Ron Elvidge
All Blacks rugby player who, despite serious injuries, returned to the field to score a winning try
RON ELVIDGE, who has died aged 96, was at the time of his death the oldest surviving All Black rugby player, having made his debut 73 years ago; he went on to become one of New Zealand’s foremost gynaecologists, bringing a number of future All Blacks into the world.
Despite having a short career curtailed by injury, Elvidge scored two match- and series-winning tries for New Zealand, first against Australia in 1946 and then against the British and Irish Lions in 1950.
He scored a late try in the first Test against the Lions at Dunedin, forcing a draw that saved the All Blacks from defeat. His try at Auckland in the final Test was heroic. He had earlier left the field covered in blood from a serious facial injury – and also with a broken collar bone.
He was watching the game from the stands when an All Black forward was carried off and Elvidge decided to return to the field, despite his injuries, to avoid the team having to play with 13 men. No replacements were then allowed.
Wandering about with one arm limp at his side, Elvidge suddenly found himself with the ball. Fearing that his injured shoulder would not allow him to pass it accurately, he went for the corner, carrying the Lions full-back, Billy Cleaver, over the line with him, winning the match 6-3 and again clinching the series. It was the last act of his rugby career, as the aggravated injury forced him to retire at the age of 27.
Ronald Rutherford Elvidge was born at Timaru in Otago on March 2 1923 and educated at John Mcglashan College, a Presbyterian boarding school in Dunedin, where he became head prefect and played in the first XV at rugby.
While studying Medicine at Otago University, he was selected for Otago province and then for the All Blacks, making his debut in a 38-8 victory over Australia at Dunedin in 1946. In the next Test at Eden Park in Auckland he scored the match-winning try in a 14-10 victory that also clinched the series for New Zealand.
At 13 stone, he was regarded as exceptionally big for an inside centre. (In the recent Six Nations championship, by contrast, England’s inside centre, Manu Tuilagi, was five stone heavier.)
Elvidge’s medical studies prevented him playing Test rugby in 1947 and – incredible to anyone familiar with the modern game – the All Blacks played no Test rugby at all in 1948. (Last year the All Blacks played 14 Test matches.)
He reappeared for New Zealand on their losing tour of South Africa in 1949, and took over the captaincy reluctantly midway through the series, when Fred Allen, a popular All Black hero, was surprisingly dropped. He put his medical training to good use on the tour by treating people injured in a train crash.
Elvidge was to lead the All Blacks in seven of his nine Test matches, and represented his country in 21 other games. He played 60 times for Otago, leading the province to the Ranfurly Shield, which they held for several years. He also captained Otago to a victory over the 1950 British Lions by 23 points to nine. Under his leadership Otago pioneered fierce rucking by the pack as a single unit, a development that revolutionised the game.
His own bad experience of playing while injured led him to campaign for replacement players to be introduced into the game. It took another 18 years after his career-ending injury, however, for the International Rugby Board to sanction up to three injury replacements. In later life he professed himself amazed that eight tactical replacements are now allowed, even if no players have been injured.
He died in Auckland, where he practised most of his medical work. He is survived by his wife, Dawn, along with their children.