NECTAR & TWIGGY
NORTH WEST COUNTIES
Match 10: Ellis Sports Ground, Workington. November 22nd, 1972
North West Counties 16, New Zealand All Blacks 14 (Half-time: 9-10)
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For NZL: Batty T, Skudder T, Morris 2P
For NW C: Maxwell 2 T, Cowman CP, Wardlow DG
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North West Counties: Barry O'Driscoll (Manchester), Tony Richards (Fylde), Chris Wardlow (Coventry), Dave Roughley (Liverpool), Stuart Maxwell (Richmond), Alan Cowman (Coventry), Steve Smith (Sale), Peter Dixon (Gosforth), Tony Neary (Broughton Park), Mike Leadbetter (Broughton Park), Richard Trickey (Sale), Dave Robinson (Gosforth), Frank Anderson (Orrell), John Lansbury (Sale), Fran Cotton (Loughborough Colleges) (c)
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New Zealand: Trevor Morris, George Skudder, Duncan Hales, Mark Sayers, Grant Batty, Bob Burgess, Lin Colling (Going 65'), Alan Sutherland, Bevan Holmes, Ian Kirkpatrick (c), Andy Haden, Ian Eliason, Kent Lambert, Ron Urlich, Graham Whiting.
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Weather: Squally. Ground: Reasonable. Crowd: 12,000. Referee: T F E Grierson (Scotland)
Penalties: NW C 15, NZL 11. Line-outs: NZL 20, NW C 8 Rucks: NZL 10, NW C 9. Tight-heads: Norton 3, Lansbury 1
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​ Many British critics present in Belfast were not impressed by the All Blacks showing in their last match and had lavished praise on the home team. Peter West in The Times, quoted Ulster coach, Maurice Crabbe as saying; "the tourists are certainly beatable. For all their greater size, they can be matched up front, physically."
JBG was one of these critics, who took a sarcastic swipe at Bob Howitt, writing for the Western Mail, when the latter had suggested that an All Black theory was that British rugby had become too obsessed with scrummaging and defensive patterns and had forgotten how to score points (the previous nine tour opponents registering just 46 points between them @ 5.11).
Terry O'Connor, in the Daily Mail, quoted Crabbe, John Burgess and Carwyn James, who had all stated that, in their opinions, the legend of the All Blacks invincibility was 'all in the mind'.
The All Black tour party flew back to England from Belfast, destination Keswick, a market town in the beautiful Lakes District, to prepare for their next tour match against the counties of the north west. The north of England is traditional rugby league country and in three previous fixtures - 1935 (as Lancashire & Cheshire, in Birkenhead), 1954 and 1964 (Manchester), the New Zealanders had prevailed.
Unfortunately, from a scenic point of view, it was less than ideal, with the lakes being topped up by consistent rain. However, that may be an English point of view and one not shared by TP McLean, or my good self, for that matter. TP accurately wrote that one can never be fully prepared for the exceptional beauty that is England. Being a veteran, it was the neatness and orderliness he so cherished.
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"After our rough island story of telegraph poles, power lines, miscreant hedges, timeworn signs informing us that Eltham is a good Rexona town and potholes, beer bottles and clumps of fennel interspersed with ragwort...the lands, lanes and roads of England look as if they have come fresh from the ironing table."
Terry McLean, They Missed the Bus
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TP was waxing lyrical about not only the Lakes District, but Keswick itself and the Royal Oak Hotel (where the team were staying) and it's surreal place in literature and history by association. He was fascinated by the architecture, which he reckoned to be Saxon or late Roman, distinctly medieval, surrounded by countryside of a remote and ageless beauty.
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"The Royal Oak, we soon found from abundant signs about the hostelry, could be reckoned Poet's Corner. Here supped, or lived from time to time, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, de Quincy, Walter Scott...even good old Alfred Lord Tennyson. It was fun to imagine that they sat by this fire, or by that light, drinking halves of bitters and penning such memorable contributions. It was all very stimulating for us peasants of the press."
TP McLean, They Missed the Bus
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Unfortunately, the All Blacks would not spend too much time poetising. Their forwards had just been outscrummaged 'quite ignominiously' by Leinster and Ulster. Intel on this new opponent was also disquieting. The local chaps had been together on training runs for six weeks before their moment in the sun. They'd studied films of the All Blacks and spent the weekend of their final training together as a unit.
It seemed this was a new obsession, or naturally following on from the approach and success of Carwyn James, predominantly, coaching, tactics, information gathering regarding the oppo, fitness, staying focused, tackling your arse off...there were certain favourable prerequisites for success in the modern game of rugby union.
