There are a host of international teams like Scotland and Ireland not even to mention second tier test nations like Canada, USA, Italia and Argentina who have never beaten the All Blacks. Wales have beaten the All Blacks only three times; the last time being in 1953. In general the only teams really able to foster some occasional wins against the All Blacks are England, France, Australia and South Africa with the latter being by far the most successful in this regard.
The fact that Rhodesia (now of course Zimbabwe) have once beaten the All Blacks are therefore something really unique and says a lot about the state of rugby in Southern Africa at the time this occurred namely in 1949. The fact that South Africa also white washed the 1949 All Blacks 4-0 in the test series leaves the impression that it was a weak All Black side which is something most rugby scribes strongly reject.
The match statistics of the 1949 tourists are certainly not flattering.
Match record
|
Date |
Opposition |
Location |
Score |
|
31 May 4 June 8 June 11 June 15 June 18 June 22 June 25 June 29 June 2 July 9 July 16 July 23 July 27 July 30 July 6 August 13 August 17 August 20 August 24 August 27 August 3 September 10 September 17 September: 21 September |
Western Province Universities Boland South Western Districts Eastern Province Border Natal Western Transvaal Transvaal XV Orange Free State Eastern Transvaal Western Province FIRST TEST Transvaal Rhodesia Rhodesia Northern Transvaal SECOND TEST Northern Universities Griqualand West North Eastern Districts Orange Free State THIRD TEST Border FOURTH TEST Cape Town Clubs |
Cape Town Wellington Outshoorn Port Elizabeth East London Durban Potchefstroom Johannesburg Kroonstad Springs Cape Town Cape Town Johannesburg Bulawayo Salisbury Pretoria Johannesburg Pretoria Kimberley Aliwal North Bloemfontein Durban East London Port Elizabeth Cape Town |
Won 11 – 9 Won 8 – 5 Won 21 – 3 Won 6 – 3 Lost 0 – 9 Won 8 – 0 Won 19 – 3 Won 6 – 3 Drew 9 -9 Lost 5 – 6 Won 6 – 3 Lost 11 – 15 Won 13 – 3 Lost 8 – 10 Drew 3 – 3 Won 6 – 3 Lost 6 – 12 Won 17 – 3 Won 8 – 6 Won 28 – 3 Won 14 – 9 Lost 3 – 9 Drew 6 – 6 Lost 8 – 11 Drew 11 – 11 |
Many reasons or contributing factors for the poor tour record and the rather unique defeat at the hands of Rhodesia (what some would consider an obscure provincial side) has been voiced over the years.
Fred Allen had his team made a pact that they would not complain about the tour because whinging would not change the results. The team honoured that pack for over 50 years but Allan has always wondered whether he made the right decision. In his authorized biography a multiple number of excuses surfaced which he sensibly did not voiced during or directly after the tour. If he did he could have ended-up like Danie Craven in 1956 with the newspapers making a list of all his excuses why they lost 7 and drew 4 of 25 matches they played. These excuses/reasons include things like:
- The ship on which they travelled to South Africa was substandard and to small with not enough deck space to train on;
- The South Africans being too friendly and treating them with too much food, drink and cocktail parties;
- The New Zealand coaches being too old and incompetent;
- The NRFU being to gullible and agreeing to leave the Maori players behind;
- The extreme touring itinerary;
- Hennie Muller being allowed with offside play to destroy the NZ midfield;
- The South African referees penalising them too much at the rucks;
- Not getting penalties in kickable positions in the test matches;
- The South African props using dirty and illegal tactics
The 1949 All Blacks side had some real issues coaching wise (their coach at the time struggling with health problems and not handling the heat, dust and pressure well) and Terry McLean had no doubts that it was one if not the main reason why the 1949 All Blacks struggled in South Africa. He writes:
Fred Allen returned from the misery of the tour in a disturbed state of mind. He had been forced to carry the can for two elderly men, one the team manager the other as coach, and when each was proved incompetent, he bore much of the severe public criticism of the team.
Fred Allan shown here with All Black coach Alex McDonald.
Another main reason for this shock defeat has been given as the extreme traveling itinerary of the touring party.
The 1949 All Blacks on their tour to South Africa played 25 matches between 31 May and 21 September. They played as far south as Cape Town and as far north as Salisbury, as Harare was then known, and many places in between.
