News Comment

A hotel ruckus after NZ had beaten Wales 19-16 saw Keith Murdoch banished from the tour. He stopped in Oz and hasn't yet made it home yet!

CALCUTTA CUP
The only trophy for competition between two of the Five Nation teams, the Calcutta Cup is played for between England and Scotland.

The trophy originated in India where the Calcutta Football Club, started by some former pupils of Rugby School in England, found itself facing recession after only four years of existence. Rugby was not suited for the summer-like conditions of India.
The club had only modest resources, but as a closing-down gesture, rather than spend their remaining monies on a dinner or a ball, the members withdrew their remaining rupees from the bank and had them melted down. The silver was worked by the finest of Indian workmanship and shaped into a handsome trophy with three distinctive handles shaped like cobras and an elephant mounted on its lid.

The Calcutta Cup was presented to the Rugby Football Union in London in 1878 for competition between England and Scotland. Since then (with the exception of the war years) it has been a much-prized trophy in the annual Five (and now Six) Nations match.

There is an anomaly in the recording of annual results on the base of the cup. It was first played for in 1879 yet the results of England v Scotland matches from 1871 to 1878 are etched into the plinth of the trophy, years before the trophy came into being!
The original Calcutta Cup is now seldom seen in public. Whether the annual game is held at Twickenham or at Murrayfield the original is stored, for security reasons, in a safe vault. In its histroy the Cup has often been the subject of mistreatment by the players of the day. It is often a full-size replica of the cup which is kept for display at both grounds.

(With thanks to John Mcl. Davidson – Honorary Historian Scottish Rugby Union)

None; Of the 15 players used (before replacements were allowed) 12 players were from King Country, the other three were soldiers who played within the Wanganui Rugby Union but from the Waiouru Military camp.