marlborough in 1969, made six appearances in 1970 (mainly as a first five-eighth) and a further six in 1971, plus playing for the combined Marlborough-Nelson Bays side against the touring British Lions (along with Gleeson, May, Joseph and the Sutherland boys).

 

Graeme Blackmore made 35 appearances as a three-quarter for Marlborough between 1968-1972 and Nigel Avery 20 between 1968-1970. Alex Mowat played in Marlborough’s first two fixtures of 1969, but in the second of these – a 19-11 win over Horowhenua in Blenheim – was injured and missed the remainder of the representative season and did not play for the Cardinals again. Jack Gleeson played for Marlborough until 1971.

 

In the forwards, front rowers Bell and Lowe played their last matches for Marlborough three days after the shield match, against Poverty Bay in Gisborne, won by the home side by 17-15. Shultz missed the match with Poverty Bay, but played for Marlborough on September 7th, a 9-5 Seddon Shield victory over Nelson in Blenheim. He played six matches in 1969.

 

Rick Waiariki made a further seven appearances for the Red Devils in 1969, his Air Force duties preventing him from taking any part in Marlborough’s five-match southern tour in July and early August. Ross Neal – having first represented Marlborough in 1965 - played another 20 matches for the province in 1969 and 1970, before his younger brother Dave virtually took over his loose forward spot.

 

Richard May played for Marlborough until 1975, but spent most of that season on the injured list. He had overcome early season injuries in 1974 also, to become an integral component of the Shield defending side, the first occasion in which the union had been called on to do so. In 1976 he transferred to Oamaru and made eight appearances for North Otago.

 

Having arrived at Opawa from the King Country as an 18 year old, playing on the wing, Jim Joseph played 142 matches for the Cardinals – mostly all at tight-head prop - between 1963 and 1977 and was the absolute cornerstone of the greatest ever of Marlborough rugby sides.

 

 

“I’d rate him as good as any tight-head prop as there was around at the time. I never saw Jim bettered by anyone and I always packed on him. He was right up there. Good enough to have been an All Black.”

Ray Sutherland (Stuff, 2009)

 

 

Of the Marlborough team that played the Magpies, the Sutherland brothers, Jim Joseph, Richard May and Kerry Hodges were the only five still playing for the Cardinals in 1973, when another opportunity to have a crack at the log fell their way.

 

Decades on, the almost fairy-tale victory has become as a romantic part of rugby folklore as the Bay’s own tenure. It was considered in 1973, that the days of minor unions having anywhere near the ability or player strength to topple a larger metroploitan body were well and truly of a bygone era. Marlborough weren’t listening and foolishly, nobody but their own home support rated them.

 

They had enjoyed a most successful 1972 season, recording wins over Auckland (21-18) and Otago (15- 10), both at Lansdowne Park in Blenheim, reclaiming the Seddon Shield by beating Buller by 18-16 in Westport and returning their best playing record for some time, winning nine of their thirteen fixtures.

 

The estute rugby observer would have noticed that Marlborough’s rise was not meteororic, but rather a measured and gradual building process, with some shrewd tactitians working behind the scenes. Ralph Caulton – the ex-All Black wing three-quarter – had transferred from Wellington to Blenheim and in 1970, replaced Jim Finlay as the head Marlborough coach. In 1971 he was joined by Doug Saul, a stalwart of the province, a solid, driving forward who had represented Marlborough during the late 1950’s and 1960’s.

 

Based around the Sutherland boys and Jim Joseph, the Marlborough pack were a fine, immensely experienced unit and all supremely fit. Be it from rowing (as in the Sutherland boys case) or by stock and trade, many working on farms, Joseph toiling daily as a concreter.

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The backs too had some vast experience with Richard May, Kerry Hodges and a recent acquisition, the former South Canterbury and Wellington representative, Tony Goddard, son of the 1949 All Black to South Africa, Morrie.

 

After early schooling in Timaru, Goddard spent a couple of years in that most prolific rugby nursery in the Hutt Valley, St. Pats College, Silverstream. In 1965, aged 18 and working on a farm near Timaru, he was whipped into the South Canterbury side, making 10 appearances.

 

The peripatetic Goddard then turned up in Dannevirke in 1966 (playing for the Central and Southern Hawkes Bay sub-union), in Otorohanga in 1967 (playing one game for the King Country colts and earning a Junior All Blacks trial in New Plymouth), Lincoln College near Christchurch in 1968, back to Timaru in 1969 and on to Wellington in 1970 (where he played one match for the province, coming on as a replacement in the seasons first outing against New Zealand Universities), the highlight being as a member of the Onslow club side which defeated the might of Petone, a rare occurrence indeed.

 

He settled in Blenheim in 1971, playing club rugby for Blenheim Old Boys and was almost simultaneously drafted into the Marlborough representaive scene. The big match of the year was the combined unions of Marlborough and Nelson Bays showdown with the touring Lions and Goddard marked the great Irishman, Mike Gibson, on the second of three Lions tours he would make to New Zealand.

