THE TRENCH BLACKS
NEW ZEALAND – like all the ‘Dominions’ – didn’t hesitate in supporting the ‘mother country’ when the call came and 40 All Blacks are known to have fought in Europe with 13 paying the ultimate sacrifice. Being Kiwis they also managed to fit a little rugby in, putting together a mighty side in 1917 when it was comparatively quiet on the Western Front.
The internal tour by the Trench Blacks between Feb – April 1917 culminated in a match against a full France XV on April 7, 1917 when they played for the Coup de Somme.
For three months after Christmas 1916 the squad – including seven All Blacks from New Zealand’s last prewar Test – had virtually led the life of professional sportsmen with a rigorous routine and, for once, ample food and sleep. 7am PT; 9am-1pm bayonet and bombing practice; 2.304-30pm rugby training, practice matches and games. Seven days a week. And on three nights a week there would be work outs in a local school gymnasium.
Only a very strong Welsh Division full of Wales internationals were able to seriously trouble them. Malcolm Ross, War correspondent of The
Dominion newspaper in Wellington, paints a surreal scene of their 18-3 win over the Welsh Division in a muddy field outside an unidentified Trappist monastery in Belgium close to the front line.
“Generals and many officers were present and a regimental band played before the commencement and during the half-time interval. Some of the local people who had never seen a rugby football match were also there and on the outskirts of the crowd, also interested, but not greatly understanding were big tonsured monks in their flowing robes from the adjoining monastery. Close at hand a great captive balloon swung in the air and at intervals came the report of a bursting shell flung from the Boche lines.” The tour culminated with the Test against France, although Les Blues were rather thrown together with an emergency letter going out to 23 French generals the week before requesting the immediate release of the players if they could be spared, a number coming straight from combat action. Burly forward Alfred Eluere had been involved in a firefight with his tank engagement at 5.30pm the previous evening. In the end France fielded eight capped players. New Zealand won 40-0 but it was the last game of rugby for New Zealand flanker Reg Taylor who had been capped against Australia just before the War. Having been sent to Europe, Taylor survived the horrors of Gallipoli and the Somme, and indeed the first two weeks of the Battle of Messines two months after the game in Paris before his luck ran out. He was killed serving with the 1st Battalion of the Wellington Regiment on June 20.
JOCK Wemyss of Scotland and France’s Marcel Frederic Lubin-Lebrere both played Test rugby before the war and both lost an eye during hostilities, yet, undaunted, the duo continued playing after the War and in 1922 propped against each other in the Five Nations match at the Stade Colombes.
ROSSLYN Park’s contribution to the War effort was extraordinary. Out of 350 bone fide club members, 109 perished in the hostilities. They and the club members who were spared, were collectively awarded a staggering two VCs, 63 Military Crosses, 11 DSOs, four DSCs, three Croix du Gurerre and 1 DCM.