I'm a Hawkeye Guy

In the Napier-Hastings Inter-town matches programme from 23rd April, 1966, columnist, Ken Hawker said that Hawkes Bay rugby supporters could look forward to a full and interesting representative programme and that the HBRFU delegates who arranged the fixture list had done a grand job.

 

“After all,” he said, “the aim must be for Hawkes Bay to have as many hard matches as possible if it hopes to improve it chances of winning the Ranfurly Shield this season, or at some later date and indeed, of maintaining its reputation as a major union.”

 

If the cards fell the right way, the Bay could have at least two chances to finally get their hands on the ‘log’ o wood’, plus of course, there was the marquee event, a showdown with the touring British Lions on August 20th.

 

Of the country’s major unions as such, home fixtures had been arranged against Auckland and Canterbury, with Wairarapa, East Coast, Poverty Bay, South Canterbury and Counties all visiting the province during the forthcoming season.

 

‘Big guns’ to be played away were Taranaki and Wellington, along with Manawatu and Waikato.

 

And Waikato and Wellington were the two unions considered an even possibility of taking the Ranfurly Shield off of the Aucklander’s. Waikato perhaps, because they would catch Auckland on the day of the third test against the British Isles in Christchurch and the Auks would inevitably have key players away on test duty.

 

This was also the safest route, for several reasons. Firstly, the Wellington match would have to be brought forward to the most suitable weekday before October 1st (the day set down for the match in Wellington), as Ranfurly Shield matches were unable to be played after September 30th.

 

Waikato had found themselves in exactly the same position the preceding year, when they challenged Auckland after the Queen City province had taken the amulet away from New Plymouth.

 

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While it was deemed a little too early to asses the chances of the 1966 Hawkes Bay team, the lifting of restrictions on sport on ANZAC Day afternoon had opened up a whole new field for rugby, which Bay residents would instantly benefit from with the staging of a match between Napier and Hastings.

 

The HBRFU intended to cash in on the new laws and hoped the gate would be just as rewarding, especially with proceeds directed toward the Injured Players Fund in both Napier and Hastings.

 

As expected, NHSOB and Marist shot out to an early lead on the senior points table, with young Paul Carney (NHSOB) quickly heading the individual points tally. The surprise package of the pre-Maddison Trophy rounds though was Hastings HSOB, the forward pack led by David Bone, with some exciting young backs, none more than the centre, Mike Duncan.

 

This was confirmed during the second round of the Maddison Trophy, when HHSOB took down the unbeaten Marist team, much to the delight of fellow programme columnist, Ed Culver, who pointed out that all the rugby talent in the Bay was not solely confined to Napier.

 

Bone and the pack were magnificent, none more than Rex Blake, Mike Harvey and Garry Johnson. The performance of full-back, Bruce Trask, was high quality also and it was noted that it was a great shame that Colin Le Quesne was not there to see it.

 

23 minutes into the second spell, it was young Duncan (equal top try scorer in the Napier-Hastings competition) who scored a sensational touch down that turned the atmosphere electric as patrons started to believe that an upset was in the offing. The exultation at the sound of the final whistle was ‘something to remember' (according to Culver) and richly deserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Left) Hastings HSOB half-back, G Hill, clears and is watched by Dave Bone (10) and T Davies in a second round club match against Tamatea. (Right) Havelock North's Bob Mitchell, looks for support as he moves down field against Celtic on the adjacent field at Nelson Park in Hastings.

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The partisan Napier-ite showed little interest in the new experimental sub-union day and trial series held in Hastings over two cold, wet and blustery days in May, or little interest, so it appeared, in ‘country talent’ per se. 

 

Unfortunately, the North Island All Black trials were on in Palmerston North and a full round of Napier-Hastings club matches were also played the same weekend, but overall, the experiment was judged a success, especially by players aiming at higher honours.

 

And indeed for the selectors, an opportunity to see ‘second thought’ players in action again. Colin Le Quesne had retirements (Barry Neale, Tony Small and Rod Abel), transfers (Keith Murdoch to Auckland and Blair Furlong, Wellington) and injuries (Gordon Love) to deal with, as he prepared his squad for the upcoming season. 

 

The Hawkes Bay ‘B’ representative side had also been given a six match programme, with home and away fixtures against Bush, as they had done in 1965. A fixture against Wairarapa ‘B’ as curtain-raiser to the Lions-Wairarapa match at Masterton on August 2nd, a clear highlight.

