I'm a Hawkeye Guy
There's Something About a Magpie
Sixth defence;
OTAGO
McLean Park, Napier. Saturday, September 23rd, 1967
HAWKES BAY 9, OTAGO 8 (Half-time: 3 - 8)
For Hawkes Bay: Aidan Thomas try. Ian Bishop, 2 penalty goals.
For Otago: Warren Townsend try. Laurie Mains, conversion and penalty goal.
Hawkes Bay: Ian Bishop, Mick Duncan, Bill Davis, Doug Curtis, Ian MacRae, Blair Furlong, Aidan Thomas, Dave Bone, Gary Condon, Rod Abel, Kaaran Crawford (replaced by Robbie Stuart), Kel Tremain, Neil Thimbleby, Myles Reddy, Hilton Meech.
Otago: Laurie Mains (Southern), Errol Duckworth (Pirates), Selwyn Inglis (Southern), Maurie Collins (University), Doug Peddie (Eastern), Earle Kirton (University), Chris Laidlaw (University) captain, Bruce Matushka (Union), Don Mather (Clutha), John Levido (Gimmerburn), Tony Banks (Zingari-Richmond), Warren Townsend (Kelso), Dave Bendle (Clutha), Paul Booth (Kaikorai), Tony Kreft (Ranfurly)
Referee: K Bush (Manawatu) Crowd: 19,150 net profit for HBRFU: $5,498.34
“It was unfortunate that the Otago game was sandwiched between the Taranaki and the Wellington challenges because, once the Taranaki match was over, the general feeling throughout the province was that Otago was just a fill-in before meeting Wellington. Unfortunately, this feeling found its way into our camp and affected the player’s attitudes.”
Colin Le Quesne (Shield ’67)
During the late 1940’s, it was difficult to imagine a team more at the crest of the Ranfurly Shield wave than Otago. Between 1947 and 1950, they successfully repelled 18 challenges and in 1949, having already provided 11 of the All Blacks who toured South Africa, were still able to withstand six shield challenges from some of the nations top unions at the time.
The architect of Otago’s success in those days was undoubtedly their coach, the legendary Victor George Cavanagh (born in Caversham, Dunedin in 1909), the only son of Alice Foster and her husband, also Victor George Cavanagh (the son of a Northern Irish boilermaker), a cloth cutter who became manager of Ross and Glendining’s clothing factory.
‘Old Vic’ as he became better known in latter years, was the first captain of Dunedin’s Southern rugby club (post its formation through the amalgamation of the Caversham and Pacific clubs in 1899), coaching them to three Otago championships before World War I.
In 1923, when ‘Young Vic’ was a dashing hooker and promising cricketer at Otago Boys’ High School, his father began coaching Otago University to a decade of legendary success, ten championship titles between 1923 and 1934. He was also a national selector in 1913.
In 1926, perhaps influenced by his mother’s family links with the printing industry, ‘Young Vic’ joined the Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspaper Company’s commercial printing department as a compositor. He had little sympathy for journalists, with their erratic work habits and white-collar pretensions.
In sport, he matured first as a cricketer, making his début for Otago as a middle-order batsman in 1927 at the age of 18. In 27 first-class matches he scored nearly 1,300 runs at an average of 24. He shared in Otago’s rare Plunket Shield win in 1932–33, and was once named 12th man for New Zealand.
His rugby-playing career was brief. He played only seven games as wing forward for Otago in 1931 before injury ended his representative career, but in 1934 he was persuaded to coach the Southern Rugby Football Club’s senior team.
The two Cavanaghs, both highly articulate, sharing the same breakfast table and a feisty northern Irish heritage, maintained an ongoing rivalry in which rugby discussions sometimes took on a sharp edge. Blessed with a fine memory and studying every rugby book in the Dunedin Public Library, ‘Young Vic’ set out to challenge his father’s coaching supremacy.
As ‘Professor of Football’ to the University, in 1929 ‘Old Vic’ had developed his famous ‘loose scrum’ technique to help lighter student forwards win ball in broken play. His son, quickly adapting to the new 3-4-1 scrum, modified this technique into what became known as the ‘Southern style’, and in 1935 spectacularly coached Southern to the Dunedin club championship title. Battles between Southern and Varsity attracted huge crowds, especially when they were played on the hallowed turf of Carisbrook Oval.
Having wrested the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury, the Otago Rugby Football Union appointed the two Cavanaghs as coaches to hold it throughout 1936. Their tactical innovations, especially the rugged forward play proved highly successful. Rucking became a defining feature of New Zealand rugby largely through their influence.