They did not have a chartered plane for a 45-minute hop to Port Elizabeth. They used local transport, mostly the train – the slow, rocking train and crawled around the country. Traveling from Wellington after their match against Boland to Oudtshoorn for their Wednesday match against South Western Districts for instance took 24 hours. The next afternoon they left for Port Elizabeth, arriving there at half past seven on the Friday morning to play Eastern Province, then a tough proposition with six Springbok trialists in their side. New Zealand won 6-3. The trip from Port Elizabeth to East London took 9 hours by bus and the tour through Potchefstroom and Johannesburg to Kroonstad took them 17-hours with matches spaced in between.
By the time of the first test they have travelled from Cape Town -mostly by train- through all four provinces and back to Cape Town.
After the first Test they headed back to Johannesburg by train; a trip that lasted 26 hours. They played Transvaal on the Saturday and that same night climbed on a train to Bulawayo, arriving on Monday morning. They then took another train to the Victoria Falls, arriving on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday night they went back to Bulawayo, arriving on Wednesday morning. That very afternoon after four nights on the train they played Rhodesia.
Winston McCarthy entitled the piece about this match in his book ‘All Blacks on trek again: ‘Travel weariness – backs miss opportunities’.
Writing after the tour Winston McCarthy wrote: “The team never looked the same combination after the Rhodesian trip, a journey that should never have been undertaken by rail with so many games left to play, including three Tests.”
McCarthy also wrote: “The itinerary of the 1949 team was well studied before it was accepted by the New Zealand Rugby Union…. The fact remains that travelling in South Africa is tough. The worst part of the trip, but mind you I only mean insofar as travelling was concerned, was the journey to and from Rhodesia. The Rhodesians, no less than the South Africans, were magnificent in their hospitality to the team, but, nevertheless, it would have been far better had this part of the tour not been undertaken. Eight nights out of twelve in the train plus two matches in excessive heat was not in the best interests of a team that had three more Test matches to play.”
Yes the traveling was tough but that was the nature of moving around the two respective countries in those early years. The 1921 Springbok team in New Zealand was also confronted with traveling by train and/or on muddy roads in bitter cold for extreme lengths of time just to play the next day in weather conditions that left the playing surfaces barely more than a mud slump.
It is no secret that the 1928 All Blacks to South Africa complained about the traveling and referees as this remarks made by vice-captain Mark Nicholls published in the NZ Truth on 19 July 1928 indicate: “We have been up against it since we arrived in South Africa, a number of circumstances contributing to our inability to show true form.
“The tremendous amount of travelling from high to low altitude and vice versa resulted in a succession of colds and influenza, while the hard grounds certainly caused minor injuries. We also found the eight-seamed balls as used here, difficult of handling and kicking, but now we are getting accustomed to them.
“We have difficulty in adapting ourselves to the old rules under which possession is everything. There are few free kicks here, referees generally awarding scrums, so there are about 100 scrums in every match with the South Africans getting a two-third majority.” Despite all these issues and some Irish internationals (Cunningham and Gardiner) playing for the home team the All Blacks ran in a 44 – 8 victory against Rhodesia in 1928.
Reading the above remarks by Mark Nicholls and considering the splendid victory margin achieved by the 1928 All Blacks one can’t help but feel that there was more to the accomplishments of the two Rhodesian sides in 1949 (one win and a draw) than a travel weary touring side.
The 1949 team had no matches in the week before a Test. There was also no match in the week after the first test and the third test. In addition they requested and received two weeks extra after arriving in South Africa to prepare and get fit for the first tour match. They spend that two weeks in Hermanus to counter the side effect of the long boat trip but complained afterwards about extensive hospitality (too much food, drink and cocktail parties). The South African rugby union was obviously accommodative and did its best to make the tourists stay as pleasant as possible and blaming the South Africans for the tour itinerary and tough travelling conditions is a bit of a one-sided argument. The extra two weeks in Hermanus which was granted on their request Craven believed affected the tourists more adversely than is generally recognised stating that no touring team can build morale and team spirit if they get restless and irritable waiting to get started with the tour.
Contributing the poor tour results including the defeat against Rhodesia to traveling alone is therefore hardly an excuse. Clearly the quality of Rhodesian rugby had something to do with the results of the two matches played in Rhodesia.
The 1949 All Blacks self was quick to compliment the Rhodesians with their style of play and felt that it was the best and most enjoyable match on tour, up to that stage. The Rhodesian side scored two tries in the first match in Bulawayo which is quite a feat considering that only 7 tries were scored against the 1949 All Blacks on the entire tour.
