6: The 1924-25 All Blacks team is named

But now without incident

With the first batch of players to be selected for the 1924-25 tour after the annual inter-island game, in Wellington, interest was higher than usual.

A crowd of 18,000  turned up at Athletic Park to make their choices. The game started under heavy clouds, and in its final stages, a heavy hail shower disrupted the conditions.

While a one-sided contest, the consensus was that men of the calibre of the Originals of 1905-06 were on display. The Evening Post said,

On each side, South and North, there were great forwards, well worthy of international status, and there were also backs who promised to be worthy successors to those who made New Zealand famous on the Rugby field...The Southerners did not live up to the reports which preceded them, and for the most part they were no match for the strong and well-balanced North Island combination, though a few of the Southerners excelled.^[1]

The North led by 25 points at halftime, and the game ended 39-9, although the unevenness of the sides did not extend to the forwards, where there was a much more balanced contest.

In the tight, the Southern hookers Brian McCleary and Abe Munro did better work with the ball, while their Northern rivals Quentin Donald and Bill Irvine were more noticed in loose play.

Southlanders Jock Richardson and Son White were prominent with their control of the ball, both in hand and on the ground, and although in the beaten pack, they won favour as the best two forwards in the game.

Maurice Brownlie demonstrated the qualities he would exhibit on the tour by scoring an early try for the North and backing up with another in the second half. Cyril Brownlie shone in the lineouts while 20-year-old South Islander Ron Stewart defied his age and produced a performance with critics saying he deserved his place among the first chosen.

Inevitably, for a New Zealand crowd at least, the contest between the wing forwards, Cliff Porter for the North and Jim Parker for the South, was an attraction.

Parker has a fine turn of speed, and [George] Nepia and others know, that once he gets away he is a hard man to overtake. Porter, though not up to his Wanganui form (he was suffering from a bruised knee, and received another knock), gave a good exhibition of the fly-half game.^[2]

The halfback performances were of most concern, and it would continue until the team sailed for England. Neither Jimmy Mill for the North nor the South's Clarrie St. George impressed, especially in moving the ball from scrums. Bert Cooke and Mark Nicholls were the superior five-eighths, setting the tone for the attacking North Island display. Cooke was especially exciting and benefited from Nicholls' ability to draw the opposition inside him allowing Cooke the freedom to put his evasive skills to use. Gus Hart and Fred Lucas had the better of the wing play. Out the back, George Nepia impressed.

Nepia added another fine performance to make him a certainty as a fullback for the New Zealand team. In the two matches in Wellington, he has not been hard pressed, but it has been plain that his qualifications for the position are excellent.^[3]

Rival paper The Dominion said Nepia had clinched the right to be regarded as one of the best fullbacks produced by the country in years.

He is the surest take of the ball in the air who has appeared in the responsible position, and is also the mightiest punter. Everyone was anxious to see how he would shape when heavy defensive work had to be done, and they had their wishes gratified in this match. Nepia came through the ordeal with flying colours, hurling himself with the greatest determination right at the feet of the oncoming big South Island forwards on several occasions.^[4]

Cooke's play was also welcomed in proving that New Zealand was not bereft of talent among its midfield backs.

He displayed all the necessary attributes of an inside back. Very fast off the mark, he sidesteps, feints, and beats his man in approved style, and gives his passes at the right moment.^[5]

The New Zealand Times rated his display as brilliant.

He was at once the inspiration of the North Island backs, the despair of the South Islanders, and the delight of the crowd. Without him, the North Island would never have scored six tries, nor would the reputation of several of his supporting backs stand as high as it stands today. Few wing three-quarters in important matches have been given such glorious opportunities as Cooke repeatedly gave to Hart...Cooke may be considered the most valuable player the selectors have included in the team. If he can reproduce his form on English soil, the New Zealand backs may yet be worthy of their forwards.^[6]

Cooke recalled the inter-island game was 'an absolute cake-walk' for the North.

