KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
You are here: Home » News Comment » A Momentum Shift for New Zealand Rugby?
10 August 2014
Gee I hope not! New Zealand rugby's trophy cabinet used to bulge with silver and gold cups, with other assorted medals and golden glories scattered about randomly, to the point where no one at the NZ Rugby Union offices had the time or inclination to collate or sort out the stuff - there was so much of it!
But here we are in 2014 and the cabinet doors have been thrown open and under our noses (and perhaps while we were all in the dark) other countries are sneaking in to plunder some of our best goodies.
Consider the list; In just a few months gone is the Commonwealth Games sevens glory - snatched was the Under 20s proud record - pinched is the Super 15 title - and now our Black Ferns in France are out of the Women's Rugby World Cup! That's four biggies in a very short space of time.
Check the locks Mr Tew - call Security and check that sure the trophies that remain are locked up tight - or else more might go. Like that cumbersome Bledisloe Cup. Are those Aussies ready next weekend to hatch a plan to go all smash and grab with that one too!
Someone say out loud - it ain't gonna happen!
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I cannot believe it was so long ago! But right from a VERY young age at Benneydale and Berhampore in New Zealand I knew I wanted to write and talk about rugby - and I've been doing it all my life. (And many more to come I hope!)
CALCUTTA CUP
The only trophy for competition between two of the Five Nation teams, the Calcutta Cup is played for between England and Scotland.
The trophy originated in India where the Calcutta Football Club, started by some former pupils of Rugby School in England, found itself facing recession after only four years of existence. Rugby was not suited for the summer-like conditions of India.
The club had only modest resources, but as a closing-down gesture, rather than spend their remaining monies on a dinner or a ball, the members withdrew their remaining rupees from the bank and had them melted down. The silver was worked by the finest of Indian workmanship and shaped into a handsome trophy with three distinctive handles shaped like cobras and an elephant mounted on its lid.
The Calcutta Cup was presented to the Rugby Football Union in London in 1878 for competition between England and Scotland. Since then (with the exception of the war years) it has been a much-prized trophy in the annual Five (and now Six) Nations match.
There is an anomaly in the recording of annual results on the base of the cup. It was first played for in 1879 yet the results of England v Scotland matches from 1871 to 1878 are etched into the plinth of the trophy, years before the trophy came into being!
The original Calcutta Cup is now seldom seen in public. Whether the annual game is held at Twickenham or at Murrayfield the original is stored, for security reasons, in a safe vault. In its histroy the Cup has often been the subject of mistreatment by the players of the day. It is often a full-size replica of the cup which is kept for display at both grounds.
(With thanks to John Mcl. Davidson – Honorary Historian Scottish Rugby Union)
If there were a New Zealand rugby NPC State-of-Origin contest, which province would Grant Fox play for?
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