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6 November 2014
All Black Dairy Day 1; Auckland to Heathrow
Thank you to Air New Zealand for a smooth flight on NZ2 to London today. We flew in a Boeing 777-300 which the airline staff were only to proud to tell us was only three weeks old.
The two dozen or so All Black supporters who have paid up on the Williment Travel tour following the 2014 All Blacks to UK, and who flew out of Auckland, were met at Los Angeles Airport by another 30 or so fans who had signed up to take the earlier All Black game in Chicago. They were all chuffed to have made the extra effort to go to USA and spoke warmly of the reception that had been offered to them by the local Chicago fans and officials. The second group is led by the ex-All Black captain David Loveridge who is as regular in this type of travelling now as he was in his illustrious playing days. Dave and his wife Jan and my wife Anne and I will lead parallel tours for Williments over the next three weekends.
We touched down in the new-look Terminal2 at Heathrow and what a pleasure it was to zoom so speedily through customs and baggage there. It is now such a contrast to the dreary old days of yesteryear there.
We were met by staff of Gulliver's travel and all of us were soon relaxing the comfortable rooms at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel. A smooth flight followed by an efficient welcome and transfer - what more could we weary travellers have asked for?
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All Black Diary Day 2; In London
The first people in our party who were down to breakfast might have been the farmers who are used to being up at the crack of dawn but I was not sure of that as I was far from being first to emerge from my room for the day.
Today was a recovery day from the rigors of the long flight. Some of the Dave Loveridge group took the opportunity to go on the underground to see the massive display of poppies (some 880,000 of them) who are planted in the ground at the Tower of London to commemorate the lives lost by the Allied forces in World War I. They came back hugely impressed.
Most of the rest of our people went out in various directions to see the sights of preference in this great city.
Over the road from our hotel we have discovered the Stanhope Hotel which we have already dubbed as our late afternoon meeting point. Tonight it proved a popular first place for people to report on their day's activities and their hopes for the weeks ahead.
Comments 0
Born in Stratford, Taranaki and All Black prop Mark Allen was forever known as 'Bull' (named after an American TV character). He became so popular Rugby Park in Taranaki was re-named the 'Bull Ring' for a time.
THOMAS, CLEM
Swansea and Wales
26 internationals for Wales 1949–59
2 internationals for British Isles 1955
One of the finest loose forwards Wales produced in the post World War II era, who later became one of the best writers on the game. His full name was Richard Clement Charles Thomas, but from his earliest days the shortened ‘Clem’ was a welcome diminutive.
A tough flanker, he was a ‘Swansea Jack’ through and through, who first made the Welsh team for its end-of-season international against France in Paris in 1949. France won narrowly by 5–3, in what was a battle to avoid last place in the championship. Thomas paid the price for what some in Wales saw as a premature selection (he was only 20 years old) and he was not asked to play internationally again for two seasons.
He was recalled in 1952 as part of the Grand Slam-winning Welsh team and continued to represent Wales until 1959. He toured South Africa as part of the 1955 Lions team, but appendicitis restricted him to two of the four test matches.
Thomas was Welsh captain in his last two seasons, 1957–58 and 1958–59, and was tipped as a possible captain of the British Lions to New Zealand in 1959. Perhaps it was Wales’s modest record in the 1958–59 season which held him back from winning that honour.
When Thomas retired, the butcher became a successful businessman, as well as writing for the Guardian and the Observer with much distinction.
When discussions about Clem Thomas arise in Welsh rugby he is invariably remembered as the player who put in the famous cross-kick against New Zealand in Cardiff in 1953. Thomas was close to the touchline on one side of the field, and, seeing his way ahead blocked by All Blacks, he kicked the ball on an angle towards the goal posts. The two rival wings, arguably the fastest two men in world rugby at that time, Ron Jarden of New Zealand and Ken Jones of Wales, were both standing clear of any other players. When Thomas’s kick landed, it bounced perfectly into the hands of Jones and he sprinted in for a winning try. As the kicker of the ball Thomas was acclaimed as a hero for Wales, and in the years afterwards, he often reflected how his life might have changed had the ball bounced the other way into the hands of Jarden, the flying All Black!
Which international rugby player who went to two Rugby World Cups also won two Olympic Games Gold Medals and 2 World Championship bronze medals in a chosen 'other' sport?
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