‘Young Vic’ moved to Wellington (to work as a printing estimator for Whitcombe & Tombs), got married and with new managerial responsibilities and then the war, it was not until 1945 that the he again took responsibility for Otago’s representative fortunes.
Unbeaten in shield games over three seasons (1947–49), his teams outscored their opponents by 374 points to 80, despite losing the 11 All Blacks to the South African tour in 1949. The forward dominance he achieved attracted carping criticism, but wiser critics noted that backs claimed 66 of the 78 tries scored during his shield tenure.
In 1948 he appointed an assistant coach, none other than Kurow born Charles Kesteven Saxton. Educated at Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin, he was a member of the school's 1st XV in 1931 and 1932, coached by 1897-1903 All Black wing forward and captain, Jimmy Duncan, who taught the kid to dive pass, with much success.
At halfback, Saxton represented Otago in 1935 and ’36 (in fierce competition with Harry Simon of Southern for a starting spot), South Canterbury in 1937 and ’38 (gaining national prominence following a fine display against the 1937 Springboks, rated in some circles as the best halfback in New Zealand) and Southland in 1939 (where he led the province in a successful 23-4 Ranfurly Shield challenge against Otago).
He gained All Black selection in 1938 (picked ahead of Simon who had played in the three tests of 1937 against South Africa) and played in seven matches, including all three tests, of an Australian tour. As the incumbent test half-back and South Island captain in 1939, he would almost have certainly toured South Africa in 1940, had war not intervened.
During World War II, ‘Charlie’ Saxton served with the 19th Armoured Regiment, rising to the rank of major and seeing active service in North Africa and Italy. At the conclusion of the war, he captained the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force team on their 1945–46 tour of Britain and Europe. Popularly known as the Kiwis, they became one of the most influential and significant teams in rugby history.
Their contribution to rugby lore was twofold; they resuscitated international rugby after World War II and played a brand of the game that set new standards in innovation and entertainment, with future All Blacks greats in Bob Scott and Fred ‘the Needle’ Allen amongst them.
But the Kiwis were not All Blacks. They were soldiers and they were selected after active service and in some cases, after lengthy spells in prisoner of war camps in Italy, Austria and Germany. Saxton was the only All Black among them, although such was the quality of their play that 15 of the remaining 29 would also gain national selection.
The Kiwis played 33 matches in Europe for 29 wins, two draws and two losses. They scored 605 points and conceded just 185. They beat the full international sides of England (18-3), Wales (11-3) and France (14-9) and lost just one of the unofficial test matches, to Scotland (6-11).
Returning to New Zealand, Saxton coached the Pirates club in Dunedin, before his appointment as Cavanagh’s assistant. He co-coached the Otago team from 1948 to 1957. Only a matter of weeks before Otago’s challenge in 1967, he had been made manager of the All Blacks on their forthcoming tour of Britain, France and Canada, ironically assisted by another ‘Kiwi’ in All Black convener of selectors, Fred Allen.
Though ‘Young Vic’ was said to have been soured by missing out on the 1949 All Blacks coaching job, he was in fact, rather relieved. He disliked being away from home and was already suffering from the duodenal ulcer that troubled him later in life.
After almost a decade in the wilderness, and increasingly concerned by rugby’s declining popularity, the younger Cavanagh accepted election to the Otago union’s management committee in March 1959. He immediately proposed a standard code of ethics to make the game flow more freely. Introduced in Dunedin’s lower grades that season, it was designed to assist back play by tightening offside rules and binding in the scrum.
The Otago union extended the code to all grades in 1961, and although wider reaction was at first mixed, Cavanagh’s code of ethics became the basis for law changes which helped transform rugby as a spectator sport. He was President of the Otago union in 1966 and made a life member the following season.
*****
The first rugby match between the two provinces was played in Dunedin in 1901, with Hawkes Bay victorious by 5-3. They had met three times prior in a Ranfurly Shield fixture, the first in the final defence of 1925 during the Magpies ‘golden era’, when they repelled the southern challenge by 34-14. The Bay ran in eight tries, three to Jackie Blake, as they overturned a 3-14 half-time deficit with 31 unanswered points during the second spell.
In 1938, having prised the trophy from the possession of Southland in challenge one of the season and in turn defeating Canterbury (16-7), South Canterbury (27-16) and North Otago (12-0), Otago saw off the Magpie challenge with a hard fought 4-0 victory, courtesy of a David Trevathan dropped goal in the 16th minute of play.
