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7 December 2014
Isn't it amazing what you sometimes find in a box of old 'stuff' at your place. This is one such piece of rugby memorabilia.
In amongst a box of old clippings and papers I found the programme of a 1973 rugby day which Australia would prefer to forever forget but Tonga will always shout to the heavens over!
That year Tonga celebrated having completed 50 years of organised rugby in the 'Friendly Islands.' To celebrate there was a tour to Nuku'alofa by a 'International Invitational' team, there was also a tour by the New Zealand Maori team and Tonga's test team flew out on a two-month tour of Australia and Fiji.
Wow! What a year!
There was a mix of results for the Tongans; they shared a win each against the Invitation team (Which was curiously 'co-captained' by 37 year old Colin Meads and 44-year old Uaisele Latukefu); Tonga beat the New Zealand Maori team by 11-3 in the only test match and Tonga were then well beaten by the Wallabies in the first test in Sydney by 30-14.
But instead of fading meekly ahead of the second test the Tongans ran out onto Ballymore in Brisbane and were all fired up. They scored a superb 4 tries-to 2 victory by 16-11. Australian rugby was stunned. The result hastened the end of several test careers while some others quietly decided to accpet invitations to join professional rugby league.
Apparently the score would have been much more if the touring team's goal kicking had have been better.
[It was considered then - and still is - Tonga's greatest test victory. (Right up until their Rugby World Cup win over France in Wellington in 2011]
By all accounts the Tongans were very popular in Australia. One writer wrote warmly about their off-field appearance at social functions; 'with their crimson blazers, shell necklaces and cream sarongs, with taovala belts showing their rank in Tongan society.'
That was nice, although to call one of the players a 'golliwog halfback' the same writer's words would not not have gone down so well these days!
.....
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Bob Barber ended his time with the All Blacks in Australia and Fiji; in his last four starting games he was no.8, flanker, lock and prop.
UNDERWOOD, RORY
Royal Air Force, Leicester and England
85 internationals for England 1984–96
6 internationals for British Isles 1989-93
UNDERWOOD, TONY
Leicester, Newcastle and England
27 internationals for England 1992-98
1 international for British Lions 1997
Two dashing brothers who were regular wingers in England’s selections in the 1980s and 90s.
Dealing first with Rory, who was the elder by nearly six years. He was a dashing wing, as befitted his occupation as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force. At the end of his career he had played 85 internationals for England, a record total till beaten by Jason Leonard. His total of test tries scored was also an England record, with 49 scored (plus one in a Lions test) boosting his final total to 50. This placed him second on the all-time test try-scoring record, behind David Campese’s 64 tries. Ironically his final tally of test tries came during a time when England was in a period of playing mostly ten-man rugby. Rory Underwood gained a reputation for being underused on occasions but having a rare talent for scoring tries when the ball did come his way.
Rory was born in Middlesbrough and Tony in Ipoh, Malaysia, the brothers were of part-Chinese origins, a rugby rarity in itself, and they spent some of their childhood in Malaysia. Rory’s first cap was against Ireland in 1984. Most of his caps were won on the left wing, but he could play more than competently on the right side (his English record-equaling total of five tries against Fiji at Twickenham in 1989 came when he was playing on the right wing side).
Rory’s Air Force commitments meant he missed several England tours, which meant his test match tally could have been even higher. This popular and dynamic England star was a member of the England team which contested the three Rugby World Cups, in 1987, 1991 and 1995; he played in three Grand Slam-winning England seasons, plus four Five Nations titles. He played in the 1991 World Cup final at Twickenham after scoring four tries in the lead-up games. He also toured with the British Isles to Australia in 1989 and to New Zealand in 1993.
Tony Underwood first came to the fore in 1989 when he appeared for Barbarians Club against the touring All Blacks at Twickenham. He made the England team for a tour to Argentina the following year but did not play an actual test until late in 1992. As his brother Rory was on the other wing (v Canada at Wembley) they became the first pair of brothers to play in an England team since Arthur and Harold Wheatley in 1938.
The forte of Tony’s game was blistering acceleration and a huge confidence to use it well. He toured New Zealand, with his brother in the 1993 British Lions and the two also shared England’s Grand Slam win in 1995. Tony had a second Lions tour, to South Africa in 1997.
At the 1995 World Cup in South Africa Tony had the extremely unenviable task of marking a rampant Jonah Lomu of New Zealand in one of the semi-finals games. Sadly, for England’s hopes at that tournament, and the memory of Tony Underwood as an international player, the video of him being repeatedly trampled underfoot or run around by the giant-sized Lomu, as he went on to score four tries, has been played over and over again. Tony deserved better than this. At his best he was a top player capable of many good things on the field, and like his brother, one of the best wingers England has ever produced.
In which New Zealand Rugby Province was the Ranfurly Shield resident for the longest duration of time?
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