As a scene-setter for a rivalry that would grow through the next 100 years, the first Test between New Zealand and South Africa, played in Dunedin on August 13, 1921 was hardly riveting.
New Zealand won 13-5, but a try to forward Moke Belliss was considered debatable for the All Blacks while South Africa failed to take chances for tries in their dominant first half with only wing Attie van Heerden scoring for the Springboks.
But those second-half tries scored by wings Jack Steel, a try that still ranks as one of the finest individual efforts in All Blacks' history, and Percy Storey, gave New Zealand their win. They were down 0-5 at halftime, but with the sun on their backs in the second half, they clinched the lead for the first time with first five-eighths Ces Badeley twice involved: a tactical punt to the in-goal leading to Belliss' try, and a cross-kick to Steel's wing being plucked out of the air and carried on his shoulder, and behind his back, before grasping the ball during a frenetic sprint to the goal-line from 50m out.
New Zealand’s team for the first Test against South Africa, Dunedin, 1921
Former All Black E.E. Booth's view of the Test was that the better team won in a contest of method and men although he said Belliss' try seemed to be preceded by a force-down by the South Africans. That view was backed a week or two after the Test, when another critic, who called himself 'Old Footballer', wrote of his concerns in a letter to the editor of Sydney's Referee. He said the result looked like a foregone conclusion by halftime, in spite of the fact the referee [E McKenzie – Wairarapa] allowed New Zealand’s forwards to fall down in nearly every scrum because they couldn't stand up to the Springbok forwards.
If free-kicks had been awarded, as they should have been, South Africa must have put over some of them.[1]
He was also critical of both of New Zealand's tries.
The ball did not rebound when Bellis [sic] scored. It was the result of an idiotic kick over the goal-line. Players of the old school would have let it go among the people. Two Springboks attempted to field it, and the ball fell at their feet, another Springbok fell on it, touched it dead, and Bellis, who was 15 yards away, ran up and fell on the ball, which was perfectly motionless. I was watching it with a man who has represented both N.Z. and Scotland – a better player than any on the ground that day – and he said that it was one of the worst decisions he had ever seen. [It is most likely this dual international was Colin Gilray, a Scottish-born Otago player who played for NZ against Australia in 1905 before being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1907 to Oxford University during which time he played four Tests for Scotland in 1908-09 and 1912. He returned to New Zealand and was a lawyer in Milton, Otago before and after the First World War in which he was the recipient of a Military Cross. He was later principal of John McGlashan College in Dunedin, then Scotch College, Melbourne] I myself [sic] have seen some bad ones in the course of 35 years, but I do not remember a worse.[2]
All Black forward, and future Test captain on the Invincibles' tour of 1924-25, Jock Richardson said of Belliss' try that Ces Badeley made a high punt, the ball bounced away from fullback Gerhard Morkel, centre Charlie Meyer and wing Henry Morkel allowing 'Moke' Bellis [sic-Belliss] to hurl himself on the ball to score.
It was all in the bounce and the 'break' proved to be a wrong 'un for the visitors. Mark Nicholls had a non-rush kick at goal through Kruger's impetuosity and the scores were: Springboks-All Blacks, 5 all.[3]
Tokkie Sholtz said the effect of the try was obvious.
Inspired by that try the home team rose grandly to the occasion and played us to a standstill. To say that we did not feel downhearted would not be true, but our spirit was by no means broken.[4]
He didn't mention the Springboks were not happy with the try. They claimed both Meyer and Harry Morkel had played the ball that bounced away from the fullback.
Richardson believed the game had turned on that point which was lucky for the All Blacks because the Springboks proved a better unit.
They [South Africa] played the English game, and their halves left our men standing. Their forwards were gigantic in build and herculean in strength. On the ground our dribblers beat their backs a few times, but the stamina and resource of Gerald (sic – should be Gerhard) Morkel [fullback] saved some three dribbling scores. They lost the first test by 5 points to 13, and they were adjudged by those who beat them as always dangerous and in the running until the end.[5]
Old Footballer was also unimpressed with Steel's second-half try.