The Bay were still a formidable side, with four All Blacks in its pack; Snow Bowman, Tori Reid, Everand Jackson and Doug Dalton. Broadcaster, Iain Galloway recalled the match as one of the greatest shield contests ever staged at Carisbrook, before a mid-week crowd in excess of 20,000.
Colin Le Quesne, playing in the Bay back-line that day later recalled that the breaks just didn’t go Hawkes Bay’s way. Because of work commitments, he had only been able to play in the shield match, while the rest of his team mates were on a southern tour. Coach, Norman McKenzie was also unable to attend for the same reasons.
“(Trevathan’s pot) just wobbled over the bar. I had a couple in the second spell from a long way out myself that went pretty close. That match taught me that in shield rugby you’ve got to have a little bit of luck.”
Colin Le Quesne (Shield Fever, Lindsay Knight)
Ten years later, with the famous trophy having resided in the deep south since 1935, Hawkes Bay were again defeated, on this occasion by 12-6. The Magpies were not a shadow of the famous sides of the past, but still comprised All Blacks in Hugh Fraser, Reid and Jim McCormick the hooker, plus well performed players in Tommy Ingram (half-back) and Barny Wishnowsky (full-back).
Otago were huge favourites and it was perceived that victory for them would be a formality. But the Bay gave them something of a fright, bustling the holders with spirited, spoiling play, which meant that the impressive Otago backline was unable to capitalise on the wealth of possession won by its pack.
Otago had wrestled the shield from Wellington in August of 1957, only to lose it a month later to Taranaki. In the 14th match of their subsequent tenure, in 1959, Taranaki had overcome Otago by 23-3 and before the McLean Park showdown, Otago had not challenged for the amulet since 1961, when defeated by Wilson Whineray’s Aucklander's by 14-9.
The ‘dark blues’ from were lighter and smaller in the forwards – and following the Magpies effort in that department against Taranaki – when the southerners arrived in Napier for the sixth challenge, they were given little realistic chance of winning the shield.
In fact, the Otago pack had to concede poundage in several of its major outings throughout 1967 and, although not lacking in enthusiasm or vigour, this was a telling factor in their overall results. Wins had been registered against NSW Country (11-0), Nelson (37-0), Southland (11-6), North Otago (14-6), Wanganui (17-0) and South Canterbury (29-5).
An 11-11 draw with Manawatu in Palmerston North and a 3-3 draw at Carisbrook against Auckland were respectable results also. Losses were recorded against South Canterbury in Timaru (9-17), Southland in Invercargill (8-12), Taranaki in New Plymouth (11-12) and Wellington in the capital (15-17).
Canterbury had defeated Otago at Carisbrook the weekend before by 12-9, however, ending that near home invincibility. Only a few weeks beforehand, two Otago men had been named in the 30-strong All Black touring party, soon to be heading to the northern Hemisphere.
The half-back, first five-eighth duo was the greatest pairing of it’s kind in New Zealand rugby, having both made their All Black debuts on the 1963-64 tour to the United Kingdom.
At scrum half was the Otago captain, Christopher Robert Laidlaw. A prodigy of Charlie Saxton, young Laidlaw’s talent had been noted after excelling in the Kings High School first XV in Dunedin, 1957-61. Saxton’s ‘one on one’ nurturing sessions had helped him develop an accurate and sharp pass and a balanced kicking game form the base of ruck or scrum.
Laidlaw went straight into senior club rugby with University ‘A’ in 1962. He made such an impact he was soon called into the Otago side and played for both the South Island and New Zealand Universities (in a 10-10 draw against Canterbury) that same year.
In 1963, Laidlaw played again for the South Island and won selection, even though he had not yet turned 20, for the All Blacks tour of Britain and France. He was chosen for the international against France and the ‘unofficial test’ against the Barbarians at the expense of team vice captain Kevin Briscoe, the first choice halfback.
Laidlaw captained a New Zealand Colts team on a seven match tour of Australia in June of 1964 and played in the first test against the Wallabies later that year at Carisbrook, a 14-9 victory for the home side.
By 1965 he had established himself ahead of Briscoe and Des Connor as the principal test halfback and he played a major role in each of the series wins over the Springboks in 1965 and the Lions in 1966. He played six times against the ’65 ‘Boks, the four tests, plus for Otago and NZ Universities.
The Springboks made their South Island debut against Otago in their fourth tour match. Otago had a reputation as being tough opposition against the South Africans on previous tours and were approached with the necessary respect and caution. Unfortunately, the field was wet and heavy and a disappointing crowd of only 21,000 showed up for the game, won by the tourists by 8-6.
