All Black Nicholson set standards of service

Few of New Zealand rugby's early characters could match All Black George Nicholson for his all-round experiences in the game.

Despite a lack of incentives for young players in the early 1890s, Nicholson's love of rugby was piqued, and at every chance he had, he and his mates set about playing rugby in any open space available.

His first memory of playing was while at Newton East School in 1892. His friends included Dug Hay, Carlton Hay, and Dan Clayton, all future Auckland representatives. He helped found the Melrose Club in 1895 in an independent league, but in 1897, he moved into the ambit of the Auckland Rugby Union when joining the City club's second junior team

1903, 1905-06 and 1907 All Black forward George Nicholson. (Pic The Sportsman)

And that latter move saw him commit to a place in the forward pack. All his earlier rugby was played in the backs. The City Club in Nicholson's time was never quite good enough to pick up the competition prizes, so in a deliberate change, all the emphasis was put on developing the club's youth resources.

By 1901, the club was sitting in second place in the competition behind Grafton when the competition was not completed due to the unfortunate death of the owner of Potter's Paddock.

Watch this space. Coming in 2024. Relive one of the greatest of All Blacks tours - the 1924-25 Invincibles to Britain, Ireland, France and Canada. The centennial of the tour next year will be celebrated by Silver Fern Sports with a series of in-depth articles retracing the steps of this sometimes controversial tour.

However, some compensation came Nicholson's way with his first selection for Auckland. His first game started a nine-year sequence of appearances broken when he played for the 1905 All Blacks who played Auckland, with Auckland players Nicholson, George Smith and Charlie Seeling playing against their provincial teammates for the national side.

First selected for the All Blacks in 1903, he was part of the team that toured Australia, a side regarded by many of the finest of the early All Blacks sides, even better than the 1905-06 touring team.

It was in the 1903 season that a piece of luck had significant benefits for Seeling. From Wanganui, he joined the City club and was tried as a wing three-quarter but failed. The City club's selectors were inclined to drop Seeling. Fortunately, someone thought he was worth a try in the forwards. The rest was, as they say, history. Seeling would be recognised as one of the great All Blacks forwards.

Nicholson played against the 1904 British touring team for Auckland and New Zealand, the latter game being the first home Test played by New Zealand. Their only other Test was that against Australia in Sydney a year earlier.

When choosing the tourists for 1905-06, Nicholson, along with George Tyler and Duncan McGregor, was so well regarded he was not required to play in the 'final' trial, the North-South inter-island game.

It is a curious fact about the tour that although he played in 28 of the matches, and scored the first and last tries on British soil by a forward, he played no Tests. He was frequently troubled by boils. Then, when regarded as likely to play against Wales, he dislocated his shoulder ahead of that Test.

However, he did play the following weekend against Cardiff, a game he felt taxed the 1905-06 side more than any other. The All Blacks won 10-8, helped by a late try to Nicholson.

The Sportsman described what happened.

"But for Nicholson's dash, a second defeat would have gone on record.

"The centre-kick of the New Zealand backs had been practically worked to death, but the subtle brain of W. [Billy] Stead conceived the idea of adapting the same play to the forwards. Nicholson was the forward told to be in readiness for a cross-kick, and after a long wait the opportunity came.

"The ball went over the goal-line, and [Percy] Bush, of Cardiff (five-eighths), set out to force. Nicholson was a yard or two in the rear, and the Cardiff man, although considerably speedier, became flurried. Instead of calmly forcing, he endeavoured to put the issue beyond doubt by kicking to the dead-ball line but he missed, and, needless to say, the tall New Zealander lost no time in falling on the ball."

Nicholson rated several players from the touring side among the best he had seen. Billy Wallace was the best fullback, while George Smith and Bob Deans were the best three-quarters. Billy Stead and Jimmy Duncan [who played in 1903 and was sent as coach in 1905] were the pick of the five-eighths, while the halfbacks were Fred Roberts and Arthur Humphries. George Gillett was his pick of wing-forwards, and Charlie Seeling and Alex McDonald were his choice of forwards.

Foreign players to impress were Welsh fullback Bert Winfield and three-quarter Basil McLear of Ireland.

Upon returning to New Zealand, he had another club rugby season with City. But then the introduction of residential qualifications by the Auckland Rugby Union meant he qualified to play for Ponsonby, Auckland's second-placed team at that time.

Nicholson became embroiled in the rugby league dispute of 1907 when those selected for the North Island team in the annual inter-island game were asked to sign pledges to remain amateur. Nicholson refused to sign, and he was omitted when the All Blacks team of 1907 was picked after the North-South game.

However, he took a holiday trip to Australia when the team toured. As chance would have it, the side suffered a string of bad injuries, so Nicholson was asked to help the side midway through the tour, finally playing four of the eight games.

Among them was his second game, also the second game against Queensland. The All Blacks lost three forwards during the second half with no replacements allowed. The five forwards left, Steve Casey, Ned Hughes, Charlie Seeling, Bolla Francis, and Nicholson, upped their effort and produced an outstanding show of strength as New Zealand won 17-11; 20-year-old Canterbury wing Frank Fryer, the only player to play all eight matches on the tour, scoring five tries.

Nicholson captained Ponsonby to win the Auckland competition in 1908, 09, and 10, leading them on their undefeated visit to Australia in 1910. Ponsonby finished second to City in 1911 and then, after 19 club members transferred to league, shared the wooden spoon with University.

It was Nicholson's last season playing, but he took on refereeing and, in his first season, 1913, controlled a Ranfurly Shield game between Auckland and Wellington, the international between Australia and Auckland and the Test match between the All Blacks and Australia played in Christchurch.

He continued to referee until 1918. He was also an Auckland selector from 1916-19, 1922-24 and 1930-31. He was a New Zealand selector in 1920-21, 1929-30 and 1936-37. His service to the game was recognised with life memberships of Ponsonby Club, Auckland's Referees' Association and the Auckland Union. George Nicholson died in Auckland in 1968 at the age of 90.