KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
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MY TAKE ON SOME OF THE RUGBY NEWS STORIES WHICH COME INTO MY WORLD.
10 May 2017
One of the first things people say to any rugby commentator is - 'Just how DO you pronounce all those names from all the different countries?' Read more »
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Rieko Ioane; proudly Ponsonby and now an All Black test player (aged 19 years and 239 days) Photo; Keith Quinn
17 November 2016
KeithQuinnRugby.com wrote to the eminent New Zealand rugby statistician Paul Neazor in an attempt to clarify the records set by the appearance of Rieko Ioane as an All Blacks test player in the game v Italy. In true style Paul has come up with a definitive list and also a comparison for the Ponsonby Club with the club with the ‘second-most’ All Blacks. Read more »
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It has 840pps, weighs a bloody tonne and if you or anyone in your family played 1st class rugby in New Zealand their name is in this new book.
14 September 2016
This message below is from John Lea of the Association of New Zealand Rugby Historians and Statisticians; A message to all followers of New Zealand rugby; Read more »
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This is the pic to prove I was a Wimbledon commentator! - only problem was; this was taken the day before the Olympic tennis started.
29 July 2016
The words ‘Living the Dream’ made up the official slogan of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The catchphrase certainly applied for me – AGAIN! – as here I was packing up and setting off for my ninth summer Olympic Games. Read more »
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16 July 2016
By Keith Quinn; The omission of Kurt Baker from the 2016 New Zealand men’s Olympic 7s team was a very big surprise to me. Quite amazing in fact... Read more »
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16 July 2016
More and more in the last weeks before I flew to Beijing for my eighth Summer Olympic Games, in 2008, I was asked two questions. The first one was, ‘are you looking forward to going to that place, Keith?’ The second one was, ‘how many ‘golds’ will we Kiwis win?” Read more »
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Richard Hugh McCaw - to be known universally as Richie - came into the world.
BAKER, REGINALD ‘Snowy’
New South Wales and Australia
2 internationals for Australia, 1904
Though Reg Baker’s international career of playing halfback in both losses against the 1904 British side reads unglamorously, he is listed in any record as one of the sport’s earliest all-rounders. He became the first man to represent Australia in five sports: rugby, boxing, polo, swimming and diving. He actually competed in 24 other different games! Among his greatest achievements was to represent Australia at boxing in the 1908 Olympic Games, where he lost the middleweight final to J.W.H.T. (‘Johnny Won’t Hit Today’). Johnny Douglas was later an England cricket captain. For the record, the bout was refereed by Douglas’s father!
After his brief rugby career, Baker settled in Hollywood, where he taught film stars to ride, swim, fence and fight. He also starred on screen several times. By then, his younger brother Harald (correct spelling) had also represented Australia in rugby and had won Australian titles in boxing, swimming, water polo, and wrestling. Harald Baker was a lock in three tests against New Zealand in 1914.
It goes without saying that ‘Snowy’ Baker won his nickname for having distinctive blond hair.
Who was the New Zealand test cricketer who played one rugby test for England?
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