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MY TAKE ON SOME OF THE RUGBY NEWS STORIES WHICH COME INTO MY WORLD.
When Will it End? Rugby Players just keep on Getting Bigger!
31 January 2015
Don't get me wrong here. I congratulate Uini Atonio for being selected in the French rugby team this northern season. Uini (pronounced 'Weeny') Atonio made his test debut before Christmas coming off the bench v Fiji in Paris and with all the attention then on the exploits of the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies in their tests in UK, Atonio's arrival and unique story kind of slipped under the main news. Read more »
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A Top night at the cricket in Wellington. Three Rugby Men very well hosted.
30 January 2015
In the photo left to right are ex-All Black captain Dave Loveridge, the ex-All Black fullback Allan Hewson, yours truly (who will be back at the same ground commentating rugby sevens in sevens days time). Completing the pic is Adair Cameron, the General Manager of Williment Travel Group, in Wellington. Adair's friendly team hosted we three, and others, watching Sri Lanka playing New Zealand. It was a great night of fun and sporting chat. And watching the game unfold. Read more »
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The question is; who would win? The All Blacks or the 'Imaginary' Welsh All Blacks?
Would Gareth Anscombe Make it into a 'NZ-Welsh' team? He might!
21 January 2015
On hearing the news that Gareth Anscombe, the former New Zealand Under-20 international, had been included in the first Welsh training squad in the 2015 Rugby World Cup year, got me thinking. While it's sad that New Zealand has lost yet another player to a country off shore it is something we have all had to live with. Read more »
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The Day a Proud Mother Had Her Say in a Rugby Test!
13 January 2015
This story is part of folklore at the Barbarians Club in Auckland, New Zealand. It is one which shows that even in the middle of a feisty rugby test match a mother's pride will still come shining through! Read more »
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Was there ever a smaller test rugby player than this man? Yet he played in one of the toughest test series ever!
The Smallest Test Rugby Player Ever?
9 January 2015
Browsing through rugby things in the New Zealand summer (as you do!) I found this amazing shot of Tommy Gentles a Springbok test halfback from 1955-58. (see attached photo) Get a look at how teeny this man was! The records show that he stood 1.60metres tall (that's about five feet 3 inches. His weight was a little over 57kgs = 9 stone. The photo was taken before a rugby test match in 1955 when Tommy made his debut against the touring British Isles team. Dare I suggest rather than in the dressing room as the caption for the photograph suggested it was taken perhaps in a studio before the official team photograph. But I met this man... Read more »
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The match day programme from the best game of rugby i ever saw.
The Greatest Game of Rugby I Ever Saw. Read about it here!
2 January 2015
People often ask me ‘what was the greatest game you ever saw?’ As a young reporter I used to say it was the magical King Country v Hawkes Bay game for the Ranfurly Shield in Napier in 1968 (Colin Meads’ King Country team just got pipped by Kel Tremain’s Magpies by 19-16; 8 tries in the game! – a real thriller!) (To put that into perspective for you, you ought to know I had been born in Te Kuiti and King Country was then ‘my’ team!) But nowadays for my ‘bestest’ game I always go back to the glorious memory of the All Blacks v South Africa game in Pretoria in 1996. There was so much at stake that day and the game more than matched its expectations. Read more »
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Every day there is Rugby History 17 November 2001
Click to show One of the all time great All Blacks played his first test for the Men in Black.
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20 year old Richie McCaw was the new kid in the team as NZ beat Ireland in Dublin by 40-29
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show CALDER, the brothers FINLAY and JIM
CALDER, FINLAY
Melrose, Stewart’s-Melville and Scotland
34 internationals for Scotland 1986–91
3 internationals for British Isles 1989
CALDER, JIM
Stewart’s Melville and Scotland
27 internationals for Scotland 1981–85
1 international for British Isles 1983
Twins from a family of four rugby-playing brothers from Edinburgh, Jim and Finlay Calder held a unique place in world rugby: between them they virtually occupied one position in the Scottish team for 10 seasons.
Jim Calder was first into the Scottish team, playing as flanker against France in 1981. From then until 1985 he was a first choice in 27 Scottish test sides, missing only one international right through until the disastrous Scottish season of 1984–85. He scored the vital try against France that clinched the Grand Slam win for Scotland in 1983–84.
Finlay Calder took over his brother’s position as flanker in the Scottish team. His internationals were played consecutively as well, apart from missing one test, because of injury, in 1988 and another in 1989. He announced his retirement after the Scottish tour of New Zealand in 1990 and missed the 1990–91 Five Nations series, but he was then lured out of retirement in time to be back in the Scottish team for the World Cup of 1991.
At one point the Calder brothers had played on the side of the scrum in 55 of the 59 internationals Scotland played from 1981–90. Both had taken part in a Scottish Grand Slam: Jim in 1984 and Finlay in 1990.
Finlay Calder was a Scottish captain in 1988–89 and a British Isles skipper as well. In 1989 he led the Lions to Australia in his usual rollicking good- humoured way – off the field, that is. On the field he was grim and vigorous. The 2–1 test series win was the first the Lions had had on tour for 16 years.
Although the Calder twins did not actually play a test match together they, along with their brother John, were all together in the Scotland party which toured Australia in 1982. The third brother John Calder, also a loose forward, was equal top try-scorer on that tour. He was never capped in a full international match.
In 1990 Finlay Calder was awarded the OBE for his services to Scottish and British rugby.
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
When Ireland played Australia in Dublin in 1958 what coloured jerseys did each team wear?
What do you think?
Click here to show the answer.