 

Down 0-23 at half-time, the home side staged a defiant second half comeback and playing with much more purpose, scored four tries of their own. The usually reliable Lin Sparks had one of his worst days ever as a goal-kicker and had he been more on target, the gap may have been ever closer than the final score line of 12-31 suggested.

 

The Ranfurly Shield success against Canterbury in 1973 was his 25th match for Marlborough, by which time his experience and rugby knowledge (one of the games great ‘chatterers’) had earned him the vice- captaincy.

 

There was also some great young talent being nurchered in the province and the blend was working for Marlborough rugby. 20 year old Dave Neal (of the famous Marlborough rugby family), described the season before as ‘a most likely looking newcomer’, was indeed a great prospect as a loose forward. 18 year old centre, Steve Marfell, would be in the New Zealand Colts (and then Juniors) by 1973.

 

But the one player who would ultimately hurt Canterbury the most was in fact a Cantab discard, the flying young winger and track sprinter, Brian Ford. It was his epic and famous try which tipped the match and fortunes the way of the challenger, a sideline dash of verve and determination which no doubt inspired his team-mates to find another 20% each.

 

The township of Kaikoura – from where he hailed – had been transferred into the Marlborough union, from the Canterbury sub-union of Hurunui (after years of argument and protracted negotiations) and suddenly Brian Ford (who had played 8 matches for Canterbury during 1971 and 1972) was eligible to play for the Red Devils.

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Canterbury were afforded the luxury of setting their rugby calendar for the year and in rather nonchalant fashion, had placed their northern neighbours,Marlborough, first in their list of challengers. Had Marlborough not been successful in lifting the log, the flow-on order would have read; Wanganui (65-16), South Canterbury (43-9), Manawatu (32-9), Otago (20-9), Counties (38-6), Wellington (32-19), Auckland (42-3).

 

On winning margins, that would have been one of the greatest years in Ranfurly Shield history since the great Hawkes Bay side’s acheivments in 1926. The Canterbury team - post losing the shield - were in scintillating form, unbeaten in their last eleven matches (including victory over the touring English), running in 59 tries, whilst annihalating the best of the rest New Zealand could offer in provincial terms.

 

But prior to the Marlborough challenge, things were not quite as rosey. They had been thrashed 10-37 by Wellington (in Wellington) and were also beaten in Timaru by South Canterbury by 11-15. Of the side which took the field in the first challenge of the season, Duncan Hales, Ian Hurst, Alex Wyllie, Hamish MacDonald and Tane Norton had toured the United Kingdom with the All Blacks from October through February and had been playing rugby continually for eighteen months.

 

All Black rugby itself was in doldrums unheard of, in fact, scraping the bottom of the barrel so to speak. The United Kingdom tour had gone well with victories over Wales (19-16), Scotland (14-9) and England (9-0), but toward the end of the arduous tour they were running out of steam. A draw with Ireland (10- 10) and losses to the Barbarians (11-23) and France (6-13) were recorded and the results were evident of players weary in body and mind.

 

The downward slope spilled over into the domestic season of 1973, not helped by a cancelled tour of New Zealand by the Springboks, with hastily arranged matches as a replacement for what would have been the feature drawcard. The All Black side was named for the four match internal tour, a notable and controversial ommisson being one Sidney Milton Going of North Auckland. Sixteen of the twenty-one named had been away in the Northern hemisphere with the AB’s of 1972/73.

 

Four days after Marlborough defeated Canterbury, The All Blacks were inexplicably beaten by their Junior counterparts in Dunedin by 10-14. Three days later they suffered another loss, 28-35 to a ‘Presidents XV’, captained by Colin Meads, with playing ranks bolstered by International players alongside some fine young talent coming through the provincial scene in New Zealand.

 

A mid-week win over NZ Maori (18-8) and in the return fixture with the Invitation side (22-10) had most believing that the train was returning to the tracks, but a month later – in the one official test match of 1973 – the All Blacks produced one of their worst performances in living memory, going down 10-15 to an English side, which had been beaten by Taranaki (3-6), Wellington (16-25) and Canterbury (12-19) in the three and only matches preceding the one-off International.

 

Although this would not become evident until 1974, the test loss to England would carry with it a vast casualty list. Of those who participated in the test match, Bob Lendrum of Counties (who may well not have played had the incumbent full-back, Joe Karam of Wellington, not departed New Zealand for England on August 18th), Mike Parkinson of Poverty Bay (and indeed Terry Morrison of Auckland who replaced him during the second half), John Dougan of Wellington, Alex Wyllie of Canterbury, Sam Strachan of the Manawatu and Murray Jones of North Auckland did not play for their country again.

 

With the exception of Morrison, all the above listed played for their province against Hawkes Bay in a Ranfurly Shield challenge between 1967 and 1969. Stracahan twice, with Dougan of course, later playing for the Bay in 1968 and 1969.

 

*****

 

#1 song in NZ (23/08/1968) 'Angel of the Morning' by Merrilee Rush