KeithQuinnRugby
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You are here: Home » All Blacks year by year » 2014 » 2014 All Black tour Diary » AB tour diary Day 6; in France.10 November 2014
11 November 2014
Monday 10 November 2014
Our two rugby tour supporter's groups, travelling in Europe for Williment Sport Travel, have taken a detour from the rugby to visit France and spend a few days here. Today the Dave Loveridge and Keith Quinn groups (ably joined by their wives Janine and Anne) woke up in Lille, northern France.
It was a holiday Monday here today as the country marks its commemoration of WWI horrors with no shops or banks open virtually from Friday through to Wednesday. Tomorrow will be the big day for us and the French nation as they recall the terrible start, in 1914 of what they called 'The Great War.'
So today was a relaxing day for the Kiwi tourists Myself I switched to a French breakfast of cheese and ham; 'fromage et jambon' with lovely jams on french bread. Washed down with strong coffee etc. (I love this country and feel very at home here)
The afternoon was taken up with a tourism coach ride around the top sights of Lille. Charles de Gaulle was born here so his home is marked and there are various statues and tributes to his powerful memory.
For dinner tonight Messrs Loveridge and Quinn - with a couple of other hardy kiwis, decided to eat the local delicacy, of steamed mussels. They arrived in front of me looking nothing like what we might expect back home. In the bowl on the table were over 100 of the succulent little blighters!
Anyway; after I had eaten them I leaned back and said to the world, 'I must remember to walk every day when i get back to New Zealand!' Dave enjoyed his as well. Merci beaucoup Lille!
It was a nice relaxing day!
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And it's three titles too for captain Farah Palmer. In the final in Edmonton, Canada, New Zealand beat England 25-17
GALLAHER, DAVE
Auckland and New Zealand
6 internationals for New Zealand 1903–06
The captain of the first All Blacks team in 1905–06 and a controversial player in the eyes of some British writers of the time. Gallaher (originally spelled Gallagher) was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and brought to New Zealand by his parents as a young boy.
He served in the Boer War for the Sixth Contingent from New Zealand.
Because of the absence of international fixtures and Gallaher’s period of military service, he did not play his first test match until he was 28. Originally a hooker, he later became a ‘rover’ or wing forward, the position New Zealand created by packing down only seven men in each scrum.
Gallaher’s play in the wing forward position earned him enormous criticism while on tour in Britain in 1905–06. There were those who labeled him unsporting, and even a cheat. His wing forward style of waiting off scrums, mauls and rucks, either to defend attacks on his own halfback or disrupt the opposition’s man, was not at all appreciated by opposition teams, who had no apparent counter. Several referees penalised him heavily.
As a leader Gallaher was brilliant. He was the first rugby captain to ‘psyche’ his team up. On match days he would ask each man to spend an hour on his own to ‘rest and contemplate the game ahead’. He insisted his team be totally disciplined and pay attention to detail, both on and off the field, much in the manner of professional teams of today.
The 1905 New Zealand team was the first team to use liniment as a playing aid, and to chew gum (not at all advisable these days). It had code names for team moves, and used extra men in back moves, skip passes, decoys and other ruses not before seen in Britain. All of these innovations were devised and encouraged by Gallaher. His team, growing to believe totally in his leadership style, soon built up a formidable record. Only the controversial loss to Wales prevented the All Blacks from having an unbeaten tour record from 35 games.
Gallaher retired at the conclusion of the tour and became a provincial and, later, All Black selector. Tragically he lost his life in Belgium in 1917, during World War I.
Since 1922 the senior club championship in Auckland has been played for the Gallaher Shield, in commemoration of one of its greatest rugby sons. In 2011 a statue of him was unveiled at Auckland's rugby headquarters at Eden Park.
Who was the New Zealand test cricketer who played one rugby test for England?
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