Steele [sic] didn't beat anyone. A silly kick ripped across the ground to three Springboks. Steele charged down wildly, and the ball bumped up and hit him on the side of his head. His hand was up, and between the two he managed to grab it, and was fast enough to get over. Morkel, the full-back, could have reached him if he had remembered the adage, to hustle till you get there, and be cool when you arrive.[6]
In the second half, the Springboks lost a chance to regain the lead when the ball went dead as Michau, and All Blacks fullback [Charles] Kingstone, chased a kick ahead into the in-goal area.
Gerhard Morkel began to make an impact with the precision of his positional kicking.
A bit of good fortune came to the All Blacks when they were defending, for Steele [sic] made a huge punt to the other end of the field. A great effort it was with the run of play in favour of the kicker. Then the home backs clearly demonstrated their lack of quality; their passing was that of novices; the marking Africanders [sic] bustled them readily; the other New Zealand wing three-quarter even used the speculating foot in his anxiety to avoid a bump from [Theuns] Kruger and [Tekkie] Scholtz.[7]
Gerhard Morkel drove the All Blacks back again with a long punt into the home 25. But New Zealand kicked a high ball across to Jack Steel and he ran between the Springbok centre and wing to take the ball on the bounce about halfway.
Richardson said:
Meyer raced with him for a while but failed to connect and Gerald (sic) Morkel could not get across in time to prevent the West Coast three-quarter's running over and around behind the posts. The goal was a sitter for Mark Nicholls and New Zealand 10-South Africa 5 was acclaimed with a wave of flying hats and handkerchiefs and tossing heads.[8]
Luck conspired against the South Africans. Gerhard Morkel missed an attempted penalty goal, Van Heerden went too far after tying up the home backs, Townsend looked over the line when he knocked on, while a pass between Mark Nicholls and Aitken was pulled up promptly. Badeley had to make plenty of tackles as the Springbok forwards charged down his channel. Then Andrew 'Son' White made a dribbling rush that demanded Gerhard Morkel force for the 25 dropout.
Another try was to come to New Zealand. An All Black forward, White, got over the Springboks' line, but a five yards' scrum was ordered. The ball came to Badeley who was then held up and a hard kick sent the chance to [George] Aitken, centre and captain, and he passed to [Jim] Donald. [Percy] Storey being fed with room to go across near the corner flag.[9]
Before the end of the game, Steel prevented the Springboks' closing the final margin when he chased down a flying Henry Morkel on the sideline.
Individually the Springboks backs were better than those of the All Blacks. In territorial advantage honours were easy in the second spell. It looked as though the S.A.'s could not finish regular passing attacks. The English four three-quarter formation had let Steel in. White and [Bill] Duncan of the N.Z. smaller men had been more outstanding than the corresponding South Africans in the last quarter of the second spell. The feeling was that the home side was not lucky to win, but that the visitors were up against the 'run of the balls'.[10]
Old Footballer didn't hold back claiming the 1888 Native team was superior to the All Blacks of 1921 while he felt forwards required to be locked into scrums were 'handless, footless, brainless posts'. Like Stead, he was frustrated at the lack of inter-passing by the All Blacks forwards and felt New Zealand needed to change to the British-style laws and stick to them. The Referee responded by saying Old Footballer might well be right but while Australians had not seen the 1905 All Blacks at their best, they did see the side of 1903 and most Australians would feel that side was superior to the Native side. They added that New Zealand rugby might be falling away but the war had a lot to do with that, as did the division in Auckland where 'the Northern Union game' was having an effect. But, it felt, as time moved on and younger players emerged, the old New Zealand standard would be revived.
Booth felt New Zealand's style of play was the more impressive.
