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.
9 August 2014
*GOOD NEWS AT LAST FOR OUR 'PINETREE!'* Read more »
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9 August 2014
This is great and appropriate really; our great All Black, Sir Colin Meads, for years had been a member of the privately owned International Rugby Hall of Fame - but after the IRB opened up its own website in 2006 Colin was strangely, always ignored. This irked a number of reporters in New Zealand (I can hold my hand up here) who asked 'what was going on?' Read more »
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8 August 2014
The men’s and women’s rugby sevens competitions at Nanjing 2014 will be held at the city’s Youth Olympic Sports Park on 17-20 August, with 72 players taking part in each. Read more »
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These days life is all about FAQ's; so to clear the air for those people who have often asked me just 'how many 15s All Blacks have first come through the Gordon Tietjens sevens coaching teams?' here is the full and definitive list. Note; While it is true Gordon has been coaching the New Zealand sevens team since 1994 his first involvement with a national sevens selection actually came a year earlier in 1993. Read more »
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1932-34 All Black Ernest "Ned' Barry was born on this day; he and his son Kevin (1962-64) and Liam (1993-1995) became the first 'three-generation' All Black family.
Badeley, Ces
Auckland, North Auckland, and New Zealand
2 internationals for New Zealand 1921
Although he played first-class rugby between 1916 and 1928, and in 15 matches for New Zealand 1920–24, Ces Badeley is better known as the man who was briefly the captain of the 1924 All Blacks.
Twenty-three of the players who later were to become the ‘Invincibles’ on their tour of Britain, France and Canada, first made a four-match visit to Sydney. Badeley was the captain, but played only the first match because of a knee injury. Returning to New Zealand, the team, and Badeley, played two further matches, and the captain’s play received wide praise.
Although the New Zealand union had stated the captaincy would be reviewed before the British tour, it was a surprise when, no sooner had Badeley made a speech on behalf of the team at a parliamentary farewell, than Cliff Porter was announced as captain.
In later years, Badeley supposed his knee injury was a reason, but it is possible that a clique of senior players privately decided on Porter during the voyage back from Sydney. Mark Nicholls was said to be a key factor in these deliberations as – like Badeley – he was a five-eighths, and a confident one at that: Nichols apparently was in no doubt he should play all the major matches.
The offhand treatment of Badeley didn’t finish there. He played only two games on the 32-match tour, despite being regularly clearly fit to play. In fact his major activity for the rest of the famous tour was to act sometimes as back coach.
Once the team was well on track for its unbeaten record, Badeley had no chance of playing. The under-utilised young wing, Alan Robilliard, who himself had only four games in Britain and France, has said that the unbeaten record became paramount to the team and it was inevitable the top players would be fielded for most games.
What age was Gareth Edwards when he became the world’s youngest test captain?
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