KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
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2014 All Black tour Diary
In November 2014 for Williment's Sports Tours, along with my wife Anne, I traveled to the UK leading a rugby supporters tour group on the the All Blacks tour. Here is a tour diary.
Day 1 November 4 Auckland to UK
4 November 2014
Watch this space; the All Black tour to UK diary is coming..... Read more »
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'Not Worthless but Priceless' just some of the volunteers who worked in their thousands to make the Youth Games work.
Days 15 & 16: Final Nanjing Diary Entry
28 August 2014
A bit of a sad day today; The 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games will end tonight with another fantastic show at the main stadium. Around the time the show begins most of the commentators from the past fortnight will either be on board their flights home or about to get on board, like myself. So I find myself in a reflective mood as I write this. Read more »
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13th and 14th day in Nanjing
26 August 2014
I got myself a new gig at the Nanjing Youth Summer Games these last few days. And, ah hem, if you don't mind from now on, call me one of the Daily Officers in Charge of ACQC for the World Feed of OBS. That puts me up among the big time operators. Well maybe not that high. For more on what makes a top ACQC Operator tune in right here... Read more »
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The Statue which Grapgically Reminds Nanjingers of what is inside the Memorial Hall Museum.
12th day in Nanjing
24 August 2014
Play goes on here in Nanjing at the Second Summer Youth Olympic Games and I am still enjoying it hugely. We are now in the second week and heading for the finish line. In watching young people with a maximum age of 18 go about their competition I must say my eyes now have become attuned to seeing them as full adult competitors and not as younger versions of the 'main' Summer Olympic Games. The kids here to me look the same and play with as much commitment. It's been great to see them evolve and 'grow up' as it were... Read more »
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Yes, its a very nice hotel that the Olympic Broadcasting Services have booked us into. This is me standing in the foyer of the Hilton Nanjing in my Stephen Donald shirt!!
10th and 11th day in Nanjing
23 August 2014
There are two nights of events covered in this report from the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games 2014. My commentary stints ended last night when I worked the weightlifting with a fair-dinkum Aussie broadcaster John Harker. I had listened to John and Jim Watt from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games a couple of weeks back when they did the boxing together - and I had been mightily impressed. They were a great combination. (I actually thought John was commentating the boxing with Bill Connolly for a while so similar were there Glaswegian accents!) Read more »
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Glen Larmer at the tennis today - looking like the heat was getting to him. It was bloody hot!
9th Day in Nanjing
21 August 2014
Today a complete change of roles for me in Nanjing at the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games. The Rugby Sevens has finished so today my commentary roster had me heading out to the tennis complex for some broadcasts there. I worked with Auckland Glen Larmer (he's a great bloke - though he calls himself a 'former - Wellingtonian' which is interesting as he went to Naenae College) Read more »
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Every day there is Rugby History 31 December 1980
Click to show An All Black great was born on this day in Oamaru
Richard Hugh McCaw - to be known universally as Richie - came into the world.
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show OBOLENSKY, ALEXANDER
OBOLENSKY, ALEXANDER
Rosslyn Park and England
4 internationals for England 1936
One of rugby history’s most colourful characters, Prince Alexander Obolensky was the son of Prince Alexis of Russia. The young prince was born in Leningrad in 1916 but was taken to England the following year, presumably to avoid the Russian revolution.
He was educated at Trent College and Brasenose College, Oxford. ‘Obo’, as he was known, was an elegant and speedy wing and his rugby prowess was quickly recognised. Late in 1935 he played for Oxford in the annual Universities match, the first of three appearances in that famous game.
As a 19-year-old, early in 1936, he played for England against New Zealand at Twickenham. England caused an upset by thrashing the All Blacks by 13–0. Obolensky scored two tries, one of which has become a classic. His diagonal run through the New Zealand defence, as he scored for the second time, can still be admired on newsreel film footage and on YouTube. That game thereafter became known by rugby writers as ‘Obolensky’s match’.
After he left Oxford University his form fluctuated and fell away. He won only four caps, all in the 1935–36 season, but his memory is ensured both because of his colourful family background and his extraordinary, if briefly flowering, rugby talent.
A world record in first-class rugby is still entered in some books under Obolensky’s name. ‘Obo’ toured South America with a 'Rugby Football Union' team in 1936 (presumably an English selection), and in a game against Brazil he crossed for 17 tries, still a record for one game, though perhaps the first-class quality of the local XV might be called into question.
When World War II broke out, Obolensky joined the Royal Air Force. He died when the Hawker Hurricane he was piloting crashed on landing in East Anglia. He was the first of 111 rugby internationals from all countries to lose their lives in the conflict.
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
Players with the surnames of Jones, Williams and Thomas when added together made up how many players in the Welsh squad at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia?
What do you think?
Click here to show the answer.