Sir Nick Shehadie never forgot his rugby mates

Having only met Sir Nick Shehadie once was no impediment to understanding the stature of one of the great men of world rugby.

Under the circumstances, and having heard of his reputation from some of his opponents, there was something of a feeling of already knowing him. 

Two men specifically helped in this regard.

One was Southland player, coach and administrator Ray Harper who went on to become a New Zealand Rugby Union councillor and manager of the All Blacks in 1980 who spoke often about playing against the big Australian forward, and then meeting him several times during the 1980 All Blacks tour of Australia.

The other was a little more personal but involved another Southland rugby identity, C.E. 'Eddie' Robinson, a flanker from world rugby's southernmost rugby club Bluff who was an All Black in 1951-52 and who should have been on the 1953-54 tour to Britain and France, but that's another story.

While researching my history of Southland rugby, Something to Crow About, I rang Eddie to see if he would be available for an interview about his experiences with Southland. I knew he was pretty crook with cancer and said to him I was aware he wasn't well and that I would understand if he didn't feel up to it. He said, "No Lynn, come on down, it will be great to chat."

He was fantastic and had some great yarns. We talked for ages.

He said when he was selected for the 1951 tour to Aussie, Bob Duff took him under his wing. He thought it was because they were both prematurely bald. Duff and Shehadie were mates and so when Robinson came on the scene Shehadie always called Duff and Robinson 'Dad and Son'.

Robinson made a big impression on both sides on his first tour, having arranged for a significant number of Bluff oysters to be sent to Sydney for both teams to enjoy after the first Test.

Anyway, early on the return trip to New Zealand in 1952, Australia played Southland just before the first Test of the tour. Southland beat them 24-9, the only provincial side to win against the tourists.

At one of the first lineouts Shehadie went up for the ball and Eddie hit him. Shehadie ended up flat on his back in the Rugby Park mud. He looked up at Robinson and said ' Your bloody old man put you up to that didn't he?" 

The loss to Southland could not have been too off-putting, Australia won the first Test 14-9.

It was all part of the banter the trio enjoyed and Robinson recalled they had some great times together.

Anyway, 40 years later as a guest at the NZRU centennial  dinner in Wellington,  Sir Nick's and my paths were about to intersect. He and Tony O'Reilly were the guest speakers.

At the end of the speeches all the knobs gravitated to O'Reilly and Sir Nick was left sitting on his own.

I went over and sat beside him and said "Sir Nick, you don't know me from a bar of soap, but I wrote the centennial history of Southland rugby and one of the people I interviewed for it was Eddie Robinson."

He said, "Dear old Eddie, how sad it was when he died."

I said to him that Eddie had been very sick when I spoke with him, but that "when he talked about you and Bob Duff and the fun you had his spirits really lifted." 

And at that Sir Nick broke down and said "Thank you very much for telling me that, it means so much to me." I spent a few more minutes with him and then headed back to my seat.

For all that happened to him in his subsequent rich and fulfilling life, Sir Nick could still be moved by the memory of his rugby mates.

He was a man who defined the spirit of rugby at its very best.

That was evident when in 1983 he was asked to open the Golden Oldies rugby festival in Sydney, the third staging of the event. He was 57 then and when finishing his speech he said he would see everyone at the banquet at the end of the festival. But someone in the crowd shouted, 'Ave a go mate'. So he stripped and played a game.

He said to his new-found team-mates that he would be seeing them. And he turned out on both the second and third days to play.

"This is what rugby is all about," he said. "To start with it brought me out on the paddock again and I had three runs. I enjoyed myself immensely.

"The way in which the 16 nationalities involved here played the game and mixed off the field is a lesson for all the world. Surely, there would be no more wars if we all played rugby like the Golden Oldies," he said.

Australian, and world, rugby has lost a great man.

Springbok legend describes 1928 series with All Blacks

Springbok flyhalf Bennie Osler is regarded as one of the great five-eighths to have played the game and he was a formidable opponent for the 1928 All Blacks on their tour of South Africa.

Yet, for all his feats during that season, Osler said he went into the 1928 season with his enthusiasm for rugby at a low ebb.

 

Relating his life story, as covered in a series of book extracts from audio tapes he made before his death, in The South African Sportsman magazine in 1966-67, Osler said it wasn't the game that bored him that year.

