KeithQuinnRugby
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17 July 2014
Referees haven't always stayed neutral!
In a letter I found at home recently this short bit of refereeing whimsy was passed on down to me by the late, great writer Sir Terry ('T.P') McLean. Terry was commenting to me about referees in general and recalled that in the 1920s during the great Hawkes Bay Ranfurly Shield era, the top local whistle-man was a man called Bill O'Neill.
In those days 'home' referees controlled the games when visiting teams came to challenge for the famous trophy. In one challenge the visiting team was ever so slightly alarmed to hear Bill O'Neill when he had called a scrum, say out loud, 'OK boys, we'll scrum it here...and it's our ball in !'
Its a short piece which I publish here just because I can!
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'It was a try from the end of the world!' said captain Philippe Saint-Andre of his fullback Jean-Luc Sadourny's match-winning 100metre team try at Eden Park.
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.
Why did the Wallaby rugby team only practice in the afternoons at the 1987 Rugby World Cup?
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