45: Britain's powerful farewell All Blacks
It was a measure of the impact of Cliff Porter and his Invincibles that around 300 of Britain's high and mighty assembled for a luncheon at London's Piccadilly Hotel to send them on their way.
Royalty, Knights of the realm, Lords, Dukes, Viscounts, Generals, leading sports administrators from all the principal codes and other dignitaries were among the assembled.
The Prince of Wales spoke for the non-international sportspeople of Britain when he said,
It does not necessarily take an international footballer to appreciate the value of a visit of such a body of sportsmen as the All Blacks, not only to this country, but also to the British Empire.
This is not their first visit to this country. They were over here in 1905. It takes something big like a visit of a famous football team to impress a boy, and that is one of the things I can just remember. In my opinion, the All Blacks of the present are well up in the vintage of 1905. The All Blacks of 1925 are certainly of the old brand, and my experience of all New Zealand brands is that they are good, whether they be those of commerce, football, or industry.
New Zealand sent a splendid brand of men to to the war, and I am glad to know that 11 members of the All Blacks team are ex-Service men.
When the All Blacks visited us 20 years ago they sustained only a single defeat, and I daresay there are many present who can remember that famous game with Wales. This season the New Zealand team has disposed of every single team with which it has played, and they have just returned from a successful trip across the Channel. It is a wonderful record, and although most of the victories have been achieved at the expense of the Mother Country that does not affect the genuineness of our congratulations this afternoon.[1]
He congratulated the team and all involved in preparing the combination that made them a formidable unit. He hoped it would not be long before they were seen again in Britain and advised they would always be welcome.
The secretary of the British Olympic Association, Brigadier-General Kentish, said the All Blacks gave 'amazing displays on the football field.' It was wonderful to think they had gone all over the country without loss, but the more significant achievement was their doing that without losing their reputation as sportsmen.
The Prince of Wales presents a Loving Cup to All Blacks captain Cliff Porter. (The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News)
The Daily Telegraph, the day after the lunch, said in an editorial that it was doubtful a more thorough representative gathering of British athletes had occurred than to farewell the tourists.
That New Zealand should be known and famous in Great Britain for its prowess in football as well as for the valour of its soldiers, or the excellence of its mutton and its butter, is a very good thing, and the New Zealanders have shown by this tour that they have had something to teach even the best British Rugby teams. We have not yet heard the word 'ashes' in reference to football, but if there is a funerary urn anywhere, the ashes within it are certainly not those of the All Blacks...Yesterday's happy function should also have the effect of removing from the minds of the All Blacks and of the New Zealand public the last traces of one or two rather painful memories. It will show them what our leading sportsmen think of them, and we hope, in the interests of what many people consider to be the finest game in the world for strong men, that the All Blacks will go on developing the astonishing speed, directness of attack, and perfection of combination which have enabled them to win their victories.[2]
The Telegraph also made the point that it was time for the Dominions, who had shown they had 'grown up', to be given a say in the regulation of the games they could play, as well as the Mother Country.
How much of an impact did Porter and his men make? Britain's Spectator magazine didn't devote a lot of space to rugby but said,
Those who saw the All Blacks, New Zealand Rugby Football XV, in any of their victorious matches – for they were all victorious – saw the best Rugby side that has ever taken the field in this country.[3]
British players had so much to learn from them because it was not just their combination that was perfect. They reinvented refinements of the game unknown to British and Irish sides, which dovetailed into their combination. That would cause much thinking among those defeated sides as they planned their futures.
The touring side enjoyed the benefit of playing together over the duration of their tour. They also strung out more players behind their pack than was usual in Britain. And they eschewed kicking to touch as often as their opponents.
It is quite true that when you have kicked into touch you have definitely gained a piece of ground. Nevertheless, you have purchased it at the price of not being able to expand any strategic moment that was possible at the moment when the kick was made.
For a similar reason, the All Blacks run straighter down the field than our men do. They evidently do not like running near the touch line where they can be pushed over the line and the strategic movement of the moment can be brought to a standstill.[4]
The New Zealanders did not adopt the strategy British three-quarters occasionally used to get out of trouble, running backwards in order to get out of trouble.
When an All Black is tackled he hardly ever has the ball in his hands; he has parted with it just before – when he was still free and unhampered so that he could bestow it on somebody else nearly, and to the greatest advantage.[5]
The comment finished with congratulation.
The All Blacks were a truly magnificent side. If they have not taught us a great deal it will be our fault. We congratulate them heartily on their success, which they thoroughly deserved.[6]
Later in the year, the publication of Wisden's Rugby Almanack allowed a post-Five Nations summation of the state of the game in Britain, Ireland and France in the wake of the All Blacks' triumph. Acknowledging all the qualities other critics had mentioned, strength, pace, condition, straight running, close handling, strong backing up, sound defence, vigorous tackling and accurate kicking, Wisden's editor said the Home teams failed to display the qualities of the level the All Blacks achieved. The tourists had an advantage of time together, while those opponents at the start of the tour had played only a few games. [Although in making the comments, the editor did not concede the All Blacks had spent six weeks on a boat getting to Britain].
George Nepia and Mark Nicholls were named among the Almanack's five players of the year.
Manager Stan Dean (left) and captain Cliff Porter make a bed endowment at King’s College Hospital in the name of the 1924-25 All Blacks. (The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News).
At the end of the farewell luncheon, the future King of England, the Prince of Wales, presented Cliff Porter with a loving cup in recognition of the side's achievements. After many years in storage, the Cup has been allocated for presentation to the winners of future inter-island games in New Zealand. There was also time for the All Blacks to endow a bed in King's College Hospital to remember the success of their tour and to thank England for its treatment of the side.
NEXT ISSUE: To Canada to spread the word, then home
[1] Prince of Wales farewell speech, Piccadilly Hotel, 21 January 1925, The Scotsman, 22 January 1925
[2] The Daily Telegraph, Editorial, 22 January 1925
[3] The Spectator, 10 January 1925
[4] ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] ibid