Naturally then, the northern combined side were coached by another of these new experts in John Burgess, who had taken an England team to the Far East and then unceremoniously dropped. His replacement, John Elders, subsequently took England through an unbeaten tour of South Africa (then guided England to their first ever away win against New Zealand in 1973).
But Burgess was keen to prove himself as good as the next man in the art of coaching. He had studied All Black play in depth, gone over the idiosyncrasies (perhaps, peculiarities) with a fine toothed comb. He had produced a clinical plan to beat them, which in a nutshell, was to play them at their own game.
John Burgess was a massive figure in this story. Known for his rousing team talks when coaching Lancashire, his pre-match theories were well thought out and concise, but it would up to the players themselves to put them to the test on the field.
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“Back in August our coach John Burgess had gathered us for our first training session and insisted we were going to win which caused a bit of mirth. I’m not sure many of us had actually considered that a possibility. Anyway we trained for about seven Sunday mornings in a row before the game and on the day we were good value.”
Fran Cotton, The Rugby Player, 2018
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The Northerners had in their ranks, 1971 British Lions flanker, Peter Dixon, plus Tony Neary and their captain, Fran Cotton, who would both tour the republic of South Africa in 1974 as part of the 'Invincibles' Lions side. Mike Leadbetter had played a solitary test against the French in 1970. Fly-half, Dick Cowman, himself born in Workington, had also won a handful of English caps. Others would in coming years.
Called back to the side at centre, by coach Burgess, was hard-tackling Chris Wardlow, former Carlisle player, now with Coventry. Wardlow had gained six caps for his country, making his debut (replacing Bob Hiller) in a 20-12 win over the 1969 Springboks at Twickenham. He was an original selection to tour New Zealand with the 1971 Lions, before breaking his jaw, while playing for Northern Counties.
Fearful of another Llanelli-esque ambush, at the following days training run, Bobby Duff finally gave in and allowed his bullheaded and conservative Canterbury thought processes to take the morning off. The lock forwards were instructed, for the first time in New Zealand rugby history, to pack on the props with their outer arms between the props legs, rather than reaching around the upper thighs.
Props too, were given a serve about putting their feet further back, crouching to near the vertical and really engaging and pushing. Milt focused his attention on the backs, his tongue no colour of silver, all gestures and barked statements. The Welsh test was just around the corner and the hierarchy were getting a little concerned.
Following the All Black's training in run in Keswick, on the Tuesday before the match against North West Counties, the champagne came out for Joey Karam's 21st birthday.
The players presented Clock with a handsome copper shield which bore crossed swords, a piece the young fullback had admired in a Keswick shop the day before. Keswick officials were delighted to have an AB celebrate his coming of age in their small town, so chipped in with a gift of their own.
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Clock poses with his indisposed Wellington team mate, Nectar Stevens at the Royal Oak Hotel in Keswick on the night of his 21st birthday.
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There was genuine sincerity and appreciation when the players drank his toast, for Joe's contribution in the first section of the tour had been immense.
Up until Workington, he'd played in seven of the nine matches and performed with distinction in all of them. Although Trevor Morris would start against the North West side, his first match in the UK, the cudos belonged to the second-string fullback who would go on to crash the test side. and become, arguably, the find of the tour.
For 67 years, through six previous All Black tours since the 1905 'Originals' had first arrived on the shores of Blighty, the New Zealand national rugby side had never been beaten by an English club, county or combined selection. In fact, against England herself, they'd only dropped a single test match (made more famous by the English for that very reason), that being the famous 'Oblensky' test match in 1936, which will be covered in depth in the chapter concerning the 1973 test match at Twickenham.
Needless to say, this perceived 'dour' mob, did not need to be staring down an omen like that. It had been alluded to or directly pointed out, on several occasions by members of Fleet Street, that the NZRFU were barking mad to have agreed to the itinerary which had been presented to them in the first instance, with all the 'tough nuts' loaded into the top end. Especially with John Burgess in cahoots with Carwyn James.
But in early 1970's New Zealand, with the stigma and awe attained by those six sides which had gone before them - and the naive and blindly arrogant assumption that the British game was soft (despite the success of the Lions, which it was perceived would be naturally revenged on this tour), the NZRFU had failed to heed the warning.
And being a Wednesday, so that tradition wasn't fucked with too much, the dirt trackers were going to be wheeled out for this one in any case. She'll be right, they'll get the job done. And with a line-out haul that favoured Andy Haden and Legs Eliason of 20-8, they absolutely should have. No questions asked. In fact, as usual, the AB's won everything but the penalty count and - ultimately - the score on the full time board.
