27 December 2014

This favourite of mine is from the 'Bizarre' file. It is from a match programme of the 1986 Rebel Cavaliers tour of South Africa. I guess the desperate and isolated South Africans when they saw Pinetree and Kirky in charge - with Foxy, Buck, the Whettons, Andy Haden, Jock Hobbs and all the other current best New Zealand players slip into their country, thought they had the 'All Blacks' on tour. But they had not! This team defied the then 'current' official NZRU and Government stance against sporting contact with Apartheid South Africa. (Silly me; I called this team the 'Cava-liars') This is now the tour that no one ever talks about. It is consigned to its dodgy place in New Zealand rugby history. Remember? This team played four full 'tests' against the Springboks who awarded their players full cap status. [One dictionary meaning of the word 'cavalier' is; offhand, indifferent and showing a lack of proper concern.] That certainly applies still. {Now scroll down here for other favourite rugby photos I have kept over the years!]

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