Bill McCaw - a southern rugby gentleman
Obituary
W.A. 'Bill' McCaw, b Gore 26 August 1927, d Christchurch 6 May 2025. Headmaster, ed Marist College, Invercargill, St Kevin's College, Oamaru. Debut, Southland 1949, 50 games. South Island 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954. New Zealand XV 1952, 1954, 1955 (2). All Blacks 1951 to Australia; 1953-54 to Britain, Ireland, France and USA, 5 Tests. Marist Rugby Club (Invercargill) coach, club captain, president. Southland and South Island softball representative. Brother-in-law of Southland rugby identities Bert Crooks and Bert Winders.
Southland All Black Bill McCaw died in Christchurch on May 6, passing the mantle of oldest living All Black to 1951 Australia tour team-mate halfback L.B. Steele.
McCaw was part of a successful Southland team that enjoyed wins over touring international teams, Australia in 1952 (24-9) and the 1950 British and Irish Lions (11-0). He formed a formidable loose forward partnership with fellow All Black and lifetime friend, flanker Eddie Robinson.
The pair toured Australia together in 1951.
Bill McCaw (Crown Studios Collection)
It was a different era, and the 1951 side was the second All Blacks team to travel by air. McCaw recounted the experience,
We flew out from Invercargill in the wee Domini and flew just over the hilltops to Dunedin where we transferred onto the DC3. It was quite an interesting introduction to flying. From Evans Bay in Wellington, we were taken out by launch to the flying boat ,and then it was a seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Rose Bay in Sydney. I remember coming home after the third Test, I suppose we'd had a bit of a leer up, the pilot had to come in and say, 'You guys sit down, I'm having to trim the plane all the time'. That was quite an experience.[1]
One of the most memorable games on the tour was the first Test against Australia, played at the Sydney Cricket Ground which was a mudbath. The game was the first of a Bledisloe Cup series, but the Cup hardly featured in the All Blacks' thinking, although the Australians had claimed it in 1949.
We played the first Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground which was for cricket and not so much for rugby. It was bulli soil and there was a lot of rain around that time and the ground was just a quagmire. You couldn't see a blade of grass from 25 to 25. Playing the game you only knew who your opponents were by the way they were travelling. I can remember seeing the Bledisloe Cup afterwards but it was no big deal and there had been no talk about it beforehand.
Most of the games were reasonably easy, except for the Tests which were pretty competitive, and we relaxed a fair bit on the tour. It was a nice introduction to the All Blacks. Eddie Robinson and I were on the sides of the scrum and when it came to the lineouts Eddie and I would link arms and come in behind the ball taker. It was good playing with Eddie, he was a good mate.[2]
Unfortunately, Robinson wasn't included in the tour to Britain, Ireland, France and the USA in 1953-54, something McCaw always regretted. That also resulted in another memorable flight.
We started out on the trip to Britain in 1953-54 in the flying boat again to Sydney. We stopped so many times on the way, in Darwin, Djkarta, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi and then we diverted up to Basra, and had to stay the night there. Then the next day we flew down to Rome, and from there to Zurich, and had to stay the night there because there was fog over London. We missed seeing the Queen because we were a day late. They reckoned we were carrying a load of gold with us because there was so much weight in the plane and the pilots had to go round a lot of the mountains and there were so many hold-ups along the way. They also couldn't fly as high as they would have liked because they were having trouble with the pressurisation.[3]
On the latter tour, McCaw said an infection suffered by tour captain Bob Stuart, who was allergic to penicillin and who played in the No8 position that McCaw preferred, gave him a chance to make his mark on the tour, and a stint as captain against North of Scotland.
He said in Behind the Silver Fern,
I was made captain against the North of Scotland. Bob Stuart wasn't fit at that time, and they must have given [vice-captain] Kevin Skinner a rest so I was next in line. It was always an honour to captain your country.[4]
One of the disappointments of the tour was losing the Test to Wales, that country's third victory over the All Blacks in four games – it remains the last time the All Blacks lost to Wales. McCaw said the side missed the presence of Tom Lynch at second five-eighths, as he had transferred to league.
The loss to Wales was a big blow. We dominated them more in the forwards but we just didn't have the penetration in the backs, but there was nothing in it. I can still remember the try that swung it to the Welsh. A fellow called Clem Thomas was playing for Wales and when he received the ball right on the touchline, he didn't know what to do with it. He looked a bit startled and so he just kicked it out into the middle of the field. [Ron] Jarden came from one end and Ken Jones was coming the other way, and Jones got the bounce and he took the ball under the posts and that cooked us as they won 13-8. It was just the chance of who got their first.[5]
McCaw admitted that in his time, players did not possess the skills or fitness that modern-day rugby players enjoy. But he said the injuries were different. Tackling was nowhere as severe as in the modern game, and there was no gang tackling. There weren't as many muscle pulls or the tearing of Achilles' tendons or ligament issues.
He was disappointed at their lack of coaching at the All Blacks level. McCaw said he didn't think the assistant manager of his tours, Len Clode [1951] and Arthur Maslin [1953-54] ever coached sides.
It was mainly up to Bob Stuart to do the coaching. I always felt very sad that you didn't learn. I thought going away with the All Blacks I would learn so much about new ways of playing, but I don't think I ever learnt much at all. I feel a wee bit cheated in a way. I felt there was so much you could have learned under a really good coach.
McCaw, a teacher, coached once his playing career was over and moved into administration both with his club and as a member of the Southland Rugby Union's management committee. In 1979, he transferred to Christchurch where he lived until his death.
NOTE: An earlier version of this story said the 1951 side was the first to fly to Australia, but that honour went to the 1947 side.
[1] Interview with Lynn McConnell, Behind the Silver Fern, Polaris Press, Edinburgh, 2015
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] ibid