"It was a triumph for coach, John Burgess, deposed as England's coach - they didn't like him wearing his braces at breakfast - did just as good a job for English rugby as his successor, John Elders, did with England in South Africa."
Terry Godwin, All Blacks in the Lion's Den, 1973
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It started in the changing room before the match, with John Burgess ripping his shirt off to deliver a messianic speech in his string vest, a tirade which concluded with him smashing his fist down on a table in the middle of the changing room. Unfortunately that was where the team had all put their empty sherry glasses, having downed a schooner apiece for Dutch courage, in a pre-match ritual. There was shattered glass everywhere.
All eyes focused on the pill. From left; Kirky, Steve Smith, Peter Dixon, Tony Neary, Andy Haden, Moose Whiting, Fran Cotton, Frank Anderson.
There appears to have been a universal opinion in the British media (and the northern public), that it was very much the coaching, principally just the notion of sides being coached (which the English RFU had always refuted), which won this day.
The success at Workington that afternoon was largely put down to NW Counties approaching the match in the same manner that any New Zealand provincial outfit would have, when facing overseas opposition.
And on the field, they didn't just sit back and defend or look to simply feed off All Black mistakes. They also contributed more in constructive, attacking rugby than Kirky's men.
They tackled relentlessly and with even more fervour and purpose than Llanelli could muster, if that were possible.
The All Black scrum was buckled alarmingly. The tackling was deemed the worst of the tour. Trevor Morris, in his first UK start, was hesitant and uncertain and the scoring opportunities created by Bob Burgess's towering punts were never accepted.​
So much ball was successfully and repeatedly wrenched or wrestled away from the AB's at rucks and mauls, it was an embarrassment.
In the Daily Telegraph, Johnny Reason had put forth a proposition that it was the manner in which the All Blacks were defeated, that would have caused themselves and management such alarm.
Allowing for the fact that only five players who started for the AB's would front in the first test against Wales, ten days later, Reason reasoned that they had been beaten by a team which had made a lot of mistakes, which ought not to have been possible. The Counties side, he said, had missed touch, kicked short, suffered from the dropsies, goalkicked even worse than Trevor Morris and were often caught behind the advantage line, trying to run the ball.
"The All Blacks looked very, very ordinary against a team of modest pretensions. Of course, many of us have argued for a long time, that after the first team comes the deluge and this match lent powerful reinforcement to those arguments. New Zealand's second team is poor - so poor that it would be in desperate trouble if the fixtures arranged for the tour did not cover up so obligingly, the patches which are so visible to the clothes the team wears on Wednesday's."
John Reason, Daily Telegraph
Bryn Thomas, in his book The Avenging All Blacks, mentions it was 'reported' that the players had 'riled' each other on the training field and were still not a truly 'friendly side'. They had not learned to become ambassadors, he stated further, claiming he'd heard rumours to the effect that certain members of the team were 'running the show', rather than the management.
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"Well, I believe Wyllie and Sutherland would have dictated the trend of that tour, because of their seniority, whether they had black hats or not. The press misinterpreted the hat thing and blew it out of proportion, claiming the 'mafia' were running the team. Unbeknownst to all of us, Ernie was a very ill man and it plainly affected his ability to manage the side. That was the happiest tour I ever went on, contrary to so much nonsense that's been written. We were a really happy team. We seemed to have difficulty communicating with the British press for some reason and after the Murdoch incident, we justifiably turned inward and away from the press altogether."
Grant Batty, Batts (Bob Howitt), 1977
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Most other match reports paint a somewhat different picture, based around the fever pitched Northerners playing out of their skins, tackling with real commitment and purpose, attacking most positively, when possible and most importantly - and most alarmingly for New Zealand - causing genuine confusion and outwitting the All Blacks at every post.
They may or may not have had the rub of the green, depending on which press articles were read, but they certainly gave it their best shot, everything they had and were fortunate enough to come up against the non-cohesive dirt-trackers on a poor day at the office.
As for the All Blacks themselves, they thought that their tour had hit rock bottom. How utterly wrong that assessment would turn out to be! But once more, the pack had been tossed around, the already under scrutiny tackling was worse than ever and the injury situation was now so serious that only five of the fourteen backs on tour, could be labelled 'fit'.
The sides confidence had taken another big dent, fairly beaten, but having put in such a dismal shift. The players themselves were repugnant with their own appalling mistakes and in these times of crisis, the spirit and spine of a touring team is sorely tested.