Otago led by 3-0 at the break courtesy of a penalty goal by Evan ‘Bugs’ Taylor and scored a try right at the death to winger Morrie Collins. In between times, Janie Engelbrecht scored a try for South Africa, converted by Boet Mulder of Eastern Transvaal, who had previously locked the scores at three apiece with a penalty of his own.
The game against New Zealand Universities (match 23 of 26) was in itself an ill-tempered affair, soured before the match had even commenced by a particularly ill timed announcement by South African Prime Minister, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, that Maori will not be welcome as part of the envisioned 1967 All Black tour to South Africa. The New Zealand media went ballistic and Springbok rugby boss, Danie Craven, ended up in the centre of proceedings, trying to blow out fires and to calm the emotions.
The Springboks were at the end of a long tour, homesick and tired. In the mist of all this turmoil, the young side had been trying their utmost for three months, to please the New Zealand public and to foster a positive regard toward South Africans, especially given the Verwoerd governments ‘out of touch’ perspective on racial segregation.
The public turned instantly after the announcement, from being very positive to predominantly negative towards the touring party. The pessimism received some ‘additional fertilizer’ when three of the All Blacks playing for the NZ Universities side were injured and had to leave the field, reducing the team to just 12 players, for the last 30 minutes of the match.
Unfortunately, the injuries turned a much anticipated match into a farce and for the beleaguered Springboks, took the gloss from a breathtaking display by the backline, who ran in eight of the 13 tries posted in the 55-11 victory in Auckland.
Laidlaw himself was one of the injured All Blacks and his attempts to stay on the field caused a ‘bit of an emotional stir-up’. The circumstances provided vital ammunition for the introduction of replacements in matches involving international teams and in 1968 the rule was changed to allow two injured players to be replaced.
“Laidlaw stayed by the touchline for several minutes, where at one stage he collapsed, dramatically, falling backwards. When he returned, he was so whoozy in the head that he played at extra fullback, in the company of Strang, who was posted there from the flank. He looked as silly as a headless hen, wandering around at fullback, plainly not knowing whether it was Wednesday or Michaelmas. Yet when the teams scrummed five yards from the South African goal-line, Laidlaw somehow got himself into the five-eighths line. Not only that, while on the run he let fly with a dropkick and clean as a whistle, the ball sailed between the posts. Then he returned to halfway and, quite simply, collapsed again. That was the end of him.”
Terry McLean (Battling the ‘Boks)
Similarly, Chris Laidlaw made six appearances against the touring British Lions the following winter. The four test matches aside, he once again represented his home province (which he captained) and the NZ Universities side.
Just as Southland had done the week prior in the tours opening fixture, Otago defeated the best of British, the margin of victory eight points in winning by 17-9, both sides running in three tries.
Six of the seven Otago backs were from the University club, with fullback Henley (who contributed eight points through two penalty goals and a conversion) taking his position in place of his injured club mate, Evan Taylor, the former not guaranteed a regular starting spot even in his club side, such was the strength of the University of Otago back division.
The match against the Universities side was won in Christchurch by 24-11, immediately following the Otago fixture, with Munster and Ireland centre three-quarter, F K P ‘Barry’ Bresnihan - an ‘injury’ replacement on tour for fellow countryman, Jerry Walsh - running in three tries.
Bresnihan was a member of the Munster side which beat the Australians in 1967 and the following season, toured South Africa with the British Lions, playing in all three test matches. He won 25 caps for Ireland between 1966 and 1971.
Originally selected for the 1966 Lions tour, Walsh returned home after the Australian section (before their arrival in New Zealand), due to the serious illness of his father. He was capped twenty-six times by Ireland as a centre between 1960 and 1967.
A ‘back injury’ had prevented Chris Laidlaw from playing the Jubilee test against the Wallabies at Athletic Park, a month before the Otago challenge, yet ironically, on the same day as the test match in Wellington, he played for Otago against Taranaki in New Plymouth.
Laidlaw’s clubmate, Earle Weston Kirton, had won All Black selection on the same tour to the United Kingdom in 1963-64, but was not required again by the national selectors until his recent recall. His 1967 form had been as such that he had earned the plaudits of thousands of New Zealanders for his gallant efforts, which turned him from veritable ‘discard’ to one of the country’s leading stand-offs.
After giving way to Bruce Watt of Canterbury in the South Island XV and ‘Mac’ Herewini of Auckland in the Jubilee Test, his form in the South Island trial (his Possibles side - captained by Laidlaw - cruising to a 25-6 win, himself scoring a try) saw him elevated ahead of Watt to the main All Black trial, where his two tries helped his Probables side to a 27-16 victory. His inclusion in the side for the UK was as eminent one.