Years later in Fred Allan’s authorised biography the author use this statistics (only 7 tries scored against the All Blacks) in a roundabout way to justify the issues the forty-niners had with referees. Fact is that the SA team of the early years were moulded on the Bennie Osler style of safety first. Mark Nicholls was quoted as follows about SA rugby in 1928: “The South Africans’ style of play is safety first and safety last. Despite overwhelming possession, the inside backs invariably kick for touch until in our twenty-five. There from the line-outs, a ruck forms and when they gain possession, their backs start a passing rush or a drop goal.”It seems nothing had changed about SA rugby since 1928 and kicking for field position was certainly as much part of the style in 1949 than it is today.
Danie Craven just took over as coach in 1949 and it was the first test series after the Second World War and Craven’s main task was to find players and built a team. In fact one of the chapter in his book (Danie Carven; Springbok story – 1949 – 1953) on the 1949 and 1952 Springboks are: ‘In search of a team’. One can appreciate that changing the Springboks style of play was consequently the last thing on his mind in 1949. Craven was severely criticized and almost dumped as coach for the boring and one dimensional rugby that the Springboks dished-up against the 1949 All Blacks.
The point here being that the low number of tries scored against the 1949 tourist was not just the result of good defence. There was more to it in particular the fact that South Africa rugby was busy coming to grip with a post Bennie Olser hangover.
|
Danie Craven about the 1949 series |
|
|
About the tourists in general |
About their defence |
|
Craven made some interesting observations after the first match the All Blacks played in SA. They were brilliant he thought in the first 20 minutes but their play then deteriorated and he felt that they never again on tour reproduced the form they showed in that first 20 minutes. He opinionated that there was also a tendency right through the tour of scoring fewer points in the second half. The All Blacks thought it was due to lack of fitness and constantly tried to rectify this with intense training session which Craven thought left them stale for the matches. He writes that the reality of the situation was the All Blacks were playing with the bogey of a nation expecting results. That pressure resulted in them being to tense and focusing too much on what is wrong in their game (in an attempt to fix it) rather than on what went well. They thought the problem was fitness and ‘unfitness’, writes Craven, ‘became the ghost which had to get laid.’ “My impression was”, writes Craven, “that the energy which the All Blacks could have spent in their matches was spent on practice, and this was the reason why they always lacked that fire of which they were capable, as they had demonstrated so forcibly at Newland in the first match of the tour.” |
After the first match he wrote: “It was also quite clear that few tries would be scored against this team. It is true that this is something that we consider wrong, viz. that the backs never came up on defence at top speed. Running at half speed they could turn more easily, and, if necessary, run with the man with the ball. The man with the ball was not tackled; at least that was not the first consideration. He was forced to pass. As our style is to let the ball out to the wings, and as our backs invariably run across the field but seldom follow the ball out to the wings, this defensive system of the All Blacks yielded fruit a hundredfold. “The All Blacks did not rely so much on passing the ball out to their wings. They tried to penetrate in the middle with their centres, especially the inside centre.” It was this straight aggressive running of the inside backs close to the advantage line that made them such sitting ducks for Hennie Muller he biased mostly because in the South African defensive system the number 8 is used to target the inside backs. Craven continues by stating that the advantages of the All Blacks defensive system were outweighed by some serious disadvantages. Specifically, that the forwards and backs acted as separated entities and became separated which means that they had real difficulty turning defence into attack. |
|
About their scrum and line-out |
About criticism on the Springboks style of play |
|
The scrummaging of the All Blacks was extremely poor he wrote after the first match. “But it was obvious that they had the weight and strength, and this department of their game could easily be improved.” “Their line-outs were bad, lacking in method. There were no definite line-out forwards and no protection for the man who did take the ball.” |
“The country was dissatisfied with the 15-11 victory in the first test”, writes Craven, “mainly because we had failed to score a try.” “The conclusion arrived at was that we were lucky to win.” This is a debatable point according to Craven argueing that at least two of the penalties awarded for the Springboks could have been penalty tries. “The impression gained was that the All Blacks would do anything in preference to having a try scored against them.” |
|
About the Rhodesia matches |
|
|
Craven argues that the loss against Rhodesia in Bulawayo (8-10) and the draw in Salisbury (3-3) had much to do with Salty du Rand and Ryk van Schoor. Both these players showing weaknesses in the All Black style of play namely the line-out and the use of the inside backs to punch holes in the defensive lines. Van Schoor was devastating with his tackles and crippled the All Blacks attack. Both du Rand and van Schoor played so well that they were included in the second test team. Van Schoor was not even invited to the Springbok trails earlier the season and du Rand couldn’t play in the trials due to blood poisoning. |
|
Notice the way the New Zealand backs go up in defence in this picture taken during the second test. The focus was to force the opposition to pass rather than to tackle them by staying on their inside pushing them over the touchline. Notice also the absence of the New Zealand loose forwards in the defence set-up. The ball is already at the flyhalf and the openside flanker and No8 is still largely binded to the scrum.