As an exposition of styles it was obviously in New Zealand's favour. The home team showed infinitely more variety and resourcefulness. Opposed to a better and longer organised side, with a perfect understanding, the bi-lingual handicap, and possessing great superiority in weight, the New Zealanders performed most meritoriously. Their inborn faith and optimistic belief, allied to a battling spirit, won them the match…The game was not of real international standard, although far above mediocrity in most phases.[11]
Critics were disappointed with the All Blacks' back play, Steel's try excepted. It was felt there was neither cohesion nor variety, and the play tended to the haphazard. Too much emphasis was given to the halfback deciding the tactical options. Booth argued that should be the role of the first five-eighths. The Springboks were better as a back combination with more speed and precision than the New Zealanders.
That view was shared by his 1905-06 teammate Billy Stead who was coach of the All Blacks, along with another teammate Alex McDonald. Stead, who had no say in the selection of the side said,
There was only one half-back in New Zealand, according to the selectors, 'Ginger' Nicholls got the position with Teddy Roberts, quite in his heyday as reserve. 'Ginger' Nicholls, Mark Nicholls, Ces Badeley, [who played one Test at first five-eighths against NSW in 1920] and George Aitken [the centre and captain] were playing their first big match, and they were full of faults which could not be remedied in time for such an important occasion.[12]
In spite of the win, Stead was concerned about what the Test match had proved about the state of the game in New Zealand.
Although I admit that football could not have been at a lower ebb than on the occasion of the last visit by a South African team, I always had a feeling that the New Zealand team was badly picked.
It was certainly very hard to coach. The chief difficulty was the fact that we had lost the art of the two-three-two scrum. No one was conversant with it, and the lock, the chief factor in that scrum, was Jim Moffitt, of Wellington, who was a member of the New Zealand Army team in South Africa and who, because of a ruptured nerve in the back – which he indiscreetly kept to himself – quite failed to make the compact formation necessary.
Ned Hughes, [a former teammate of Stead's for Southland and the All Blacks in 1908] who was almost as old as myself, was in for his hooking.
Through two good individual efforts', by Jack Steel and 'Moke' Belliss, we gained a victory, but it was plain to me, that a vast change in the personnel of the team was necessary.[13]
McDonald's defensive coaching was evident in the low tackling of the All Blacks, especially in disrupting the ability of the Springboks to use their lineout ball. However, the South Africans' lack of ability when the ball was on the ground meant they failed to mount any organised dribbling plays.
This was the result of playing on their hard grounds where the ball bounced too much for the dribble to be applied effectively. Instead, they looked to move the ball by hand. They also failed to utilise the 'mark' when in goal-kicking range on several occasions. They only used the mark on defence.
Excepting Steel's wonderful individual effort, there were no outstanding events which could be classed as brilliant. It was a great test of endurance and physical stamina, and the Blacks simply won by grim bull-dog tenacity and purpose. Probably any other team would have succumbed to the continuous weighty and headlong attacks by the Greens.[14]
Booth was critical of Belliss' try and also Hughes' age (40) and one other unnamed member of the pack, although the oldest of the others was only 31.
The Black forwards were very weak in two features of play that are usually strong in their department. The following up was hardly in evidence during the game. White and Bellis [sic] alone showing to advantage. The Black forwards did not show their short snappy passing usually so characteristic of their play, nor did they show their usual proclivities for feeding their backs.[15]
Booth left the game believing the South Africans had revealed all their hand in the conditions and felt that in the second Test in Auckland more would be revealed in the expected drier conditions. At the same time, he didn't think there was a lot to benefit rugby in New Zealand from the manner of the Springbok play.
The genius of Mellish in doing the unexpected had made all the difference, and van Heerden's pace carried him over untouched until the try could not be prevented. A shame indeed would it have been that the great combination of these giants of the veldt and the plateaus should not have been rewarded for their herculean endeavours.
The Blacks had been playing – they were compelled to – the game that the Greens had planned…The Springboks' forwards were distinctly ahead in the line-outs and packs following them.[16]
At that stage based in Dunedin, Richardson said that while he didn't intend to express an opinion on the 'comparatively poor showing of New Zealand', he said no mature judge of the game would deny that the New Zealand backs were not up to the standard of a good Otago University team.
