1949 Rhodesia vs New Zealand rugby union match

Rugby in Northern and Southern Rhodesia was governed on an all-Rhodesia basis by the Rhodesia RFU but they were treated as a province of South Africa for rugby reasons and their players were eligible for selection by the South African team.[3][4][5] In 1949, the All Blacks visited Rhodesia as a part of their tour of South Africa. The New Zealand team's management for the tour had been troubled due to sailing to South Africa on a ship with little space to train, the team not bringing any Māori players due to South Africa's recently introduced apartheid laws and the fact there was no formal tour coach.[5][6] The team also travelled with only ten capped players and were led by Fred Allen.[4] As a result of no Māori players, the All Blacks did not perform their traditional haka before any match in protest with manager Jim Parker explaining "The war cry is a creation of the Māoris and as we have no Māoris with us we are not giving the war cry."[7]

The match was played at Hartsfield rugby ground in front of 10,000 spectators.[1] In the first half, Rhodesia opened the scoring with a try from J.A. Brink after a grubber kick into the All Blacks' in-goal area, which was converted by Ed Karg.[4] In the second half, Rhodesia scored another try by John Morkel stealing the ball from the New Zealand fullback Jack Goddard and passing it to Claude Jones for the second try which Karg also converted. The All Blacks responded with a try from Eric Boggs, which was converted by Goddard. They then scored another try from scrum half Bill Conrad which Goddard was unable to convert. Rhodesia then continued with attacking tactics and held out for a 10–8 victory.[4]

Details

27 July 1949

Rhodesia	10–8	New Zealand
Try: Brink, Jones Con: Karg (2)	[4]	Try: Boggs, Conrad Con: Goddard

Hartsfield Rugby Ground, Bulawayo Attendance: 10,000

Rhodesia

New Zealand

FB 15 J.D. Pretorius RW 14 J.A. Brink OC 13 R.A. van Schoor IC 12 W.E. Brune LW 11 W.D.B. Kidd FH 10 E.U. Karg SH 9 W. Viljoen N8 8 J.C. Morkel (c) BF 7 C. Jones OF 6 J.M. du Rand RL 5 A.H. Birkin LL 4 M.C. Prinsloo TP 3 I.W. Brownlee HK 2 P.M. Grieves LP 1 E.J. Painting

FB 15 J.W. Goddard RW 14 E.G. Boggs OC 13 G.W. Delamore IC 12 F.R. Allen (c) LW 11 P. Henderson FH 10 J.C. Kearney SH 9 W.J.M. Conrad N8 8 N.H Thornton OF 7 P.B.J. Crowley BF 6 L.A. Grant RL 5 C. Willocks LL 4 M.J. McHugh TP 3 R.A. Dalton HK 2 N.L. Wilson LP 1 K.L. Skinner

After the match, John Morkel was carried off on the shoulders of the crowd and stated "It is not often Rhodesia does a thing like this".[4] Allen accepted defeat graciously stating "So far as Rhodesia's win was concerned, they deserved every bit of it and I can tell you that we shall be flat out to reciprocate on Saturday". Rhodesian folklore later ascribed the victory to the mythical "Shangani Mermaids" who supposedly made it harder for visiting rugby teams once they had crossed the Shangani River.[8] The teams met three days later in Salisbury for a second game, which resulted in a 3–3 draw.[7] On the way back to South Africa after the Rhodesian games, the All Blacks' train crashed into another train, killing one local Rhodesian railway worker and injuring one All Black.[9] The All Blacks would later go on to lose the South Africa Test series 4–0 and Rhodesia scored two of the seven tries the All Blacks had conceded through the whole tour.[5] Rhodesia on the other hand would never win another game against a touring side before being reconstituted as Zimbabwe in 1980.[3]