"It was the atmosphere of exaggerated praise, unfair criticism and constant argument which surrounded me that depressed me most of all," he said.

Osler admitted that he hadn't enjoyed his rugby since leaving the University of Cape Town in 1924. He had become a marked man and that drove him to play more of a kicking game than he wanted.

However, the All Blacks offered a new challenge and he first played them on their second game of the tour against Western Province Town clubs.

"It was a rough, grim match and a very unfortunate one for me. Beforehand there was a rumour that the All Blacks had delegated one of their forwards, Ron Stewart, to make me his prime objective.

"Steward was a good forward, tall, heavy and fast, and with his roving commission, he was a real thorn in my side in this match," he said.

However, Osler's game was badly affected by a twisted ankle when a boot came down hard on the bridge of his foot, causing him to fall awkwardly. It didn't come right until around the time of the first Test, where Osler was buoyed with the news his brother, 'Sharkey' [Stanley Osler] was to play at centre.

"We were quite confident mainly because we knew that the All Blacks could not hold us in the scrums with their outmoded 2-3-2 formation," Osler said.

Once the Test started, Osler noted: "Watching the two packs struggling for supremacy I remember noticing the difference in mental approach. The All Blacks were quiet in a deadly sort of way and Brownlie would only occasionally bark out an order. The Springbok forwards on the other hand appeared more volatile and relaxed and they kept encouraging one another.

"What a great pack they were that afternoon! Slowly but surely they took a vice-like grip on the proceedings and Pierre de Villiers, all nippiness and purpose, began getting the ball away to me despite the attentions of the All Black scrum-half Dalley, who did his best to smother my little partner from Paarl," Osler said.

The Springboks had a chance to score 20 minutes into the game when wing Jack Slater got through with only fullback Dave Lindsay to beat with Stanley Osler unmarked outside him.

"But to our horror Jack, instead of passing to Stanley ran right into fullback Lindsay and a glorious chance was lost."

Soon after inside centre Duffy was tackled heavily and while continuing was not in good shape.

"From virtually the next scrum I got my first chance when Pierre evaded Scrimshaw, who was acting as the All Blacks' 'rover' that day, and passed the ball to me. I was hemmed in by the defence but instead of smothering me as quickly as possible they hesitated – the biggest crime you can commit in a test match. I dropped for goal and the ball went high over the crossbar. With four points up we were off to a good start. This reverse stung the All Blacks into all-out aggression and until half-time we had to defend with all we had."

Duffy was taken from the field at half-time leaving South Africa to play the second half with 14 men.

Soon after the re-start Osler landed his second dropped goal.

"As my boot hit the ball, an All Black tackled me from behind and I was nearly knocked unconscious…

"After my second drop-goal the All Blacks began to concentrate on me with an intensity that was almost frightening. To be too concerned with one player is a double-edged sword, however, and when I was late-tackled less than three minutes later, Mr Neser was on the spot to award a penalty."

Osler added a second penalty goal, although his description was interesting: "I got another straight-forward pot at goal" which to most New Zealanders of a certain age would suggest a dropped goal, or 'taking a pot'.

"I then decided to have another try at bringing Stanley around the blindside and this time he was right there to streak right through. At the right moment he flipped the ball to wing Prinsloo who went over the line but lost the ball as he bent over to dot down!"

Eight minutes before the end they did score through Slater to beat the All Blacks 17-0. Osler's match haul of 14 points was a world record for an individual in Test rugby.

The press and public went wild but Osler remarked it only took three weeks for them to turn after the All Blacks took the second Test 7-6. He was booed when missing touch a couple of times and criticised for not giving his wings more of a chance.

"…yet a quick glance at any newspaper report of the match will tell that no less than four tries were thrown away by the Springboks because of rank bad handling.

"I am not trying to make excuses because I DID kick very badly that day. Although I put over a penalty [sic – conversion], I missed several drop-goals from easy positions and my touch kicking was also weak and pointless," he said.

The third Test at Port Elizabeth he rated as one of the most enjoyable of his career as both teams ran the ball throughout before the All Blacks were beaten 11-6.

But a bigger challenge awaited. (To be continued)

The try that revived New Zealand back play

What the first great Test-winning streak by the All Blacks highlighted was the way in which New Zealand's backs were unencumbered from the dreadful 10-man rugby that had dominated the days from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s.

