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Season in review: 1930 (Part 2 the international rugby season)

A highly competitive club rugby season, a successful representative season culminating in the return of the Ranfurly Shield and a hugely popular in-bound tour by Great Britain – 1930 remains one of the vintage seasons in Wellington rugby.

As we build up to the 2020 year in rugby, we rewind the clock to 90 years ago, and in this article look at the international season involving Wellington and Wellington players.

The 1930 Great Britain tour was highly anticipated, well covered and followed and played in good spirit.

It was also the last of the inbound tours by the ‘big two’, Great Britain (later the Lions) and South Africa for 20 years.

After dropping the first test in Dunedin, the All Blacks (who played in white as the tourists wore dark blue) came back to win the next three and take the series 3-1.

Five Wellington representative players were involved in the international series:

  • Athletic captain Cliff Porter was also the All Blacks captain, and he played all four tests.
  • Hutt midfielder Bert Cooke played all four tests.
  • Wellington Axemen wing Don Oliver played the first and second tests
  • Petone five-eighths Mark Nicholls played the second and third tests.
  • Wellington Axemen flanker Hugh McLean played the third and fourth tests.
  • Additionally, Athletic player R. Pelham played against the Lions for the New Zealand Maori side.

As well as the Tests, the tourists played 17 other matches on their tour, against the NZ Maori and 16 provincial unions or combined provincial sides.

Great Britain faced Wellington in the fifth match of the tour on Tuesday 4 June.

In their first four matches, they had confidently defeated Wanganui (19-3), Taranaki (23-7), Manawhenua (34-8) and Wairarapa-Bush (19-6). Wellington were their toughest test so far and an early litmus test. They named their best team for their first run of the tour on Athletic Park.

A crowd of 30,000 swelled Athletic Park, with the new main stand full and the infamous western bank side of the ground heaving and ‘Little Eric’ of Berhampore leading the chorus of pre-match chants.

A previous story we published on this website HERE  picks up on the action:

Playing into a strong southerly, Great Britain silenced the throng with an early converted try to Welsh wing J.C Morley. This fired up Wellington’s forwards who started dominating. Cliff Porter (Athletic) dropped a goal and then fullback L.K Heazlewood (Athletic) slotted a long-range penalty. Second five-eighth Mark Nicholls put Wellington back on attack with a raking kick, leading to a converted try to hooker C.A McPherson (WCOB). Wellington led 12-5 at halftime.

Would this lead be enough the Western Bank faithful asked as they rolled their halftime cigarettes and swigged from their hip flasks? Great Britain launched a furious all-out assault, creating several clear chances. But Wellington’s defence held. Finally the visitors landed a penalty, but this was all they could manage as Wellington dug deep to the end to record one of the union’s proudest victories before or since.

Post-match the crowd surged on to the field to cheer their heroes and cart them off shoulder high in triumph.

In its report the next day, the Evening Post was generous in its praise. “Whatever else is in store before the tour finishes, the visit of the 1930 British Rugby Football team to New Zealand will long be remembered for one exceptionally thrilling contest that in which Wellington’s representatives lowered the colours of the finest rugby side that ever left Great Britain’s shores.”

The Test series was already won 2-1 when the tourists rolled into Wellington again for the fourth Test on Saturday 9 August.

After Great Britain had won the opener 6-3 in the snow in Dunedin, the All Blacks had bounced back to win 13-10 in Christchurch and 15-10 in Auckland. The Axemen’s Hugh McLean scored tries on debut at Eden Park.

Extra seating around the edge of the field increased Athletic Park’s capacity to 40,000 (42,020 to be exact) and 5,180 motor vehicles carried many to the ground.

The crowd wasn’t disappointed, the All Blacks launching into the match with rabid intensity and thoroughly outplaying their opposites. Bert Cooke and Cliff Porter both scored two tries, and the game was won 22-8 with plenty of time to play.

The crowd stormed the field on fulltime and wild cheering and joviality continued for over an hour.

This was the final test of a number of famous All Blacks, including Wellington’s Nicholls, Porter and Cooke and others such as East Coast fullback George Nepia and Auckland wing Fred Lucas.

Wellington’s All Blacks in 1930:

Captain Cliff Porter, who was born in Edinburgh and went to Wellington College, had captained the Invincibles All Blacks on their 1924-25 tour to Europe and North America and had played in 17 of the 30 matches. He was in and out of the All Blacks over the next few years, but was an inspired choice as All Blacks captain for this series. Porter started life as a utility back before becoming a wing forward for the Athletic club and Wellington in the early 1920s. He was the last of a long line of wing forwards out of Wellington, that position being dis-established in 1932 following fallout from this tour (see previous article). In all Porter played in 110 first class matches, of which 48 were for Wellington and 41, including eight official tests, for the All Blacks.

Bert Cooke was a 62.5kg midfield back, and he was one of the stars of his era, scoring 121 tries in 131 first-class appearances and 23 tries in 25 appearances on the Invincibles tour. Something of a rugby nomad, he had already played for Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa when he moved to Wellington for his solitary season with the Hutt club in 1930. He moved back to Hawke’s Bay before rounding out his career playing rugby league.

Wing Don Oliver moved north to Wellington from Otago for one season with the Wellington Axemen in 1930. He went on to play for Hawke’s Bay, Waikato and Southland. Oliver played the first two Tests of this series, but despite scoring a try in the second Test, he was dropped in a backline reshuffle. Like Cooke, Oliver, who was a prison officer, played for multiple provinces including Wairarapa, Waikato and Southland.

Loose forward Hugh McLean was yet another itinerant player, representing Wellington Football Club between 1930-33 and also Taranaki in 1929 and Auckland 1935-39. Out of a rugby family, his father and four uncles played for Wanganui two of his brothers played first-class rugby and a third brother, Terry, was a legendary rugby journalist. McLean played 29 games and 9 Tests for the All Blacks between 1930-36. He made his All Black debut in the third Test of this series, scoring two tries. He co-founded the Barbarians club in Auckland in 1937.

Mark Nicholls was from a famous Wellington sporting family. His father Syd was a founding father of both the Poneke and Petone clubs, while brothers  H E “Ginger” and H G “Doc”, were also All Blacks in the 1920s and his sister, Dulcie, was a national tennis champion. Mark remains arguably Wellington’s greatest first five-eighth, 90 years after retirement. But he also played much of his rugby at second five-eighth including seven of his 10 tests from 51 total All Black games between 1921-30. He also played 58 times for Wellington over a decade and was a leading Wellington club rugby player for Petone, helping them win club championship titles in the early 1920s and again in 1930.

Part 1: The club rugby season:

http://www.clubrugby.nz/2020/01/17/season-in-review-1930-part-one-the-club-rugby-season/

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