Regardless, records never last. For those long 67 years, where no fewer than 86 attempts had been made, through the six previous tours, the All Blacks had always prevailed in the English provinces. But beneath the industrial murk of Workington, with a sharp northerly wind whipping up the rain squalls, time was up.
And the isolated steel town, on the coast of Cumberland, could hardly be considered a 'hotbed' of English rugby. It was league country and many of the boys who swarmed onto the pitch at full-time, were more than likely attending the first game of rugby union they'd ever seen.
What else was there to do in Workington on a Wednesday afternoon, except brace yourself for a piece of history?
Mentally and physically prepared by John Burgess, the northerners outdid the All Blacks with their power up front, but shared a common belief that adventurous back play would pay dividends against what they considered to be the department with the least strength in the touring side...the inexperienced backline.
The forwards tore into the AB's from the oft, so eager to harass them, they gave away several kickable penalties in the first few minutes and in his fourth attempt, Trevor Morris scored his first points in the UK.
But his afternoon would be an unhappy one, exposing the weaknesses that the counties side had alluded to. While still not fully over his calf muscle injury, Morris had to play to give Clock a break.
Counties centre, Dave Roughley, is seen sending the ball onto Stuart Maxwell (11), who promptly scored in the corner. Batts and Twig both look like things are not going to well.
"We beat them with heart and courage. We out-thought them and mesmerised them to prove that England has the players to shatter the myth of this invincible New Zealand power. The All Blacks are not ogres. They came here for a soft touch. We showed them that English rugby isn't a soft touch anymore."
John Burgess, North West Counties coach.
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TP had moved to another level. Clearly romantically lost in the Lakes District, his prose had became colorful and pushed sports journalism to new boundaries, trying his hand at McLean-speare, for want of a better term. He believed their performance to have been 'gregarious' and 'diabolical'.
Their tackling was like the effort of a keen young watercolourist doing the Lake District for the first time - sketchy. Their running plays consisted principally in the imagination...Neary, Robinson and Dixon fanned out like Ben Hur's horses coming around the last bend...along with Wardlow, a powerful centre with a jaw that jutted like the prow of a dreadnought."
TP McLean, They Missed the Bus (1973)
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RUN OF PLAY
FIRST HALF
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5m: NW were penalised after a scrum developed into a front row scuffle. Trevor Morris goal from wide out, on the 22m line. 0-3.
6m: NW surged into the All Blacks 22 from the restart, won a ruck and when Morris missed a high kick, Steve Smith switched the play, giving Chris Wardlow ample time to drop kick a goal. 3-3.
19m: Sully detached from a scrum near the line, beat off two tacklers and threw a long overhead pass to Bob Burgess, who put Batts over wide out. Morris missed the conversion. 3-7
27m: NW took a long throw in at a line-out in the AB's 22. Smith received the ball and sent it through the backline. Wardlow was missed out, giving Stuart Maxwell the overlap and a clear run to the corner. Cowman converted. 9-7
30m: Wardlow was adjudged to have been inside the 10m mark at a line-out and Morris goaled from close range. 9-10.
SECOND HALF (The big steel works next to the ground were belching out sulphurous clouds, which were wafting over the ground)
37m: Lin Colling took play into the NW 22. Kirky broke from a maul, as always looking for the next recipient. He dummied to Batts and then passed to Burgess, who sent the ball into orbit. Barry O'Driscoll dropped the high ball, from which George Skudder scored in the corner. Morris again missed the conversion. 9-14.
16m: For refusing to throw the ball into a line-out when Colling had lost his boot, Batts was penalised. Cowman goaled from the 22. 12-14.
66m: In the confusion that existed as Milt came on for the injured Colling, NW took a quick throw in at a line-out. Cotton took the ball and fed Cowman. It went through Wardlow, with a deft flick pass, and on to Maxwell, who once again score in the corner. 16-14.
The majority of British and New Zealand journalists believed that Kent Lambert, being admonished here by referee Grierson, was lucky not to be sent from the field following an outburst late in the game. He emerged from a ruck, swinging at anyone in white, after Andy Haden had clocked Dave Robinson over his part in the laceration to Lin Collings hand, which forced him from the field.
SIDELINE INCIDENT
There'd been an incident on the side-line, while Milt was waiting to come on and replace Colling. A Doctor's permission was required before Going was allowed to take the field.
With John Burgess in earshot, banging on about the replacement laws and generally adding to the confusion, Batts moved into half-back for a pending line-out and Bevan Holmes was shifted to the right wing.