 

Despite the conditions on offer on sub-union day, play was described as ‘quite interesting’ and enough positivity was received to vote that the new system be carried through to 1967.

 

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Ken Hawker was not so pleased that the Bay had, through the years, been snubbed as a venue for regional All Black trials and even the inter-island fixture, when it’s top facilities and central north Island locality seemed ideal in most capacities.

 

The last and indeed only time the North, South match was held in Hawkes Bay, was in Napier in 1912 and since then only a regional trial in 1959 had been offered to Magpie officials and rugby enthusiasts. 

 

There was sufficient evidence to support Hawker’s case. In 1966, Napier was easy to get to via modern transport systems, was able to supply ample accomodation and seating at McLean Park itself, was adequate to provide for the crowds which would be expected to attend these matches.

 

As the representative season drew closer, all these arguments would be put to the test with Napier hosting the touring Lions. Months in advance, streams of letters had been pouring into the secretary’s office at the HBRFU requesting allocations for tickets.

 

Bookings began in early August and as expected, the match was a sell out. The erection of temporary seating would house 10,000 of the 25,000 capacity at the ground and standing room had been increased on the embankment at the Morris Street end of the ground. Early signs  though, indicated that accomodation, before and after the match, was already proving a problem.

 

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First up on the representative calendar was the annual Queens Birthday fixture with Wairarapa, in Napier on June 5th. Aside the players from 1965 as listed above, no longer in the fray, the Fuhrer was also without Ian MacRae, Tom Johnson and Max Loughlan.

 

24 year old’s Tony Waldin from NHSOB and John Nuku from Tamatea, who had both made their Magpie debuts against Waikato in September, 1965 (a five-try, 22-3 win in Hastings) were called in for Loughlan and MacRae, while Johnson’s place was taken by the young policeman from the Colenso-Pirates club, Gary Condon.

 

Condon had come on to replace Johnson during a 58-14 win over Poverty Bay in Gisborne the previous season and had also played the following fixture against Manawatu (17-8, Hastings), with Johnson returning for the Ranfurly Shield clash with Taranaki and the Springbok game in Napier.

 

On debut for the Bay against Wairarapa was David Kirkpatrick (brother of future All Black captain Ian) who was working on a farm in Central Hawkes Bay and was playing for the Porangahau club. Kirkpatrick was 6’ 5” tall, but extremely quick and mobile for such a tall man and throughout the season, would form an outstanding middle row partnership with Karaan Crawford.

 

Also playing his first match for the Magpies was 18 year old half-back, Hohepa Justin Paewai, another country boy, from the Dannevirke Aotea club. Paewai was again evidence of Colin Le Quesne’s astute judgement when it came to firstly spotting and secondly, nurturing young talent. He had ‘discovered’ the young lad playing second five-eighth for the Te Aute College 1st XV, but instantly recognised that he had all the hallmarks to become a most successful scrum-half.

 

The Fuhrer had arranged a pre-season hit out against Poverty Bay at Waikare to trial his new half-back, who in turn had declared that, having never played in the position before, was rather nervous. But with his natural ability and Le Quesne’s vision, a star was born.

 

All three grandstands at McLean Park were packed to capacity for the Wairarapa match. The score-line was a little flattering to the Magpies, 22-0 sounding more grandeur than was the reality. It was felt that the standard of proficiency set in recent years was not met, but it had been a great game of football. The crowd had waited in anticipation of Kel Tremain scoring his 100th first-class try which, although he came mighty close, unfortunately did not eventuate.

 

As expected, the Hawkes Bay forwards gained control fairly early in the game and kept the back-line well supplied with ball. Karajan Crawford made some tank-link runs through the opposition forwards, Gus Meech shared the tighthead honours with Wairarapa's Brian McCarthy. Player of the day was full-back, Ian Bishop, who sent the ball over the bar from all points of the compass to score 16 of the 22 points by way of four penalties and two conversions.

 

On the wing, Bill Davis scored both tries for the Bay and made many determined runs, in one example during the first half he took out the corner flag and sent a press photographer scurrying. Hepa Paewai sent the ball out with consistent speed and accuracy, despite the unrelenting attention of the opposition spoilers.