Cool to watch the game evolve through the professional era. Thought the scrums were the best part, forget the ref, just slap the front rows together and let them behave like Big Horns. Great stuff.
The 1983 AB team to Eng and Scot was captained by wing Stu Wilson. The team was missing several key players like Andy Dalton, Gary Knight and Andy Haden plus a injured Gary Whetton.A 25-25 draw with Scot and a 15 -9 loss to Eng marks them as the least successful AB team to ever tour the UK.. They had their chances against Eng to save the match late in the game had Craig Greene managed to reach the try line but Eng deserved their win.
my team i wish against england in this 83 game props john asworth gary knight Captain Hooker andy dalton locks gary whetton andy haden flankers mark shaw frank shelford 8 murry mexted 9 dave trapper loveridge 10 wayne smith 2nd5,8 warick talyor wingers bernie fraser stu wilson full back allan hewson yea i wish lol
One of those eras when England couldn't buy a win the five nations, but did get wins against the southern hemisphere superpowers (see also: late 1960s/early 1970s). Strange. It is true that this wasn't a full strength NZ team though.
Think I must have been at this game (my one visit to HQ) - as I know we won and I wasn't at the 1936 game! Strange, though, I thought it was against Ian Kirkpatrick's team
At the time of that 1983 tour The All Blacks were starting to rebuild hence the large number of young players many of them would go on to win the World Cup in 1987 and many of the experienced players who played against The Lions and Australia decided not to go many of them retired from international Rugby at the end of that year and both The Cavaliers tour to South Africa and the home series defeat to Australia in 1986 ended a few more international careers of the older players the majority of these made test debuts in 1977 and went on the 1978 Grand Slam tour to the UK and Ireland and toured the UK and Europe for four years in a row
I miss the old jerseys: just plain cotton, the country's badge and loose fitting. Not like today's kits with their corporate logos everywhere and that skin tight "gay disco" look.
In 1984 England toured South Africa and lost both tests heavily, if there was no politics I believe the soringboks could have been the team of the 80's and maybe world cup winners
Englands forwards have always been up to the task vs anyone, it's just our bleeding back play that has let us down over the years in attack and defence (Lomu anyone lol) In the autumn 2012, Tom Youngs, Cole, Launchbury, Wood and Morgan etc were all over the AB pack, but now we have some backs who want to play for once lol.
Atleast one can say England consistently beat the ABs, every 10 years hi,hi,hi,hi!!!! Now thats an accomplishmnent worth while celebrating ha,ha,ha!!!!!!
The modern rugby strip maybe sexy, but also somewhat sacrilegious to the true nature of the sport and actually was more functional considering the nature of the game
Another of my selection agaisnt the 83 England team is Prop Gary Knight John Asworth,Captain Hooker Andy Dalton Locks Andy Haden Gary Whetton Flankers Don Hayes and Frank Shelford 8 Murrey Mexted 9 Bruce Dean 10 Grant Fox secound58 Warick Taylor Centre Arthur Stone Wingers Bernie Fraser Stu Wilison Full Back Allan Hewson
xpat73 1 year ago "England won in 1973, 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2012 v. the All Blacks." dont forget 2002, Lomus last ever game. England beat NZ twice in a row (home and away) in the only period however brief when they were trhe better team. France have a better record than England against NZ but trhe less said about our broken latin speaking friends the better
First time I actually watched this game. Almost always a white Jersey on the wrong side of the ruck. Wait for northern hemisphere ref misunderstanding of ruck and get penalty. The great English tactic for victory.
England hailed this victory against a below-strength All Blacks side as the rebirth of English Rugby. What a joke. I remember Maurice Colclough after the match saying that there was nothing wrong with English Rugby. Had to laugh.
To think we paid to watch that. Abject skills and no ambition. Some England players looked frightened to run with the ball. Certainly wasn't "better in my day".
1936 and 2002 won and drew 1997 lol, so slightly better :P 7 Wins and 1 Draw and 27 loses I think. Not to worry though, England are spread over multiple sports.....
NZ beat the British Lions that year 4-0 beat the aussies in Aussie dthen took an understrength team to the UK with Stu Wilson as captain. Worst autumn tour ever with 1 loss to England a draw to Scotland
Back in those times, a tackled player would at times just push the ball back in hope that a teammate would be coming up behind to scoop up the ball. Nowadays, it's a phony ruck that is set up, ad nauseam.
