KeithQuinnRugby
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6 November 2014
ALL BLACK'S "ENGLISH" TEAM
The experience of motoring around Britain certainly is fun. Our two coach loads on the Williment Sport supporter’s tour are 80 or so friendly Kiwis who are having a great time. But Keith Quinn and Dave Loveridge, in their roles as tour leaders, have been putting the travelers to the test. As we sit around chattering or motor along we ask the supporters with their deep and abiding knowledge of All Black history to come up with an All Black team which might, in a funny way, confirm our country’s strong links back to England.
In other weeks I will publish here the 'All Black's Scottish' team and the 'All Blacks Welsh XV' all chosen from surnames which refer to those places.
Perhaps!
With regard to the 'English All Blacks' we did insists on a selection criterion; The most common All Black surname is Wilson, right? The most common English surnames in their society are Smith and Taylor - and Jeremy Thrush's surname sounds English! So we have chosen our 'Pommy' All Blacks team thus;
Backs: Ben Smith, Bruce Smith, Conrad Smith, George Smith, JB 'Johnny' Smith, Wayne Smith, Aaron Smith (A complete 'Smith's' backline.)
Forwards; Glenn Taylor, A.J 'Ranji' Wilson, Murray Wills, Alan Smith, Jeremy Thrush, Hec Wilson, Norm Wilson and Brett Wilson
A good NZ team I hope you'll agree - perhaps you have other 'English' All Blacks to send to kqrugby@hotmail.co.nz for us to consider.
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Comments 0
All four tests were won by NZ. On this day the 4th test went to the home team by a whopping 38-6 in Auckland.
BAJADA
A term given to the rugby world by Argentina. Bajada (also known as bajadita) is the name given to the style of pushing in a scrum where the hooker keeps his feet back and the scrum pushes forward using the thrust of all eight men. While that in itself was not a new technique, Argentine teams, at both club and national level, shocked the rugby world with secret variations of the eight-man shove in the early 1970s.
The results were often astounding. South African players and officials were perhaps the first outsiders to feel the power of bajada when the Buenos Aires club, San Isidro, took the technique to South Africa in 1973. The locals there were shocked to find their teams, with all of South Africa’s history of powerful scrummaging, frequently pushed into a backslide.
Recent law changes have tended to deflate the power of the scrum, but the legacy of powerful scrimmaging remains with Argentine rugby today. The term ‘bajada’ (meaning ‘downhill’) deserves to be remembered.
Why was the France v Ireland match of 1913 played in the morning in Cork?
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