Earle Kirton was born in Taumarunui in 1940, but his family soon moved to Upper Hutt, where he spent the winter of 1957 in the St Patrick’s College (Silverstream) 1st XV. He made his senior debut for the Upper Hutt club in 1959 and in 1960, he moved to Dunedin to study science and dentistry.
That season, he started out playing in the Dunedin competition’s 3rd Grade and ended the season having played 11 of the 13 representative matches on the Otago schedule. He was again a regular fixture in Otago colours during 1961 and 1962. In his fourth season for the province, 1963, his fortunes began to turn and higher honours awaited him.
After scoring a try to help Southern Universities defeat their northern counterparts by 14-13 in the annual fixture, a match for NZ Universities against Wellington (a 16-8 win), he played a blinder for the South Island (called into the team late to replace the injured Bruce Watt) in a rare 14-13 victory over the North in Christchurch. The architect of two of the South’s tries, he played most of the second half with a broken nose.
Kirton later won his All Black spot, but played in only 13 of the 36 matches on tour. An inauspicious debut for his country, the famous 0-3 loss to Newport at Rodney Parade possibly hindered his selection, especially with Watt and Herewini both in the same touring party.
Adverse conditions, tension and the tenacity of the Welshmen did not allow for a good first appearance for the newcomer and in the rest of his limited tour games he failed to make much of an impression.
He represented the South Island again in 1965 (a 25-14 win for the North) and New Zealand Universities from 1963-67. Although given an All Black trial in 1965 and 1966, it appeared that Kirton was down the pecking order in the ‘hot seat’ that was the No. 10 All Black jersey.
Earle Kirton had played over 100 first class games before Otago challenged for the Ranfurly Shield, more than 70 of those for his province. Chris Laidlaw was not far behind his club, provincial and national team mate.
One gain for the season, lock Tony Banks, had played in an 11-11 draw in 1966, for Canterbury when challenging then holders, Auckland for the shield. Now, as an Otago player, he was in Napier to have another crack at ‘the log’.
Banks had played for the South Island earlier in the season and was a member of the New Zealand Universities side that had toured the Far East. He was also a useful goal kicker.
Another in the Otago pack who would go on to wear the silver fern, was Tony Kreft, a 22 year old prop from the Ranfurly club in Central Otago. Strongly built and surprisingly mobile in the open, Kreft came into the Otago side during the 1966 season. He exemplified the stereotypical Otago formula; hard country forward’s and flash city backs – a policy governed by a vast geographical territory, something that Hawkes Bay folk knew all about.
Kreft looked a likely prospect in 1967, given a South Island section trial, but not making the final trials in Wellington. He did make the New Zealand under 23 side and played in their lone match against Taranaki.
Flank forward Warren Townsend and prop-turned-hooker, Paul Booth, had also played in the 1967 South Island pack with Booth, furthermore, a reserve in the national trial. Townsend, who first represented Otago in 1966, played in the South Island trial only, but could be considered unlucky not to have progressed to the final trials in Wellington.
Townsend from the Kelso club in West Otago, brother of Southland representative Graeme (who played against the Bay in the southerner’s losing challenge just weeks before) was another of the hard country forwards in the Otago pack. Dave Bendle and Don Mather played their club rugby for Clutha, while lock, John Levido hailed from Gimmerburn, close to the border with North Otago.
Bendle had played 31 times for Wellington from 1960-64, before transferring to South Otago. Mather had represented Canterbury and South Canterbury before arriving in Otago early in 1967.
Another who would become an All Black was full back, Laurence William Mains of the Southern club. The 21 year old had made his Otago debut earlier in the season against North Otago and with coach, Eric Watson, looking for more consistency with the boot (Tony Banks had been the goal kicker up till the match against Wellington), Mains took over the goal kicking duties and the number one full back spot from Evan Taylor. The fact that Mains had superseded another top custodian in Taylor gained him some instant prominence.
Born in Dunedin in 1946, Laurie Mains was a student at Kings High School (Dunedin) and had been in the 1st XV in 1964 as a first five-eighths. He then went on to Dunedin Teachers’ College, the 1st XV being in the second grade competition conducted by the Otago Rugby Football Union. In 1965 he moved into his new position of full-back, commenced goal-kicking and racked up 168 points in his grade. He also made the Otago Junior representative side.
In 1967, he switched to the Southern club, playing in the ‘A’ grade/Galloway Shield competition, scoring 115 points in the senior club season.