The 1949 All Blacks was much appreciative of the positive, attacking and open style rugby the Rhodesians dished-up in Bulawayo on July 30th, 1949.
McCarty writes: “There is no doubt it, the Rhodesians deserved to win the game and what is more the All Blacks themselves were unstinted in their praise for the type of football played by their opponents.
“There was plenty of movement, and if there was one thing the All Blacks did appreciate, it was the fact that the Rhodesians attempted to score tries. Outstanding in their team was Joe Pretorius at fullback; he didn’t put a foot wrong all day, and was the best fullback we had met up to this time. Two other players who impressed in the backline were Brune and van Schoor.”
He continues and writes that he regarded Salty du Rand with his size, strength and speed to be the best flanker in the country. Brune he thought was a great attacking centre second only to Tjol Lategan in that regard; he was also impressed with Wilhelm Viljoen the scrumhalf. Jones on the flank and Prinsloo the one lock are also mentioned for their contributions in the match.
Rhodesia had a well-balanced side with forwards and backs combining well. The forwards were very fit and worked hard for the full 80 minutes. The first try was scored by the wing Brink who followed-up on a cross kick by Karg the flyhalf that went into the in goal area. Henderson the New Zealand right wing toed the ball forward while attempting to dot it down and Brink was at hand to fall on the ball.
Soon after the kick-off Goddard the New Zealand fullback was caught in possession and Morkel the Rhodesian prop and Captain plucked the ball out of his hands before passing it to flanker Jones who ran diagonally across the field for 25 meters to score the second try. Behind 0-10 after just 5 minutes in the second half New Zealand tried everything but the defence held. Eventually after another 7 minutes of play the New Zealand left wing Boggs went over for a try.
New Zealand kept on attacking for another 15 minutes before Conrad the No9 got the ball from a line-out and went on his own to score in the corner to bring the score on 8-10. For the last 15 minutes of the match it took the All Blacks best efforts to keep the Rhodesians at bay.
In the pictures above; Conrad scoring for Rhodesia (top picture) and Boggs for New Zealand (bottom picture).
The teams that played in this match were:
|
All Blacks |
Position |
Rhodesia |
|
JW Goddard |
15 |
JD Pretorius |
|
EG Boggs |
14 |
WDB KIdd |
|
GW Delamore |
13 |
WE Brune |
|
Peter Henderson |
12 |
Ryk van Schoor |
|
Fred Allen (Capt) |
11 |
JA Brink |
|
JC Kearney |
10 |
EU Karg |
|
WJM Conrad |
9 |
Wilhelm Viljoen |
|
NH Thorton |
8 |
LW Brownlee |
|
LA Grant |
7 |
Salty du Rand |
|
PJB Crowley |
6 |
Claude Jones |
|
C Willocks |
5 |
AH Birkin |
|
MJ McHugh |
4 |
MC Prinsloo |
|
Kevin Skinner |
3 |
EJ Painting |
|
NL Wilson |
2 |
PM Greaves |
|
RA Dalton |
1 |
John Morkel (Capt) |
Apart from Brownlee (the No8) and Du Rand (No7) who was replaced by J Slabbert and S Putterill respectively it was the same side the drew with the All Blacks three days later in Salisbury.
“The fact that South Africa also white washed the 1949 All Blacks 4-0 in the test series leaves the impression that it was a weak All Black side which is something most rugby scribes strongly reject”.
Very true. They were actually a very good team, probably better than the 1928 team that drew the series in South Africa. However, they had three fatal flaws: -
1. Lack of an international quality half back who could a., pass quickly, b., run effectively, or, c., kick well to relieve the South African defensive pressure in midfield, particularly from Hennie Muller, and Rhodesian centre Ryk van Schoor whom you’ve rightly praised in this post, McLook. I have spoken at length to an All Black who is a very astute judge of rugby, who went on this tour and he is emphatic – under normal circumstances, even though Muller and van Schoor were great players, an All Black midfield, especially the ’49ers (Morrie Goddard, Ron Elvidge and Fred Allen when not injured were all quality players) would not have been disrupted to the extent they were – IF they had a test-quality half back servicing them inside. The All Black half-back woes got so bad, they drafted the Ponsonby midfield back, Neville Black as their no. 9 for the third test match.
