KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
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MY TAKE ON SOME OF THE RUGBY NEWS STORIES WHICH COME INTO MY WORLD.
30 May 2016
The first 15-aside All Blacks squad of 2016 has been released by the NZRU. Ardie Savea is one of 6 confirmed new caps. Which means he’s also now a member of another ‘exclusive’ New Zealand rugby club; those who were picked first by Gordon Tietjens as New Zealand sevens reps. That list is now climbing fast towards 50 players. Below is my up-date list of ‘Titch’ All Blacks – or rather – the list of ‘he saw them first All Blacks!’ Read more »
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26 April 2016
When I attempt to write a tribute about the late New Zealand broadcaster Peter Sellers it is very hard to know where and how to start. Firstly, anyone who is reading this who lives offshore from New Zealand might be saying now, ‘wasn’t Peter Sellers that very funny and talented British actor/comedian of the 1960s? Didn’t he die in 1980?’ Read more »
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23 March 2016
In many ways it took the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada to set several new standards for hosting and staging tournaments of the HSBC World Sevens series. Read on... Read more »
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4 March 2016
These last few days there have been many fine tributes to test cricketer Martin Crowe. After his death the accolades to Martin have all been warm and all deserved.I was never a cricketer of any note but I would like to offer a tribute to him here if I may. Because Martin Crowe became a huge influence in my life. Read more »
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10 January 2016
Here is the latest question to test the real rugby experts among us (self-styled or not) You might even call yourself a nerd! But the question has been raised to me in recent days - what is the widest age gap between two players playing in the same team of a full and official rugby test match. Read more »
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3 January 2016
They say a week in politics is a long time. A lot can change... You could say that for a rugby referee the same principle applies. Back in 1971 Humphrey Rainey of Wellington who died on Boxing Day 2015 at the age of 89, was on his way to perhaps getting the call to control a test match on the British Lions tour Down Under of that year. But a week passed after a highly controversial match - and he did not. Read more »
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The second 'Barbed Wire' test match of 1981; and South Africa fights back.
The dramatic test at Athletic Park has SA winning 24-12. More protests in the Wellington Streets but the three-test series is set up at one-all.
CAKOBAU, George
1 test for Fiji 1939
A distinguished player and official with Fijian rugby, George Cakobau began his playing career in the years prior to World War II. He toured New Zealand as captain and an outstanding five-eighths with the famous unbeaten Fiji team of 1939. (Another member of that team was Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, who became Governor-General of his country and who played a major part in the negotiations following the military coup in 1987.)
Ratu Sir George Cakobau’s prominence in the administration of Fijian rugby marks him as one of the fathers of the game in that country. He was the Fiji Government’s representative on several tours in the 1950s. He was also a Fijian team coach and manager of various Fijian touring teams from 1951 until 1969.
A grandson of the last king of Fiji, he was a long-serving politician, rising to the rank of cabinet minister. In 1972 he was appointed Governor-General of his country.
Cakobau (pronounced Thakombow) was also a Fijian cricketer.
Why was the kickoff for the Japan v Wales in Cardiff in 1983 delayed for 15 minutes?
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