Maurie Collins and Doug Peddie had been Otago representatives since 1965. 18 year old Collins made ten appearances throughout the season, scoring Otago’s only try in the loss to South Africa. He also played for Southern Universities, convincingly beaten by the strong North unit by 24-6.
A further ten matches for his province were made the following season, with Collins scoring two of Otago’s three tries in the win against the British Lions.
Along with Kirton, Laidlaw and Banks (officially still registered to Lincoln Agricultural College), plus club mates Dave Edward, Ken Prain, Paul Barrett and Steve Reaney, Maurie Collins toured Hong Kong and Japan with the New Zealand Universities side in February and March of 1967. Collins played in seven of the 10 fixtures on tour and topped the try scoring with 15, three of them in the ‘first test’ against All Japan in Osaka, won by 19-3.
Collins made the South Island trial in early September, but like Warren Townsend, was unlucky not to have progressed to the final trial. On the other wing, Errol Duckworth from the Pirates club was in his first season with the dark blues and his impressive form (eight tries in eight appearances leading into the shield challenge, including a hatrick in a 47-16 victory over the West Coast) had earned him an early trial for the New Zealand Under 23 side.
Don Peddie of the Eastern club, a strong running second five-eighth, captained the Possibles in the early trial for the same age grade side, but like Duckworth, did not make the team. Outside him at centre was Selwyn Inglis, who although slight of frame was known as ‘a tough bugger’. He had not played for Otago since 1963, when he made five appearances.
*****
Similar to the unfair parallels local Hawkes Bay folk had drawn between the ‘current crop’ and the greatest team of all, 1922-26, Otago rugby had also suffered from analogous comparisons.
It was a total surprise to all then, when after minutes, Otago were up by 5-0. Kirton was employing the high kick early and often, with loose forwards following through quickly. It was from one such kick that Doug Curtis got himself into trouble, attempting to first run then fly kick his way out of bother. Up in a flash to capitalize on the mistake was Warren Townsend, who scored the first and only try to be awarded against the Bay in the 1967 series. Laurie Mains converted.
Ian Bishop reduced the deficit to 3-5 with a penalty goal. Hawkes Bay were on the board, surely this was a turning point. Laurie Mains had other ideas and returned the compliment and so at half-time, the Bay, down 3-8, found themselves behind at the break for the first time during the six match tenure.
Whatever message was portrayed by Colin Le Quesne and John Buxton during the interval had the desired effect, as it was a transformed Magpie side which stormed down over the ground from the restart.
After 18 minutes, the ball came quickly from a ruck to Aidan Thomas, who elected to run on the blindside. The farther he ran, with Curtis galloping alongside him and his opposite, Errol Duckworth sticking to him like glue, the wider the gap became. The anxious crowd rose as one. Thomas had sliced between Duckworth and Don Mather coming across in cover defence…could he make the line?
The murmurs turned to an audible roar as the little half back dived for the line for the try. The ever reliable Ian Bishop could even the score if he could convert from near the side line, unfortunately his effort went just to the left of the posts. Hawkes Bay 6, Otago 8.
Hawkes Bay poured on the pressure and - with grim determination - Otago clung to their two point lead. Rod Abel appeared with ball in hand from one melee and sent the backs away, but Bill Davis (back from injury after missing the Taranaki match) was dragged down with only metres to go.
Dave Bone came off the back of a scrum and after dummying to Ian MacRae, sent Davis away again. The centre found some space before sending Mick Duncan (back on the wing to replace the injured Dennis Smith) away down the touch line. The flying Duncan was taken into touch, again only metres from the corner flag.
Kel Tremain charged down a clearing kick on the Otago line and as the ball bounced around, Bone was unlucky not to have collected it and scored. Eventually the pressure told and when Earle Kirton was caught offside, the trusty boot of Bishop was straight and true. Hawkes Bay 9, Otago 8 and Ian Bishop had brought up his 100 points for the 1967 season.
The one point advantage was the tightest spot that the Magpies had been in all shield season and when it mattered the most, the crowd responded in the affirmative. Collectively, they roared like never before and stirred by this support, the Bay rallied, continuing to attack, but when called upon to do so, defended like champions. Victory was achieved by the narrowest of margins.
Le Quesne was quick to acknowledge the role of the crowd in getting the Magpies home and also the wonderful job of ‘giving the team heart’, the effort and lengths gone to by the Hawkes Bay supporters club, week in week out.