2. Lack of proper scrummaging technique in the first half of the tour until SARB liaison officer with the team and former WP prop, Bo Wintle, and then (even though he was Springbok coach!), Doc Craven gave them specialist coaching on feet positioning and angle of packing. Once they had that, the All Black front row of Simpson, Catley, and Skinner proved one of the greatest…
3. Lack of mobility at loose forward, due to an obsession by the NZ selectors when the team was chosen at the end of 1948 with weight – because they remembered being out scrummed by Phil Nel’s 1937 Springbok tourists, therefore proving the maxim that generals usually misplan for the next war by trying to re-fight the last one! They had a mobile openside flanker named Keith “Killer” Arnold, who had played well for the 1945-46 Kiwi Army touring team in Europe. At the 1948 trials he tried to sneak some extra lead weights on himself before he jumped on the scales. When he weighed in at 12 about a half stone (light, but not unexceptional for the era), the selectors automatically scrubbed him, without even assessing his play. Yet Hennie Muller, playing a game Arnold could emulate, was, even more than ‘Okey’ Geffin, and Hansie Brewis, the man of the series.
In that second test, where you’ve rightly highlighted by means of the above photo the lack of a defensive screen from the All Black loosies, Brewis scored one of the all-time great solo tries at test level. He was blocked on the openside going for a drop goal from a scrum, then floated to the blindside dummying to kick for the corner. Then spying a gap he raced past the dozy All Black cover defence and even beat ” the master of positional play, All Black fullback Bob Scott” (as Craven put it in the book you’ve quoted, McLook – I have a copy and was reading it last week. All disciples of rugby in any era should take time to read what the mighty Doc Craven has to say!) to score a remarkable try.
I think the All Blacks dropped both flankers for the next test, and rightly brought in the more abrasive Pat Crowley. But the damage had been done about 10 months before when the NZ touring team was first poorly chosen.
Lost to border and Eastern Tvl. Will never see that again.
Also in regards to the train travel, which was an unavoidable aspect of touring South Africa before regular commercial air flights, I seem to recall the train the 1949 All Blacks were on coming back from Rhodesia crashed. The driver was killed, and I seem to recall All Black tourist Ron Elvidge, who was a newly qualified doctor from the Otago medical school, was called upon to administer assistance. Also some of the players picked up injuries tumbling out of their bunks in the crash that affected them for the rest of the tour.
Hey – speaking of trains and touring sports teams in South Africa: A true story that will maybe please the Afrikaans speakers. In 1961-62 the NZ cricket team was travelling at night by train on their tour of the Republic. On board was vice-captain Murray Chapple, who had toured South Africa with the previous NZ cricket team in 1953-54.
Anyway, they rolled to a stop at one station, and Chapple sleepily asked his sleeping cabin room mate, “Can you have a look out the window and see where we are?”. On being told that there was a sign saying the place was “Eet Kamer”, Chapple replied, “Oh, yeah. I remember being here last time I was in South Africa!”.
Kimbo @8:45. Yes, their was a head on collision (can’t really be anything else with trains) with another train.
The prolonged the AB’s trip by some margin but they also had to deal with the shock of that experience. The Train driver as you mentioned was badly injured and treated by Elvidge.
Only one of the All Blacks was so injured that he couldn’t play again the rest was only bruised some quite a lot and needed some time to recover.
The travelling was no joy ride in those days that’s for sure.
Interesting the strentg of the rural provinces in those days. Farm boys probably?
Border had a very good team with Basil Kenyon as Captain. The rugby scribes write that the Border pack was by far the best coached pack of forwards in South Africa.
Eastern Transvaal also had a very good team with quite a number of Springboks playing for them in 1949.
While reading in McCarty’s book about the Rhodesia match I actually wondered about the quality of the halfbacks in the NZ team.
With Muller and van Schoor tackling the blue daylights out of the midfield you need to look at mixing it up and the halfback would ideal to so.
Yes the story of Craven helping them with their scrum is famous thanks to McCarty who I’ve read somewhere speculated about the quality of the advice Craven gave the AB’s.
The NZ scrum did make marked improvement during the tour and by the end of the tour where apparently equal to the task in the test matches. It was as you mentioned a while back also Skinners aprrenticeship with Springbok frontrowers. Experience that he would utilize with good effect in the last two test matches of the 1956 series.
Kimbo@7:56. Craven’s book is certainly a interesting read. One can see how his match strategy of using the fast loose forwards to link with the backs developed during the 1949 series.
In 1949 Craven was clearly busy developing as a coach but it was clear form his selections that he was (even at that stage) not thinking 10-man rugby.