Games could go from line-out to line-out with halfbacks or first five-eighths kicking the hard-won ball directly back to touch a few more yards down the sideline. It was like the creeping artillery barrages of the First World War.

Occasionally there were break-outs when teams over-powered their opposition and a reminder was provided that backs did have skills worth promoting.

Coach Fred Allen led the revival of back play for the All Blacks. Their tour to Britain and France and 1967 was the proving point that it was possible to play a 15-man game. It wasn't an instant revolution but the seeds were sown. It also helped the Allen's manager on the tour was Charlie Saxton, who had penned a coaching manual of significance in the late-1950s which was also aimed at expanding the style of play. It was the ABC of Rugby.

There was another factor in the development and it was the demonstration that players had the skills, they only needed to be encouraged to use them. First five-eighths Earle Kirton demonstrated that in the 1967 Test against England, while during that tour Bill Davis showed their was still a case for the classic type of centre to make outside breaks while also setting up his outsides.

It was Davis who told journalist Wallace Reyburn, "It is marvellous to go on the field now and know that you are no longer one of the forgotten men in the three-quarters but instead they are working up there in front to get the ball back to you, for you to run with it."

Fullback Fergie McCormick was efficient coming into the backline, especially on the blindside, and forwards were also encouraged to run with the ball in hand.

But if there was one outrageous breaker of the mould it had to be Grahame Thorne. He burst onto the scene having been selected to play in the first All Blacks trial for the 1967 tour, after he had been selected to play for New Zealand Under-23 against Taranaki.

The dazzling centre was told by coach Fred Allen to have a go on his own at half-time so when the chance came he did and he scored a startling solo try. A more orthodox second was scored later and suddenly Thorne found himself in the final main trial to be played a few days later at Athletic Park in Wellington.

Again he scored a key try, the result of a scissors movement. Sadly, coverage of the two trials does not appear to have survived in video.

But being selected for the All Blacks tour to Britain and France helped ensure that graphic evidence of Thorne's ability has been retained. 

It was against West Wales, where the All Blacks were being given a bit of a tickle-up but then as T.P. McLean wrote: "Grateful indeed were the New Zealanders, therefore, when, after twenty-seven minutes, Thorne, seizing a pass at least 70 yards distant from the relevant try line, reached that line by a sensational series of sidesteps and sprints. You could see him making up his mind to beat a man, you could watch him doing it and you knew that the opponent knew that he was going to be beaten, and it was all deliriously intoxicating."

Reyburn described the try: "The young centre came in at a tangent and taking the ball at full tilt headed straight up the middle. He evaded three would-be tacklers and then appeared merely to run past the full-back, to score a sensational 80-yard try under the posts." Thorne had been a dash of colour in a monochrome crowd, he said, but his reward from Fred Allen had been to be bawled out and told he should have passed.

J.B.G. Thomas provided the Welsh version. "The All Blacks eventually scored after 25 minutes' play through a lovely cut through by Thorne, who straightened out and ignored Steel outside him to cross between the posts."

And film of the try is HERE.

Sadly, Thorne was never given the chance to make the centre position his own and after the 1970 tour of South Africa was lost to the New Zealand game.

But in partnership with Bill Davis, he ensured mid-field back play was not forgotten and set the trend for players like Bruce Robertson, Joe Stanley, Frank Bunce and Conrad Smith to make their marks with the national side.

Hansen says focus on key areas paid off

New Zealand had reward in the areas they had been concentrating on in the lead-up to their 36-13 win over England in Hamilton on Saturday night.

Coach Steve Hansen said the things the All Blacks did well in their first half four-try blitz were what they worked hard on during the week. The skills had come through, the set piece had been good and the running lines had been great, the catching and passing was good and they finished off tries.

"From that point of view it was as good probably as you are going to get," he said.

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said the second half frustration was attributable to England making the sort of start New Zealand wanted, and by making a couple of mistakes they had conceded a try.

"England kept playing and we went a wee bit hesitant, we didn't get our hands on the ball for quite a period," he said, adding that some frustration came in too when unable to build the required pressure.

McCaw said the team had got better each week but he felt they may have been guilty of not paying as much attention to their skills in the lead-up to the series, and the key now was not to regress before the regroup for the Rugby Championship.

Hansen said equalling the world record of 17 consecutive wins was pleasing from the point of view that they were trying to be successful in their approach of winning Test matches and the record was reward for that.