Their forwards became struggling masses of brawn and their backs kicked like clockwork. Candidly, the first spell was well in the control of the visitors and the twenty-five thousand spectators were aghast that All Blacks could be so closely held by any opponents, breaks by New Zealand being generally of the hard kick variety when the forwards managed a break or of the beat-a-man and get grassed silly tactic so often seen on Carisbrook in years gone by.
Behind the Black scrum things were at sixes and sevens, and so far as styles were in question the old-fashioned three-quarter line was better fed than were the piercing Dominion five-eighths."[17]
Mark Nicholls (pictured above, National Library NZ) wrote the All Blacks went into the series believing, like the people of New Zealand, in the invincibility of their national team. The prospect of defeat never entered their thoughts ahead of the game.
It was the same with the All Blacks themselves. I well remember my own mental outlook on this, my first international match. With the black jersey and shining silver fern leaf, I thought I was as great a player as ever trod the turf of historic Carisbrook. And I am certain that every All Blacks has had the same thoughts on the eve of his first international match. Years afterwards I realised my mistake, and thought of all the opportunities I missed during the play. However, we thought that we could not lose – and after all, that is at least half the battle.[18]
New Zealand's backs were comfortably held by [Taffy] Townsend and [Baby] Michau, while 'Ginger' Nicholls and Mark Nicholls were 'not pleasing themselves or anybody else except their markers'.
It is only a fair criticism to write that the South Africans were more than five points better in the first spell.[19]
New Zealand was left with plenty to think about and there was more than a little surprise in how the selectors reacted. Early commercialism was on show in the series when a sponsor offered a medallion to the back and forward players of the day from each side. The New Zealand players were chosen by the selectors and they went for 'Ginger' Nicholls as the best back, and then promptly dropped him for the second Test.
In the forwards the only change, however, was the dropping of 'Son' White, who was considered by many as the best forward on the ground.[20]
Figure 1 Full of surprises, J.H. Gilmour's cartoon after the First Test in The Star (Christchurch)
Richardson said there appeared to be an uneasy feeling that something was wrong among the 'bigwigs' of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. So they decided to change their forwards.
Bellis [sic] was considered to be only a smasher of backs and not an extra half. White, the only man with a dribbling toe, had to stay out on the score of expense – he lived at the end of the South Island, about a thousand miles from Auckland [the second Test venue].[21]
Booth mentioned Richardson's comment that the frugality of the NZRFU might have been behind White's omission but added that the selectors may also have been looking to increase the height available to the All Blacks toward the back of the lineout.
Booth also took issue with the intended late assembling of the All Blacks in Auckland ahead of the second Test.
The New Zealand Union are certainly taking a very big risk in not having the team together for a longer period before this encounter. Some people are not above saying suggestively that if the visitors could win next time the final [Test] would be a great windfall financially for the union. Such engineering, of course, is unthinkable, but I conscientiously believe the visitors are being taken too lightly. The New Zealand team undoubtedly need a tremendous amount of speeding-up, a better understanding and adoption of better tactics.[22]
[1] Old Footballer, letter to the editor, The Referee, Sydney, 14 September 1921
[2] ibid
[3] Jock Richardson, The Southland Daily News, 1928
[4] Tokkie Shotz, a contributor to The History of South African Rugby Football (1875-1932), Ivor Difford, The Speciality Press of S.A. Ltd, Wynberg.
[5] Richardson ibid
[6] Old Footballer ibid
[7] ibid
[8] Richardson ibid
[9] ibid
[10] ibid
[11] E.E. Booth, The Football Fever, The Star (Christchurch), 20 August 1921
[12] J.W. 'Billy' Stead, Reminiscences, The Evening Star Sports Special, Dunedin, 25 June
1937
[13] ibid
[14] ibid
[15] Booth ibid
[16] ibid
[17] ibid
[18] Mark Nicholls, Weekly News, August 11, 1937
[19] Richardson ibid
[20] Stead ibid
[21] Richardson, ibid
[22] Booth ibid