There had been plenty of talk during the week about the impact that Chris Laidlaw and Earle Kirton may have on the game and there was certainly plenty more following, as Otago began their post mortem. The early success, based on either but usually Kirton, in hoisting the ball high had resulted in a try for Warren Townsend, but Le Quesne believed that the much vaunted pair were responsible for not varying their tactics enough and – after guiding Otago to an 8-3 lead - kicked away far too much hard-won possession.
This theory, not lost on the culprits either, is endorsed by Tony’s, Banks and Kreft. The under-rated and well drilled Otago pack had definite moments of dominance throughout the game and provided opportunities to win the match, but in Kreft’s opinion, the wrong options were taken.
“We felt we had the opportunity to win with the amount of ball we were getting. I thought that if Chris Laidlaw had passed the ball back to Laurie Mains he could have potted a goal to win the game for us, he had a prolific drop kick. But Laidlaw just passed to Earle Kirton and he continued to pop it over the top to Ian Bishop, who sent it back with interest, carving off huge distances with his powerful punts. We spent the rest of the time working our way back up the paddock.
Tony Kreft, ODT online, 2009
Kreft said it was a long trip home for the boys from Otago and that the nagging feeling of ‘what might have been’ stayed with the team for quite some period.
"It was the best game of rugby I ever played in. We had a tremendous battle with Hawkes Bay. At one stage Kel Tremain came running straight at Selwyn Inglis. Selwyn was a slightly built guy and he just launched himself at big Kel. He stopped him like a sack of spuds. I remember Eric Watson in the sheds afterwards saying he had no chance of getting a knighthood now." Tony Banks, ODT online, 2009
*****
Errol Duckworth, Earle Kirton, Chris Laidlaw and Bruce Matuschka were not required for Otago’s last ‘A’ team outing the following Saturday against Canterbury in Christchurch. The end of season battle for Southern supremacy was won by the home team by 11 points to 8.
Chris Laidlaw, a forty-six match veteran, did not play for Otago again, transferring to Christchurch, but spending the 1968 season (after making one appearance against West Coast) as understudy to the Canterbury first choice half back, Lyn Davis.
Despite this he was the South Island half back and played two tests for the All Blacks against Australia in June (captaining the side to a 19-18 victory in the second at Ballymore, Brisbane, when Brian Lochore was injured) and then two against the touring French in July.
In 1969, he took up his Rhodes Scholarship, attained through his post graduate studies at Otago University, at Merton College in Oxford, where he captained Oxford University to an historic 6-3 win over the Springboks at Twickenham, in the first game of their controversial 1969/70 tour of Britain, Ireland and France.
The anti-apartheid movement decided to disrupt the tour with an eye too, on the upcoming South African cricket tour to England, scheduled for the summer of 1970.
The planned visit of the Springboks to Iffley Road, Oxford in November 1969, was supposed to have celebrated the centenary of the Oxford University Rugby Club, but turned into something far more political. The east side of Twickenham was virtually empty, with only the press contingent allowed to take their seats. The match was dogged throughout by protests from anti-apartheid supporters and frequently descended into violence.
“There were doubts the game could be played. There were direct threats to disrupt it if we played at Iffley Road and those were taken seriously. I was asked by the RFU if I thought we could handle this and was obliged to say I didn’t know. All I did know was that determined protesters from around the UK were intent on stopping it. A few days beforehand the words, ‘stop the tour or else’, were sprayed onto our pitch in weedkiller.”
Chris Laidlaw (The Rugby Paper magazine (UK), 2014)
The Oxford University side were highly under-rated, comprising the best scrum-half in world rugby and Peter Dixon, possibly the best loose forward in the UK at the time and 1971 British Lion to New Zealand. Dixon also later played for North-western Counties, who inflicted a 16-14 defeat on Ian Kirkpatrick’s seventh All Blacks in 1972, the first occasion in which a regional side from England had defeated a New Zealand touring team.
The Springboks started well, with Piet Visagie landing a penalty goal. But by half-time, Oxford had taken the lead thanks to two penalty goals from Mike Heal. Being the opening match of the tour, the South African’s were unfit and believed the first game was going to be a ‘piece of cake’.
“It was one of the best games I have ever played and the rest of the team desperately wanted to strike a blow against the Springboks partly because of the misgivings we all had about what that team represented. They were genuinely shocked by the extent to which we ran them round. We had a variety of other innovative tactics including short line-outs. And the use of a double backline using blindside wing and two loose forwards on defence caught the Springboks off balance.”
Chris Laidlaw (The Rugby Player magazine (UK), 2014)
Pete Visagie missed a last-gasp drop-goal, which would have levelled the scores. Oxford University hooker that day, Julian Malins, also recalls that it was Chris Laidlaw who taught the great Welsh scrum-half, Gareth Edwards how to ‘spin pass’.
