Wellington against international teams: versus Australia 1946

Above: A year after hostilities have ceased, former Major General and now Governor General Sir Bernard Freyberg meeting the touring Wallabies before they play Wellington.

Match details

Result:?Australia 16 – Wellington 15
When:?15 September 1946, at Athletic Park
Weather: Low cloud and drizzle with a strong northerly wind
Crowd:?25,000

The Tour

After a forced break of several years owing to the ravages of the Second World War, international rugby resumed in New Zealand in 1946 with the first major in-bound tour since South Africa in 1937 and the first for a decade by the Wallabies.

Both countries had suffered terribly in the war and both lost many of its brightest young rugby players.

The Australian squad was young, but also included several players who had played Tests in the 1930s.

Just a few weeks prior to this tour, a “Kiwis” 2nd N.Z.E.F side toured New Zealand after a highly successful European tour. At the same time as the Australians were in New Zealand, a second combined services team toured the British Isles and France. All these tours were credited with quickly getting rugby back on its feet following the war.

The All Blacks selected six members of the Kiwi Army team, all on All Blacks debut. These being Wally Argus, Johnny Smith, Jack Finlay, Pat Rhind, captain Fred Allen and future star fullback Bob Scott.

Despite having some dynamic backs, the Wallabies weren’t successful, winning five and losing seven of their 12 matches and losing the two Tests 8-31 in Dunedin and 10-14 in Auckland.

The match

Wellington had continued a reduced representative programme throughout the war, playing several games a season. So the 14-match schedule in 1946 was a heavy one. After losing to Manawatu, beating Canterbury and losing to the New Zealand University team, Wellington met the “Kiwis” on 11 August and won 18-11.

Further first-class matches followed, to mixed success, before Wellington welcomed the Wallabies on to Athletic Park a week before after the first Test in Dunedin and a week before the second Test in Auckland.

After losing to New Zealand and then to Southland 6-8, the Wallabies arrived in Wellington for a full scale Prime Ministerial reception and official state dinner.

Wellington fans had high hopes of adding to Australia’s misery when their team was named. It contained current All Blacks Roy White and Ken Elliott and several players who had big wraps including future internationals Tim Mason, Des O’Donnell and Ray Dalton.

Low cloud and a stiff northerly and second half drizzle made for less than ideal conditions for the prospects of an attractive match. But both teams tried to play positively and early exchanges were noted for several sweeping moves.

Australia made a great start, outscoring Wellington 3 tries to 1 and leading 13-3 late in the first half. Wellington closed the gap with a penalty to trail 13-6 at the break.

Turning with the wind, Wellington scored a try and kicked a penalty to narrow the gap to 13-12. But Australia replied with a penalty to extend the result to 16-12 to effectively seal victory.

Goal kicking lock Don Beard kicked a penalty at the end for Wellington to make the final score 16-15 to Australia.

The teams:

Wellington: 1. D.H. O’Donnell, 2. R.B. Burke, 3. R.A. Dalton, 4. D.D Beard, 5. O.S. Meads. 6. K.G. Elliott, 7. R.M. White, 8. E.L. Todd, 9. M.N. Paewai, 10. I.A. Colquhoun, 11. M.D. Wickham, 12. D.F. Mason, 13. B. Roberts, 14. T.S Svensen, 15. B.A Wishnowsky

Australia: 1. R.E. McMaster, 2. W.L. Dawson, 3. E. Freeman, 4. C.J. Windon, 5. W.M. McLean, 6. P.A. Hardcastle, 7. B.G Hamilton, 8. G.M. Cooke, 9. C.T. Burke, 10. J.F. Cremin, 11. C.C Eastes, 12. J.W.T MacBride, 13. T. Allan, 14. A.P. Johnson, 15. B.J.C Piper

The players

Lock/flanker Ken Elliott had made his club rugby debut for Wellington College Old Boys just prior to the war. During the war he played for his Scottish regiment team and later for the New Zealand Army side – playing against Wellington in 1944. He then played for Wellington against the Kiwis and was a key player in the 18-11 victory.

This, in part, earned him selection for the All Blacks and he scored a try in the opening Test in Dunedin. The second Test in Auckland marked his only other All Blacks appearance.

Elliott moved to Feilding and later Hamilton for work and represented Manawatu and Waikato in 1947 and 1949 respectively. He later settled in Christchurch.

Flanker Roy White was from the Hawke’s Bay but came to Wellington and joined Petone. White had played for Wellington in 1939 and went on to captain Wellington from 1945 until his retirement in 1948.

Like Elliott, White scored a try on Test debut in the Dunedin win over the Wallabies and he went on to play four Tests against Australia in 1946 and 1947. He captained the All Blacks in one match against a NSW XV in Sydney.

After hanging up his boots, he moved into coaching and administration, serving two terms as Petone President, as a Wellington selector and Wellington B coach in the 1960s, amongst other things.

Don Beard, representing Training College in this match, was a gifted all-round sportsman. As well as playing rugby for Wellington, Wanganui (as captain) and being a notable amateur golfer, Beard was a double international for New Zealand in basketball and cricket.

After making his first-class cricket debut for Wellington in 1945/46, fast bowling all-rounder Beard moved to Central Districts and was part of that side that won the Plunket Shield for the first time in 1953/54 and he played four Tests for New Zealand between 1952 and 1956. His last Test was New Zealand’s first ever Test win, against the West Indies.

References?

• The?Evening Post?and?Dominion?newspapers, September 1946
• Arthur Swan and Gordon Jackson. Wellington’s Rugby History 1870-1950. A.H and H.W Reed for the WRFU, 1952.
• The Visitors - The History of International Rugby Teams in New Zealand by Rod Chester, Neville McMillan. MOA Publications, Auckland, 1990
• ?
• The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Rugby
• By Ron Palenski, Rod Chester, Neville McMillan. Hodder Moa Beckett, Auckland 1998
• All Blacks A-Z on www.allblacks.com
• Photo credit: The?Dominion?17 September 1946