Burgess had caused the furore, as he believed Colling was faking injury in order that the All Blacks could bring Sid Going on, in an attempt to rescue the match.
Burgess proceeded to cause an obstruction in the tunnel, preventing Milt from getting to the sideline, but more importantly, preventing the doctor from getting to in Colling.
The All Blacks baggageman, Graham Short, ended up shoving Burgess out of the way, in order that Colling could be seen by the doc.
Going headed onto the field, Batts - after tie-ing a bootlace - started shuffling back toward his wing and Holmes looked to rejoin the line-out.
Meanwhile, Fran Cotton had moved to the back of the line-out and instructed Tony Richards to throw deep. Counties swung onto attack, shifted the ball toward the vacant wing spot, sending Maxwell in for the winning score.
While immaterial, as the initiative lay with the home side, it has been noted that referee Grierson had NOT blown his whistle to re-start play, with Going having having only one foot on the field of play.
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"There was never any question of Colling pulling a swifty. His hand was badly lacerated. I had to put a towel over it to stop the bleeding."
Graham Short, Rugby News Tour Book 2. Bob Howitt and John Reason.
MEANWHILE...BACK AT KESWICK
In the tiny television room of the All Blacks hotel in Keswick, players from both teams crowded in to watch the BBC highlights of the match, played just a few hours earlier.
On another channel, at the same time - and being shown in colour - was an NABF heavyweight boxing fight between Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali and Bob 'The Deputy Sheriff' Foster.
Of course, the Counties players wanted to watch the rugby and the All Blacks, the boxing. Naturally there was an argument and the official story is that Bob Duff had to intervene.
The manager decided that there was no argument. The Counties boys were guests at the All Blacks hotel and bequest (which would seem unlikely, the latter) and the AB's wanted to watch the boxing.
Despite being grumpy because they'd been beaten, the team were still fuming over the Colling replacement drama and trying to get Super Sid onto the other Ellis Park.​
Flanked by Tony Neary and Peter Dixon, Fran Cotton delivers Steve Smith with some quality ball. So good that Kirky and Twig can't watch.
​ “I’m not sure this has ever come out but it all kicked off that evening after the dinner at the New Zealand team hotel. The Kiwis weren’t happy and then later that night in the TV room, they wanted to watch highlights of the Ali-Foster fight that had taken place in the USA overnight. We, on the other hand, were pretty keen to watch 'Sportsnight' with Coleman, which had our match highlights and an interview with Carwyn James, discussing the events of the day. They turned on the boxing, at which point Chris Wardlow - who could be a bit mad - got up and turned it back to BBC for the rugby. This didn’t amuse Keith Murdoch – who hadn’t been playing that day. Keith basically lifted Chris up by his hair and evicted him from the room. At which point it all got a bit tasty before we decided we wanted to watch the rugby more than we wanted another fight so we went to a nearby pub.”
Fran Cotton, The Rugby Paper, 2018 (Brendan Gallagher)
Muhammad Ali knocked Bob Foster down seven times, in the first seven rounds. Foster came out for the eighth, but was quickly knocked down by a straight right from the champ. Foster rose, but failed to beat the referee's count, ending the fight in an eighth-round KO for Ali. It was the only fight in his career that Muhammad Ali received a cut.
When it was over, Nectar switched channels and the AB's were able to catch the last three minutes of the game and Cliff Morgan's interview with Carwyn James and the English team coach, John Elders. They discussed the All Black tour to date.
The Welsh maestro said that there was a lot of work to be done on the scrummaging and in this department, North West Counties had been far superior. He called the midfield backs 'ordinary players' by British club standards, that the All Blacks lacked depth and - he suspected - discipline.
Highlights of Ali v Foster fight 21/11/1972
None of the assembled players interrupted James, or spoke out against what he had said. He was only speaking what he considered to be the truth. When the programme was over, Grzz, who had been sitting down the front, suggested; "that's just the sort of thing to get us stirred up. One would imagine his language may have had more colour though.
Bevan Holmes and some of the other players then stayed up to watch highlights of a Round of 16 League Cup tie between Leeds United and Liverpool. Kevin Keegan scored in the 90th minute to give the reds a 1-0 victory. The match was a fourth round replay, the original match on October 31st (ironically, the day the All Blacks were beaten by Llanelli) had ended in a 2-2 draw.
Liverpool were knocked out of the tournament by eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur, going down 1-3 in a fifth round replay (1-1 at Anfield). Tottenham defeated Norwich City by 1-0 in the Wembley final on March 3rd, 1973.
Watch highlights on YouTube of the second half of the historical match between New Zealand and North West Counties.