Despite his personal misgivings regarding the apartheid issue, Laidlaw made himself available and was selected to tour South Africa with the 1970 All Blacks. At least he would be able to see things for himself first hand, therefore being able to make an ‘informed choice’. Despite making seven test appearances against the Springboks, he later became a staunch opponent of contact with South Africa while apartheid remained in force.
Laidlaw made eleven appearances in the Republic, playing in the first, second and fourth test matches of the series. He scored one of the All Blacks two tries in the hard fought and bitter second test match in Newlands, won by 9-8. Players from both camps were stitched up following the match, made most notorious by the ‘stiff arm tackle’ by Fergi McCormick on Sid Nomis, which dislodged a few of the Springbok centre’s teeth.
Chris Laidlaw captained the side in an early tour match against South-West Africa at Windhoek, a team led by Springbok loose forward, Jan Ellis. New Zealand won the relatively dull affair by 16-0. A wealth of possession (gained by Sam Stahan in the line-out and Bruce McLeod who claimed eleven tight-heads) was largely squandered by the lethargy of the backline and in the ‘in your face’ defence of the home side, who offered little alternative by way of attacking rugby.
McLeod’s triumph was equally attributable to the effort of Neil Thimbleby on the tight-head side of the front row, not for the first time his value in his position had been praised. The forward effort in general was efficient and clinical, especially given that the side were struggling at times to come to grips with the oppressive heat and the altitude.
After the 1970 tour of South Africa, even though he was only 27, Laidlaw drifted away from an active role in New Zealand rugby. In 1973 he created something of a media fuss with his book, ‘Mud in Your Eye’, which was a sardonic over-view of the state of the New Zealand game. It was one of the best New Zealand rugby books, crisply written and with many sharp insights. However, his candour upset some administrators and a number of his old team-mates.
Earle Kirton took his outstanding domestic form from 1967 to the UK, where he became very much the back line general, disposing the incumbent test fly-half, ‘Mac’ Herewini of Auckland.
Quick and elusive, he possessed an accurate tactical kicking game and when he ran, he did so well, being skilled at doubling around his outsides to create an overlap. Kirton did well to make the position a more stable one for the All Blacks, as the ‘Dominion’ newspaper’s Sports Editor, Alex Veysey, had written in June; “There has been a deplorable inconsistency in the selection of five eighths. This has resulted in a monumental lack of confidence among our players to ‘use’ themselves in case they did something wrong and felt the edge of the axe again.”
Eight appearances for Otago in 1968, a third for the South Island, the All Black tour to Australia in which he played in both test’s, plus all three in the home series against the French found the Otago man in scintillating form.
He carried this through to 1969, playing both tests against the touring Welshmen and captaining Otago in their 9-27 defeat in Dunedin. The chief destroyer of the home side was the Cardiff wing three-quarter, Maurice Richards, who ran in three tries, the first two in a five minute burst, which with both converted saw the Welsh dragon’s out to a 10-0 lead.
Townsend and Kreft had been the outstanding forwards in a beaten pack, the latter scoring a try - the last scoring act of the match - just reward for his striving and toiling throughout the contest.
No 8, Bruce Matuschka played his 29th and final match for Otago. He had started his representative career for Golden Bay-Motueka in 1962, before moving to Dunedin and playing for the Union club. The brick layer then transferred to the Bay of Plenty in 1968, where he would make eighteen appearances until 1972, including that provinces Ranfurly Shield challenge in 1968.
*****
Other provincial matches played around the fields of New Zealand on this day were; Taranaki 13, Waikato 3, at Hamilton. Manawatu 19, Wanganui 3, at Palmerston North. Auckland had a win over their heralded rivals from north of the boundary, North Auckland, by 13-8 on Eden Park.
A week before their shield challenge, Wellington were ideally made to work hard to earn a 19-17 win over Canterbury at Athletic Park, an exhilarating six try feast. Open back play following forward domination was the pattern of play that Wellington had exploited well throughout their season. But during the Canterbury match, some experimentation with another ploy was toyed with – and with some success – opting to take points possibly on offer through the boot of Mattie Blackburn via dropped goals. Mick Williment’s goal kicking was also a factor in Wellington’s win.
#1 Song in New Zealand; (September 22-29) = SAN FRANCISCO (Scott McKenzie)
Hawkes Bay v Otago, September 23rd, 1967
All Black Games - 37 All Black Tests - 20
...scores during the second test against the Springboks in Newlands, 1970.
Hawkes Bay v Otago, September 23rd, 1967