We had a great pack of forwards, with Cliff Porter at wing-forward. Then we had Jimmy Mill, Mark Nicholls, Svenson, Lucas, Hart and Nepia. The opposite five-eighths were McGregor and Perry. Dr. Fred [sic-Arnold] Perry was a very fine player recognised to be one of the best inside backs in the country, and the selectors were rightly determined to give him a good try-out. But this season he could not strike form at all. He lost confidence, and trying to redeem himself he would get out of position, so that I had an absolute picnic, going through the middle and then linking up with Hart who would come up at a great pace. Hart scored three tries.^[7]

Sixteen certainties to tour were named after the game. They were: George Nepia, Gus Hart, Fred Lucas, Bert Cooke, Mark Nicholls, Jack Steel, Cliff Porter, Maurice Brownlie, Cyril Brownlie, Brian McCleary, Bill Irvine, Jim Parker, A. 'Son' White, Jock Richardson, Ron Stewart and Ian Harvey.                   

The remaining 13 places were up for grabs among the players chosen for the final trial, a Possibles v Probables game to be played on the Tuesday following the inter-island game. The teams were:

Possibles                                                           Probables

Fullbacks: Harris (Canterbury)                    Nepia (Hawke's Bay)

Wings: Elvy (Canterbury)                             Maurice Bailey (Manawatu)

Robilliard (Canterbury)                                 Svenson (Wellington)

Centres: Bell (Southland)                             Brown (Taranaki)

Five-eighths: Perry (Otago) – captain       McGregor (Canterbury)

Ces Badeley (Auckland)                                Paewai (Hawke's Bay)

Halfbacks: Bill Dalley (Canterbury)            'Ginger' Nicholls (Wellington)

Wing-forwards: Parker (Canterbury)         Jacob (Horowhenua)

Hookers: Lomas (Auckland)                         Tunnicliffe (Buller)

Donald (Wairarapa)                                        Munro (Otago)

Locks: Williams (Otago)                                Masters (Canterbury)

Supports: Cupples (Bay of Plenty)              Knight (Auckland)

Pringle (Wellington)                                      West (Taranaki)

Breakaways: Turpin (Canterbury)               McNab (Hawke's Bay)

O'Regan (West Coast)                                    Snow (Nelson)

Emergencies for both teams: St George (Otago), Gilmour (Southland), White (Southland), McCleary (Canterbury).

The main beneficiary of that contest , won by the Possibles 16-8 in poor conditions, was Canterbury halfback Bill Dalley, described as the best back on the field in the game. Unbelievably, an error by officials resulted in only 10 of the 13 players being announced.

Bill Dalley, halfback, and future great uncle of All Blacks great Dan Carter (Archives New Zealand Reference: ACGO 8333 IA1 1349 15/11/17721)

Read Masters, whose name was missing, described what happened.

It took the selectors six hours to make their choice, the players being advised, or supposedly so, by a list posted on a notice board at the dance the players were attending at the Wellington Town Hall. Everything halted at 11pm as remaining names were posted…J Mill, W.C. Dalley, L Cupples, Q Donald, L Paewai, A.H. West, C Badeley, K Svenson, A.C. Robilliard, H.W. Brown…but that was only 10.

I was resigned to my fate! After a considerable delay, an announcement was made from the platform to the effect that three cards bearing names had been mislaid [given the importance of the announcement how does such a thing happen?], the players were – N.P. McGregor, H.G. Munro, R.R. Masters.^[8]

All but Robilliard, Steel, Munro, Donald and West, were to leave at the end of June for a four-game tour to Australia before returning in time to catch the Remuera for England on July 26.

Having made their choices, the selectors had to sit back and take the reaction, and there was plenty of it. But one of the selectors, Norman McKenzie, spoke about their job. McKenzie said extraordinary interest was shown at all the trial games. Wellington's was the most impartial crowd while he regarded Invercargill as the greatest football town in New Zealand.

The travelling from one end of the country to the other, and halfway back again, was also time consuming.

Besides travelling about, and discussing the individual players, we had a lot of arranging to do in picking up players here and there. Thus, while on the train we would pick up players for the next match, or send a wire to another man and arrange for him to be ready. In the actual selection, we were constantly in committee regarding the merits of different players, and after each trial game we would deliberate for five hours or more over the men for the next team. We have now chosen our team, and I think it is a good one.^[9]

Next issue: Reaction to the team selection

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^[1] The Evening Post, 2 June 1924

^[2] ibid

^[3] ibid

^[4] The Dominion, 2 June 1924

^[5] ibid

^[6] New Zealand Times, 2 June 1924

^[7] Bert Cooke, New Zealand Observer, 6 August 1936

^[8] R.R. Masters, With the All Blacks in Great Britain, France, Canada and Australia 1924-25

^[9] Norman McKenzie, Otago Daily Times, 26 June 1924