Wellington against international teams: versus Scotland 1990

Match Details

Result: Wellington 16 – Scotland 16
When: 2 June 1990
Weather: Fine and cool
Crowd: 30,000

The Tour

Scotland was reigning Five Nations Champions and one of the form teams in world rugby. There were high hopes back home that the Scots could come to New Zealand and knock the All Blacks off or at least deal with provincial opposition.

This was the third tour by Scotland to New Zealand, following visits in 1975 and 1981. Their coach, Ian McGeechan had toured with the 1975 side, while Gavin Hastings, Iwan Tukalo, Finlay Calder, Iain Milne, Derek White and captain David Sole had played against the All Blacks in their RWC quarter-final in 1987.

A two-Test series was set down with internationals on 16 June and 23 June in Dunedin and Auckland respectively. Prior to meeting the All Blacks, the tourists had several matches in which to hit their straps. They did so, beating Poverty Bay, East Coast, Nelson Bays, Marlborough, Canterbury and Southland – before drawing tis this match against Wellington.

The All Blacks comfortably won the first Test 31-16, with wing John Kirwan scoring two tries, but the second Test was a different story. Only the goal-kicking of Grant Fox saved them, Fox kicking five penalties and the conversion of prop Richard Loe’s try. Scotland had led 18-12 at halftime. This was also captain Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford’s final Test, before being infamously dropped ahead of the next series against Australia.

Wellington had a new coach in Andy Leslie, who had captained Wellington against Scotland in 1975 and whose sons John and Martin were to both go on and playing international rugby for Scotland.

These were not vintage seasons for capital rugby. This year the Lions finished sixth in the pre-season South Pacific Championship (a forerunner to Super Rugby) and they were to finish fifth in the NPC later in the season.

Heading into this match, the Lions were rocked by the departure to rugby league of star All Black backs John Gallagher (Oriental-Rongotai) and John Schuster (Marist St Pat’s), both within a week.

Gallagher had announced his shift to Leeds 10 days prior on 22 May and was already warming himself in the wan northern English sunshine.

Schuster, who had taken the field for MSP against Upper Hutt the previous Saturday and who had departed from it with an injured hamstring, rocked Wellington sports fans on the Tuesday with the news of his departure. The 10-Test All Black second five-eighth moved to Sydney four days later and was on the bench for the Newcastle Knights when Wellington was playing Scotland.

With this pair gone, no Wellington players were to feature in the All Blacks starting XV to play in either of the two Tests against Scotland.

In their absence, Marty Berry (Upper Hutt) lined up at fullback against Scotland and Dave Rennie (Upper Hutt) in the midfield. Captain and hooker Glen Fraser (Avalon), lock Chris Tregaskis (Avalon) and wing Nigel Geany (Wellington) were the only three survivors of Wellington’s starting XV that had beaten France 24-23 the previous year.

The Match

Despite having no players that would line up in the Test series and the massive disruption of losing Gallagher during the lead-in, Wellington thrashed Manawatu 69-3 in their annual Coronation Cup match the previous Wednesday. Losing Schuster was a further blow, but at least the side had some form. 

Wellington went into this Scotland match with a total of 295 first-class appearances between them, whilst Scotland, who fielded 10 internationals that clinched the recent Five Nations, boasted 184 Test caps.

Wellington was definitely the underdog going into this fight.

But they roared – and if it wasn’t for two missed dropped goals and a missed late long-range penalty attempt by first five-eighth Steven Pokere (Hutt Old Boys), Wellington would have won.

With scores locked at 16-16, Wellington came home strongly over the final 15 minutes of the contest. They dominated possession and territory but the wily Scots held on gallantly. Pokere’s kicks had the crowd on tenterhooks but none could find their range between the posts.

Wellington coach Andy Leslie said afterwards: “It’s sad a couple of those dropped goals didn’t slip between the posts. They didn’t. It was a draw and New Zealand teams are never happy with a draw.

Wellington had stretched Scotland in almost all areas from the get-go, playing with confidence and initiative.

For Wellington, standouts lock Chris Tregaskis, block-busting left wing Timo Tagaloa (MSP) and halfback John Bradbrook (Avalon) scored tries. Scotland relied heavily on the boot of fullback Gavin Hastings.

As well as Wellington’s three try scorers, match reports suggested skipper Glen Fraser, prop Laurence Hullena (Petone), lock-turned-No. 8 Doug Power (Wainuiomata) and inside half Pokere all played well.

Following this match, Wellington went on to beat Wairarapa Bush 46-21 in their annual Jimmy Cotter Memorial Cup game, before missing out to Auckland 12-40 in their NPC opener and going on to win five and draw one of their next nine matches to finish fifth. Other highlights included them beating beating Taranaki 38-15, Canterbury 48-11 and Waikato 35-10.

Later in the season, the Wallabies were to beat the All Blacks 21-9 in the Athletic Park Test, hooker and now commentator Phil Kearns scoring the only try of the match.

The Teams

Wellington:
1. Laurence Hullena, 2. Glen Fraser, 3. Phil Proctor, 4. Chris Tregaskis, 5. Marc Verhoeven, 6.Gavin Hill, 7. Scott Keith, 8.Doug Power, 9. John Bradbrook, 10. Steve Pokere, 11.Timo Tagaloa, 12. Dave Rennie, 13. Mike Umaga, 14. Nigel Geany, 15. Marty Berry. RESERVES: Tim Mannix, Len Mason, Tasi Vildani, Tracey Smith, Simon Mannix, John Hainsworth

Scotland:
1. Paul Burnell, 2. John Allan, 3. David Sole, 4.Damian Cronin, 5. Jeremy Richardson, 6. Adam Buchanan-Smith, 7. John Jeffrey, 8. Derek White, 9. Gary Armstrong, 10. Douglas Wylie, 11. Iwan Tukalo, 12. Graham Shiel, 13. Scott Hastings, 14. Tony Stanger, 15. Gavin Hastings. RESERVES: Ken Milne, Alex Brewster, Derek Turnbull, Craig Oliver, Craig Chalmers, Peter Dods

References

· The Dominion and Evening Post newspapers – May and June 1990
· WRFU. The Winds of Change: Wellington’s Rugby History Part 3 1979-2004. WRFU, 2004.