New Zealand Army rugby team of 1919
The New Zealand Army rugby team of 1919 was a
New Zealand Services
The First World War saw a high percentage of amateur rugby union players signing up to serve their country.[1] At the same time the sport of rugby union was suspended at club and country level in most countries. The sport survived during this period through organised games conducted by inter-service and allied forces.
When the War came to an end, most international and club teams were decimated; more than a hundred internationals had died in the conflict (See:
The tour of Great Britain and France
The tour of Great Britain and France took in 38 matches, of which the New Zealand Army won 33, drew two and lost just three games. With the tour over the Army team headed to South Africa for a further twelve matches.
Touring party
Those players marked with AB were also capped as New Zealand 'All Black' rugby union internationals, either before or after playing in the New Zealand Army team.
Full-backs
- C.H. Capper (Field Artillery)
- John Gerald O'Brien (Divisional Signals)AB
Three-quarters
- W.A. Ward (Rifle Brigade)
- Percival Wright Storey (Otago Infantry Regiment)AB
- G.L. Owles (Field Artillery)
- Leonard "Jack" Stohr (Medical Corps)AB
- Edmond Ryan (Field Artillery)AB
Five-eighths
- Eric Arthur Cockroft (Canterbury Infantry Regiment)AB
- Richard William Roberts (Rifle Brigade)AB
- William Fea (Rifle Brigade)AB
- Jim Ryan(Otago Infantry Regiment)AB
- W.L. Henry (Canterbury Infantry Regiment)
- P. Tureia (Pioneers)
- G.J. McNaught (Machine Gun Corps)
- E. Watson (Wellington Infantry Regiment)
- G. Yardley (Auckland Infantry Regiment)
Half-backs
- Charlie Brown (Field Engineers)AB
- D.McK. Sandman (Canterbury Infantry Regt.)
Forwards
- P. Allen (Wellington Infantry Regt.)
- J. Kissick (Field Engineers)
- F.P. Arnold (Auckland Infantry Regt.)
- A.A. Lucas (Field Artillery)
- Ernest Bellis (Otago Infantry Regt.)AB
- Jim Moffitt (Auckland Infantry Regt.)AB
- R.W. Bilkey (Field Artillery)
- Harold Vivian Murray (Machine Gun Corps)AB
- John Alexander Bruce (Field Engineers)AB
- E.J. Naylor (Otago Infantry Regt.)
- Michael Joseph Cain (Otago Infantry Regt.)AB
- R. Sellars (Divisional Signals)
- Eric Cockroft (Field Artillery)AB
- Arthur Singe (Auckland Infantry Regt.)
- James Burt Douglas (Otago Infantry Regt.)AB
- S.J. Standen (Field Artillery)
- Dick Fogarty (Rifle Brigade)AB
- C.W. Tepene (Otago Infantry Regt.)
- A. Gilchrist (Field Artillery)
- Alfred West (Field Artillery)AB
- Edward Hasell (Field Artillery)AB
- H.G. Whittington (Rifle Brigade)
- Ranji Wilson (Rifle Brigade)AB
Results
Date | Opponent | Location | Result | Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Match 1 | Royal Naval Division | Devonport
|
Drawn | 0–0 | |
Match 2 | 1 February | Monmouthshire | Crosskeys | Won | 22–3 |
Match 3 | United Services | Torquay | Won | 9–0 | |
Match 4 | Canadian Forces | Chiswick | Won | 12–0 | |
Match 5 | South African Services | Richmond | Won | 26–5 | |
Match 6 | Coventry R.F.C. | Coventry | Won | 14–0 | |
Match 7 | Australian Imperial Forces | Richmond | Won | 9–0 | |
Match 8 | RAF 1 | Swansea | Won | 22–3 | |
Match 9 | Canadian Expeditionary Force1 | Portsmouth | Won | 11–0 | |
Match 10 | Yorkshire | Bradford | Won | 44–5 | |
Match 11 | British XV | Leicester | Won | 11–3 | |
Match 12 | RAF | Richmond | Won | 3–0 | |
Match 13 | Gloucester | Gloucester | Won | 15–12 | |
Match 14 | 29 March | Cardiff | Cardiff | Drawn | 0–0 |
Match 15 | South African Forces1 | Twickenham | Won | 14–5 | |
Match 16 | 2 April | Maesteg | Maesteg | Won | 8–3 |
Match 17 ('A' team) | 5 April | Mother Country1 | Edinburgh | Won | 6–3 |
Match 18 ('B' team) | 5 April | Abertillery | Abertillery | Won | 3–0 |
Match 19 ('B' team) | 9 April | Cross Keys | Crosskeys | Won | 6–0 |
Match 20 ('A' team) | 12 April | Australian Imperial Forces1 | Bradford | Lost | 5–6 |
Match 21 ('B' Team) | 12 April | Pill Harriers | Newport | Drawn | 0–0 |
Match 22 ('B' Team) | 16 April | Ogmore Vale | Ogmore Vale | Won | 12–7 |
Match 23 ('A' team) | 16 April | Mother Country – King's Cup Final1 | Twickenham | Won | 9–3 |