Hansen congratulated both sides for what he said was 'a fantastic three-match series'.

"In the past sometimes these June series have been under-rated by not bringing the best teams down and I think England paid us a massive amount of respect when they brought their best team down and it made for a wonderful three-match series," he said.

The first half performance had won the All Blacks the game in Hamilton and had been special. England had demonstrated their fighting spirit by making the second half a 7-7 draw, he said.

The series had seen several challenges thrown at the All Blacks and the second half had been another.

Hansen said the coaches had learnt a lot from the series and were not looking forward to the players going back to complete their Super Rugby programmes ahead of the Rugby Championship.

Backs coach Ian Foster said he was very pleased with starting debut centre Malakai Fekitoa who had done his basic roles very well and he had run some good, hard lines which required action from England's defence.

Hansen paid tributed to Foster's work with the backs in devising plays that challenged England's back defences, and which were exposed early by the All Blacks on Saturday.

"We got quality ball and we executed our skills better than we have in the last two Tests. Our running lines were better and our catch-pass was better so as a result of that we put them under a bit of pressure," he said.

Foster said he was conscious the midfield had been an area New Zealand hadn't executed that well against England over the last two years and they had to be at their best to achieve in that department which they hadn't done over the past two weeks.

All Blacks dish up a dose of rugby reality in Hamilton

If you're going to make a statement at your last chance in a three-Test series you have already lost, you don't start by kicking the match opener out on the full - not against the All Blacks anyway.

Out to 29-6 at half-time, the All Blacks were only able to add a post-fulltime try in the second half, and thereby hangs the story of England's inaccuracies in their 36-13 loss at Hamilton's Westpac Stadium.

England first five-eighths Freddie Burns' starting blue became a talisman for his side who spent 40 minutes playing catch-up without getting sufficient quality ball to pressure the All Blacks, let alone give themselves confidence.

By comparison, the All Blacks played at their best in the series, for all of the first half, and England's drawing board looks set for more of a workout than the players were able to produce at Waikato Stadium.

Steve Hansen's sides, in 31 Tests have now scored 1004 points and 487 against, a ratio of 2:1 for only one loss. And in scoring three tries wing Julian Savea joined Jonah Lomu having scored eight tries against England.

Prop Tony Woodcock, who spent time in the sin-bin on the night, achieved his 12^th winning appearance against England, the most by any player from any country, surpassing JPR Williams of Wales' record.

And the win was the 17^th by New Zealand, equalling the world records set by Fred Allen's team of 1965-69 and Nick Mallett's Springbok team of the late 1990s. Richie McCaw has now captained New Zealand to a 17-win streak, a 16-win streak and two 15-win streaks.

Two chances, two tries, in the first eight minutes to the All Blacks spelled the difference in execution, intent, class, call it what you will. Just what went wrong in the second half will have the New Zealand brains trust occupied ahead of The Rugby Championship.

Wet weather, which must have given England some hope of pulling the All Blacks back to them, accounted for nothing in the home side's attitude from the outset.

Both the first two tries came from lineouts and each produced sparkling tries on the opposite side of the field for wing Julian Savea to make it 22 tries in 22 Tests and he should have had a 23^rd in the 13^th minute from yet another right-field lineout.

But after the double-round move provided more space for Nonu and Cruden to work their magic a forward pass was all that denied Savea the try. With halfback Aaron Smith adding two more by the 32^nd minute, the game was, for all intents and purposes over.

Of concern for the All Blacks' management team will be the way their side went to sleep in the second half, and the scrum problems that ensued around the middle stages of the half when penalties were a too common occurrence for comfort.

England did play more determinedly in the second half, but they had to because the consequence was a rout of the highest order. Wing Marland Yarde scored the side's only try, and went close on two other occasions to look the most effective of the visitors.

On the list for English consideration will be the assured fact that Mike Brown may have arrived in New Zealand as a claimant for the world's best fullback but he's got at least two in front of him now with Ben Smith and Israel Dagg heading the list.

The need for faster and more intuitive thinking was also demonstrated at stages when, in longer phases, England looked to run out of direction and understanding of what they were trying to do. The pointless kicking to the New Zealand rearguard is another ploy England will need to feed into their tactical computer. It will probably tell them some following up from their players would help.

But with all members of the squad getting a run, the All Blacks have introduced new players in a successful environment to set themselves up for the Championship defence.