Wellington against international teams:versus British Isles 1983

Match Details

Result: British Isles 27 – Wellington 19
When: 25 May 1983
Weather: Overcast and cool
Crowd: 30,000

The Tour

The All Blacks enjoyed a 4-0 series sweep over the British Isles in 1983, highlighted by the Test in Wellington on 18 June in which the All Blacks won 9-0 and protected a narrow lead throughout the second half into the teeth of a howling gale.

Against the provincial opposition, the Lions were generally successful, winning 12 of their 14 matches. Their losses were to Auckland (12-13) in their second match of the tour and Canterbury (20-22) during the back half of their visit.

The match against Wellington on a Wednesday was the fourth game, a week after the Auckland loss and 10 days before the first Test in Christchurch.

Then current Wellington players to play in the All Blacks in this series included fullback Allan Hewson (Petone), Stu Wilson (Wellington College Old Boys), Bernie Fraser (Hutt Valley Marist) and Murray Mexted (Wellington).

After losing the Ranfurly Shield to Canterbury the previous year, Wellington was to remain near the top of the NPC pile in 1983, finishing second to Canterbury.

Their provincial campaign was in the future as they prepared to meet the tourists, who were coming south from Rotorua having beaten Bay of Plenty 34-16 four days prior and whose naming of a shadow ‘Test’ XV to meet Wellington was met with compliments from Wellington. “It’s the way we want it,” exclaimed coach Ian Upston on the eve of the match.

The Match

Wellington had famously beaten the British Isles in 1966, but had lost heavily to them in 1971 and missed out to them again in 1977. This was a great chance for them to get one back on the Lions.

As well as their four current All Blacks, Wellington had former All Blacks Mike Clamp, Jamie Salmon (soon to play for England) and international props Scott Crichton and Brian McGrattan. Captain Paul Quinn had led the New Zealand Maori team on their tour to Wales the previous year.

Wellington took an early lead when Hewson landed a 35-metre penalty. Wellington remained ahead 3-0 until midway through the first half, before a flurry of penalties and a 45-metre Hewson dropped goal progressed the score to 9-6 in favour of Wellington at the halftime turnaround.

However, Wellington suffered a key loss at halftime with lock Gerard Wilkinson having left the field never to return. Wilkinson had been punched in the face, which subsequently required seven stiches, and had dislocated his shoulder.

Early in the second half, Hewson chipped through for wing Fraser to score and Wellington went further ahead at 13-6.

But the loss of Wilkinson proved to be key for Wellington, helping the Lions to claw themselves back in the contest through a more steady stream of lineout ball. It was from a lineout that their first try came.

Then, with about 15 minutes to play, the Lions took the lead for the first time with the backs running in a try from a movement that was started from another lineout win.

Wellington regained the lead when No. 8 Mexted broke from an attacking scrum and fed a pass to captain Quinn who scored in the corner. Hewson added the extras from the sideline with about 10 minutes to play.

But the Lions had the last say, scoring their third try, again started from an attacking lineout, converting this and then adding a late penalty to make the final score 27-19 in their favour.

The Dominion summed it up the next morning. “For Wellington it was the one that got away. For the Lions it was a prize catch. Leading for all but the last eight minutes of the match, Wellington had the game whipped away from under them by a late splurge of scoring by the Lions backs.”

“I thought we had it shot to bits with 12 minutes left and up 19-18.” said coach Upston. “But we have to admit we have no excuses and the Lions certainly finished well.”

The Teams

Wellington: 1. S. Crichton, 2. S.L.Bryan, 3.B McGrattan, 4.D.J. Archer 5. G.L. Wilkinson 6. P.B. Quinn,7. G.F. Duffy, 8. M.G.Mexted, 9.N.A. Sorenson,10. T.Wylie, 11. M.Clamp, J.L.B. Salmon, 13, S.S. Wilson, 14. B.G. Fraser, 15. A.R. Hewson

British Isles: 1. G. Price, C.F. Fitzgerald, 3. S.T. Jones, 4. J. Squire, 5. M.J. Colclough, 6. R.L. Norster, 7. P.J. Winterbottom, 8. J.R. Beattie, 9. T.D. Holmes, 10. S.O. Campbell, 11.J. Carleton, 12. D.G. Irwin, 13. M.J. Kiernan, 14. G.R.T. Baird, 15. H.P. MacNeill

The Players

According to the Dominion, Wellington halfback Neil Sorenson (Marist St Pat’s) was the home team’s Player of the Day, adding: “The nugget halfback was a master passer, quick thinker.” 

From 1982-1989, Sorenson marshalled Wellington’s backline to many glorious wins. He wore the Wellington Lions jersey 106 times, becoming the second Wellington halfback after Ian Stevens to notch a century of appearances at the base of the scrum. From the Manawatu, Sorenson came into the team in 1982 when Wellington held the Ranfurly Shield and was in the 1986 NPC winning side and was a reliable goal kicker when required. All Blacks honours eluded him, but he was a New Zealand Colt in 1982, captained the New Zealand Juniors in 1984, was an All Black trialist in 1984 and 1986.

Gerard Wilkinson’s career mirrored Sorenson’s. Also out of Marist St Pat’s, he had been in the New Zealand Juniors in 1980 and was also in the New Zealand Colts in 1982. He spent eight consecutive seasons playing for Wellington between 1980-87 and he also played 106 matches for Wellington.

A third player to follow a similar career trajectory was prop Brian McGrattan. The Dominion had this to say about his performance after this match: “Brian McGrattan had the game of his life for Wellington, taking front of the lineout ball frequently and dashing away on backs of the lineouts peels from taps-down by Mexted.”

Also from Marist St Pat’s McGrattan, played 103 matches for Wellington between 1981-1989. He was a North Island representative between 1983-85, and made the All Blacks for the first time on the end of year tour in 1983. This team was captained by Wellington’s Stu Wilson. He played against Australia and Fiji in 1984, Argentina in 1985 and France and Australia in 1986. He played six Tests and 17 games for the All Blacks.

McGrattan and Wilkinson helped Wellington win the NPC twice, in 1981 and 1986, while Sorenson was a member of the 1986 winning Wellington side.

References

• The Dominion and Evening Post newspapers, May 1983
• WRFU. The Winds of Change: Wellington’s Rugby History Part 3 1979-2004. WRFU, 2004.
• 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
• www.msprugby.co.nz 
• Photo credit: The Dominion, 26 May 1983