He had a more complex game plan in mind and needed more time with the team to implement it.
As is the case with complex game plans teams intitially struggle with it and it was certainly the case in 1949. In 1952 on tour things sterted to gel and that team touring to the UK is still considered one of the best Springbok teams that toured the UK.
Brewis at flyhalf was a crafty character and not bad with the boot but better known as a running flyhalf.
Yep. The excellent series you are doing on the NZ win-at-all-costs hysteria during the 1956 tour has its backstory in the beatings the All Blacks got first in 1937, and then, having gone with so much hope of evening the score, the humiliating 4-0 whitewash in 1949.
That try by Hansie Brewis in the 2nd test was a cracker. Probably one of the best test tries of the early years.
I am starting to warm-up for the 1949 series because I want to tackle it next. Will be nice to write about Springboks actually winning and not losing after this dreadful (for us) 1956 series, hahaha.
Similar thing happened in NZ in 1950, the year after the All Blacks toured. Both Wairarapa and South Canterbury briefly held our version of the Currie Cup, the Ranfurly Shield (is a challenge trophy, like a boxing title – you have to beat the holder on their home ground in a one-off game).
Will almost certainly never happen again.
Yeah, I’m sure I’ve seen an old Movietone news (or whatever the South African version was that was played in cinemas before TV was around) once on Youtube of the Brewis try, but I haven’t been able to locate it again.
I was trying to track down a copy for that old ’49 tourist I know, who, despite his chagrin at being one of the tacklers Brewis beat to score that day, was keen to see it again. Is grainy black-and-white, but you can distinctly see Brewis changing his pace, feinting with subtle and suggestive body movements to throw off the defenders, and then striking like a good fly half with a burst of speed over the crucial first ten metres.
Only other flyhalves I know of who could do the same on a regular basis were Barry John of Wales and the 1971 Lions, the brilliant Wallaby Mark Ella, and Dan Carter. Also, maybe Wales and 1955 Lion Cliff Morgan – there is that famous photo of him touching down after ghosting past, and effectively ending the test career of the great Springbok flanker Basie van Wyk in the first test of 1955 at Jo’burg – the one that begot the even more famous photo of the Jack van der Schyff missed conversion.
Brewis also dropped a goal in that second test match in 1949. I think he potted about 5 in about 10 tests. I dunno, McLook. I know you have personal childhood biases that Piet Visagie was the best Springbok no. 10, but no backline ever played as well outside him as the 1951-52 tourists did with Brewis at pivot – in fact Visagie was a failure on the soft British grounds, on an admittedly difficult ‘demo’ tour outside an under-performing pack.
Nevertheless, outside his Blue Bulls team mate Fonnie du Toit, Brewis seems to me, from over 60 years distance, and assessing all the available data, and comparing the variables between eras, the complete package.
A great display from Rhodesia, even more impressive due to the fact that only three days later they drew the second test.
I also recall reading that Rhodesia were the only team on the 1949 tour to score 2 tries in one game against the All Blacks.
Tours during those days were usually around 25 matches. The 1955 Lions Tour also played 25 matches, used public transport, but also played a game in SWA, Kitwe – Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and East Africa (Kenya). I think it is why these long and arduous tours were always so hard to win and a great achievement if you did.
@ McLook, 09:55, “Craven’s book is certainly a interesting read”.
Yep. Bearing in mind that it was published in 1954, obviously before the ill-fated expedition two years later that foundered on the rocks of Peter Jones, Don Clarke, and ahem, Kevin Skinner, there is one passage that jumped off the page regarding the progress of the 1949 All Blacks through South Africa as unwittingly prophetic and full of implications. Interestingly, it was straight after the expedition to Rhodesia that prompted your post:
“Back in Pretoria for the match against Northern Transvaal. Again the All Blacks played a better first half, and did not score at all in the second half when they were lucky to keep Northern Transvaal out (6-3). Although Northern Transvaal lost they claimed that they had helped the Springboks win the second test, for they “fixed” (that’s Craven’s quotation marks for emphasis – not mine!) the All Blacks when they tried to collapse their scrum. At all events it was not tried in the test a week later, a test which turned out to be the best of the series”
That “fixing” describes the first meeting of Jaap Bekker, and Kevin Skinner, with the second and decisive act to follow seven years later! Remember how Skinner mentioned to his fellow All Black prop Ian Clarke he was “keen” to swap sides so he could get “reacquainted with Jaap”, whom he played against in the Northern Transvaal game in 1949?!
