’56 Springboks on tour – 3rd match
Auckland 3 / South Africa 6
The third tour match against Auckland at Eden Park was disastrous for many reasons and had in many ways a lasting negative impact on the tour. This match changed the perception the New Zealand public had about the Springboks essentially leaving the kiwis very negative about the touring side. Warwick Roger recall how -as he walked home after having watched the match as a 11 year old- the realisation dawned on him that the Springboks were not gods at all and how in the ensuing weeks they started kicking each other on the rugby field like the Springboks did against Auckland. An article in the Star stated on the Monday after the match that: ‘It was a rubbishy, unintelligent game . . . . . rugby at its most depressing . . . . exactly the sort of game that makes league fans out of rugby supporters.’
All accounts of this fixture assert to the fact that is was an awful match with both teams being incredibly, humiliatingly bad and more concerned to brawl, kick, punch and shoulder charge than to play rugby.
Auckland had a formidable team in 1956 with four All Blacks -John Tanner (No12), Keith Davis (No9), Jack Skeen (No4) and ‘Snow” White (No1)-, and three future All Blacks –Frank McMullen (No13), Terry Lineen (No11) and John Graham (No8). Dave Menzies (No14), ‘Munga’ Emery (No7) and Alby Pryor (No6) had represented New Zealand Maori while Dave Ludbrook (No8) had played for New Zealand universities. The Auckland team lost only two of its 14 games in 1956 and had not been beaten that particular season when they took the field against the touring Springbok side.
The Springbok team who played in this match was: Viviers; Johnstone; Montini; Nel; du Preez; Howe; Gentles; Retief; Ackermann; Pickard; Claassen; de Wilzem; Bekker; van der Merwe; Walker.
It was still early in the tour. The interest immense; the official recorded attendance was 51,586. Spectators fluxed in from all over the North Island; some of whom passed the Friday night at an all-out cinema while others slept in the streets around Eden Park.
Warwick Roger remembers the tension before the match: The teams lined up for the national anthems then fanned out across the paddock. I was shivering the way I still do when I have to do something that frightens me. My hands shook and my stomach convulsed. A strange silence came over the crowd as we awaited the kick-off.
The Springboks having been beaten up front in the previous two matches was determined to turn the tide and start dominating the forward battle. This culminated into an all-out brawl starting at the very first scrum. John Graham who played No8 for the Auckland team relates the start of the match in Warwick Roger’s book ‘Old Heroes’:
The kick-off didn’t go ten yards so we went back to have the scrum on halfway. I was at the back of the scrum, where I hadn’t played before because I was a flanker for Varsity. The first scrum went down and ‘Snow’ White and Bekker, I think it was, were into each other, and I thought, “Christ, what on earth have I got myself into here?” I can still see it, the fist down here and coming up “whoof, whoof”.
The game itself was a big disappointment -in the light of the immense interest- with the forward packs niggling at each other all afternoon with very little open play in spite of the fact that the game was played on a firm surface in brilliant sunshine. Auckland clearly entered the game with a preconceived idea that the way to beat the Springboks is to use robust tactics up front and to shut down backline play.
This was a surprising tactic considering that most of their star players were in the backline but a tactic probably based on the way Waikato had beaten the Springboks and the fact that the Springbok pack also did not convince against North-Auckland.
The Springboks lost two players in the backline –Basie Viviers and Jan du Preez- early in the match due to injury and the two flankers Ackermann and de Wilzem were posted to the wings.
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