Match 24 ('A' team) | 19 April | French Army | Twickenham | Won | 20–3 |
Match 25 ('B' team) | 19 April | Neath | Neath | Won | 10–3 |
Match 26 | 21 April | Wales | Cardiff | Won | 6–3 |
Match 27 | Abergavenny | Abergavenny | Won | 20–0 | |
Match 28 | Ebbw Vale | Ebbw Vale | Won | 28–0 | |
Match 29 | Coventry | Coventry | Won | 7–0 | |
Match 30 | Queen's University | Belfast | Won | 18–0 | |
Match 31 | United Services | Salisbury | Won | 20–7 | |
Match 32 | Devon | Torquay | Won | 14–0 | |
Match 33 | Tredegar | Tredegar | Won | 8–0 | |
Match 34 | 5 May | Monmouthshire | Ebbw Vale | Lost | 3–4 |
Match 35 | French XV | Paris | Won | 16–10 | |
Match 36 | Selection Francais | Pau | Won | 16–6 | |
Match 37 | Selection Francais | Toulouse | Won | 16–6 | |
Match 38 | Northern Command | Headingley | Won | 33–0 |
1 The matches that made up the King's Cup competition.
New Zealand Army in Wales
During the First World War, the ban on players who had switched to play professional rugby league from playing rugby union was lifted. This allowed players from both codes to play in services teams without threat of action. With the war over, the Welsh Rugby Union immediately sought to re-establish the amateur rules, and were suspicious that several of the New Zealand team had played professional rugby before the war and now wanted a guarantee that all the New Zealanders were amateurs.[4] This view led one irate British Service officer to comment, "As if it matters a damn whether they are amateurs or professionals when they have come to this country to fight and die for us."[4] The WRU, realising that they had misjudged public sentiment towards the Services teams, quickly dropped their complaint and did not raise the issue again.[4]
Wales
21 April 1919 |
Wales | 3–6 | New Zealand Army |
Pen: Shea | Pen: Stohr (2) |
Cardiff Arms Park Referee: R Charman (England) |
Wales:
New Zealand Army: C Capper, W Ford, L Stohr, P Storey, J Ryan capt., W Fea, C Brown, M Cain, E Hassell, J Kissick, J Moffitt, A Wilson, A West, A Singe, R Fogarty
The King's Cup
The King's Cup was contested by six teams. The New Zealand Army, the British Army (known during the competition as the Mother Country), Australian Imperial Forces, Canadian Expeditionary Forces, South African Forces and the RAF.
The competition, sometimes referred to as the 'Inter-Services and Dominions Rugby Championship',[5] consisted of a small league, whereby each of the teams played each other over a period of weeks. Once the teams had played each encounter, the two sides with the most wins would face each other for the right to play for the King's Cup at Twickenham. The winner of the final was then invited to play the French Army team, again at Twickenham. The matches were played in varying locations around Britain.
The New Zealand Army 'A' team's first encounter was with the RAF played at Swansea in Wales; New Zealand won 22–3. This was followed by another victory, this time against the Canadian Force at Portsmouth in England. After beating the South African Forces team at Twickenham, New Zealand travelled to Edinburgh in Scotland to play the 'Mother Country', the British Army team. This was the closest encounter to date, with New Zealand winning 6–3. With four wins from four encounters, New Zealand had already secured their place in the final, but then lost the final match of the round against Australia at Bradford. This was the first loss of the tour for the New Zealand Army, for either the A or B team.
The final in London was between New Zealand and the 'Mother Country' team. James Ryan led his team to a 9–3 victory, earning the right to Face the French Army three days later. After the win over France, Ryan was award the King's Cup, presented by King George V. With the King's Cup Championship over, the 'A' team returned to Wales to rejoin the rest of the squad ready to face the Wales team at Swansea.
Bibliography
- Billot, John (1972). All Blacks in Wales. Ferndale: Ron Jones Publications.
- Hughes, Gareth (1986). The Scarlets: A History of Llanelli Rugby Club. Llanelli: Llanelli Borough Council. ISBN 0-906821-05-3.
- Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3.
Notes
- ISBN 0-00-435697-7.
- ^ Hughes (1986), pg 98.
- ^ Sport in Wartime W.F. Ingram, The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 7 (2 October 1939)
- ^ a b c Billot (1972), pg 47.
- ^ New Zealand Rifle Brigade
External links
- Trouillard, Stéphanie (19 September 2015). "The forgotten story of the first-ever rugby 'World Cup'". France24. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- Akers, Clive (14 September 2016). "A Wartime World Cup". ww100.govt.nz. Retrieved 7 January 2016.