If you saffers want to complain about Kevin Skinner, I’ve got 2 ears, one of them deaf, and the other made of tin to hear your complaints! Like our other Kiwi rugby personality whom you guys just love, Bryce Lawrence – Cry me a river !
I think the Boks scored 2 tries in the second test of 1949 (one, as mentioned below by Brewis and the other by Tjol Lategan, the centre partner of Ryk van Schoor).
Nevertheless, LL, as only eight tries in total were scored against the 1949 All Blacks in their entire tour (yet they lost seven games, including all four tests!), your point about the Rhodesian achievement is well-merited.
They say NZ and South Africa are the 2 hardest rugby countries to tour, especially in the days of 25 game itineraries. For some reason the Lions have a better record in South Africa than on New Zealand’s softer grounds, but with the unique conditions of altitude, hard grounds, and naturally big Afrikaners to wear you down game after game, I would have rated South Africa as marginally the harder of the two countries to tour. Only one team, the 1937 Springboks, ever won a series on the road before they cut down the length of tours. With Lions teams, there was the 1971 team in NZ, and 1974 in South Africa who won, and the 1955 team to South Africa who drew 2-2 (the 1959 Lions were robbed of at least a 2-2 draw, maybe even a 3-1 win here in 1959).
Obviously the record of the Boks and ABs to the UK is much better – one of almost consistent triumph. The Wallabies, other than a 2-2 series result in South Africa in 1963 with their brilliant half back Ken Catchpole to the fore, were not really a consistent force until the days of long tours were phased out in the late 1970s
Rhodesia was still considered a provincial side in 1949 hence the fact that players like van Schoor and Salty du Rand could play for the Springboks.
From that angle they were the only provincial side that scored two tries against the 49 All Blacks.
The long tour was certainly tough especially since they had to travel mostly by train.
Altitude and temprature must have been hard to deal with specifically the changes as you move from sea level to highveld. In winter TVL and Free state areas can be extremely cold while Rhodesia would give you a summer temprature in June, July and August.
Getting all worked-up about Skinner aren’t you? (:
We’ll have I am sure some good ones on that topic soon.
Yes the 1949 series had a huge influence on the 56 tour and the Skinner/Jaap Bekker sage is part and parcel of the whole story.
Quite facinating also reading Craven’s book and seeing the irony in his speculations/criticism about over-training lack of fun/being to serious in the 49 AB camp; not to metion the ‘fixing’ of frontrow problems. Knowing that he’ll be critized (over-training his player and being to serious) and complaining (fixing frontrow problems and referee issues) about the exact same things in 1956.
What about Jannie Barnard Kimbo. Jeez he had a jink straight from the devil
Yeah, but unfortunately for Jannie and the Boks, other than in the magnificent second-half comeback in the third test against the All Blacks in the third test of 1965, he never did it at a consistently high level. Spent most of his career as 2nd string to first Keith Oxlee, and then Piet Visagie.
We had an All Black No. 10 (we call them ‘first five eighth’) similar to Jannie Barnard in 1980, named Nicky Allen. Had it all, vision, hands, running and ghosting skills, good kicker including drop kicks. Played two tests, including a magnificent game in the centenary test win against Wales, and we thought, “this guy will murder the 1981 Springboks – no matter how good they think Naas Botha is”.
Then he got injured at the start of 1981, and his career stalled. Then, like Jannie he died tragically young after hitting his head in a nothing game in Australia where he was living at the time in 1984.
Like Jannie Barnard, a brief but brilliant comet, rather than a fixed star.
“Getting all worked-up about Skinner aren’t you? (:”
Not at all. Just taking on board the lesson Skinner taught Kiwis how to deal with South Africans: “Get your retaliation in first!”
“Quite facinating also reading Craven’s book and seeing the irony in his speculations/criticism about over-training lack of fun/being to serious in the 49 AB camp; not to metion the ‘fixing’ of frontrow problems. Knowing that he’ll be critized (over-training his player and being to serious) and complaining (fixing frontrow problems and referee issues) about the exact same things in 1956.”"
Yep. Reading it, I was thinking, “Danie, you may not realise it, but this is a case of ‘Pot. Kettle. Black’. Just a typical indicator that when the pressure goes on in the Springbok-All Black rivalry, even the shrewdest minds can succumb to the pressure.
Although officially considered provincial, the fact that Rhodesia nearly always received two tour matches, could indicate that unofficially their status was considered a little higher.
As hectic and difficult as those tours must have been, hell they must have been something very special to have been part of, and I guess why many current Southern Hemisphere players rate a Lions tour as the highlight of their careers.
Jannie was a bit before my time (being only 3 years old when he was at the top of his career). I heard a lot about him and put in a real effort to learn more about him when writing about the 1965 series.
I studied him closely on the video material available and he was a wonderful runner with the ball but his decision making let him down.
He got most of the blame for the loss in the fourth test 1965 due to some really silly decision making on his part (read here: http://springbokrugby.webs.com/fourthtest1965.htm). That was also the end of his test career.
In the final analysis the test statscomaprison’s of Jannie Barnard and Hansie Brewis says it all. Jannie played 5 test; lost 4 won 1. Brewis played 10 test and the boks won all 10.
…Er, McLook, a few weeks ago you did a feature on the 1956 series, highlighting Tiny White, and he passed away a few days later. Now you post this, and the great Fred Allen died yesterday. Do me a favour – no posts mentioning Richie McCaw or Dan Carter, please!
‘Scuse the gallows humour, although from what I know of Fred Allen, he wouldn’t have minded. His 1949 team was the one that fell prey to the great Hennie Muller, the marauder who caste a shadow over and stunted NZ back play for a generation. But when Allen got the chance to coach the All Blacks, his 1967 team to the UK and France produced some of the greatest running rugby of any team – at least on a par with the 1951-52 Springboks we were discussing.
Allen (like Muller and Craven for that matter!) always believed that skilled and well-executed back play would beat the predations of the marauder and aggressive rushing defense.
It is one of the great “what ifs”" of NZ vs SA rugby, if Allen had had the chance to coach the 1970 team (who you’ve featured) to South Africa, rather than being shunted aside by small-minded NZ rugby administrators. It is certainly difficult to conceive that his team would have been beaten again with precisely the same tactics (crash tackling loose forwards and centres, such as Muller and van Schoor in 1949, and Ellis, Greyling and Jansen in 1970) as had undone the team he captained years before.
Allen was on record as saying he would have picked Going ahead of Laidlaw at half back, and Alan Sutherland at No. 8, and moved Lochore to lock in 1970. Is intriguing to consider the possibilities and the result…
Yes, I thought about the same thing when reading the release of Fred’s death.
He was quite a exceptional man Fred Allen and I agree that it’s one of the big BIG if’s; what whould have happend IF he coached the 1970 All Blacks.
Going made big differnce in the first test in 1970 when he came on and was a menance in the other test matches.
Everyone in SA was wondering why Sutherland wasn’t in the test side and it clear from I’ve read about the 1970 series that Vodanovich lost his ‘mana’ or position of respect as the tour progressed. He just did not have the same presence and stature as Allen.
Team selections and game plans cost them the series in 1970.
“Vodanovich lost his ‘mana’ or position of respect as the tour progressed. He just did not have the same presence and stature as Allen”.
Nor Allen’s tactical appreciation. Chris Laidlaw was the first to lift the lid in his 1973 book, “Mud in your Eye”, where he said that tactics weren’t even thought about or discussed on that tour
Even capatain Brian Lochore, even though he became a successful coach later on got it wrong. His assessment still seems to be that the Bok players, whenever they turned out for their provinces were pedestrian, but wearing green and gold they became supermen. Yeah, but by foolishly chain passing with no thought, plan, or variation, the All Blacks sure made them look good – Jansen, Ellis, and Greyling especially!
Fergi McCormick also wrote about how after the first test loss (“it was like a game of skittles: We stood up, and they knocked us down”), the tourists went for week-long break to Kruger Park. Instead of assessing what had happened, Vodanovich had them running laps in the hot African sun over and over probably because, 1., that was the extent of his coaching knowledge, and 2. in that era Kiwi rugby people tended to think it was especially necessary to physically and psychologically “toughen up” the players by physical punishment sessions.
McCormick was exasperated, because he rightly knew they hadn’t lost the first test due to a lack of fitness.
Vodanovich was respected as a person by his players, but some certainly – and rightly – lost confuidence in his coaching abilities. And selections on that tour were crazy – of the 30 players picked to tour, 27 ended up playing in the tests.
The 1970 All Black tour is a classic case study in how a team that should have won, or at least brought its marked superiority in many areas to bear when it counted, yet managed to get nearly everything wrong. And South Africa played what trumps they had to perfection.
Hard to envisage it happening under Freddie Allen!
Pingback: Defining moments |
Bonjour.
Etant français, je préfère m’adreser à vous dans ma langue natale plutôt que de vous imposer la torture du déchifrage de mon “anglais”. Qu
Pas de problème. Que voulez-vous, dire?