All Blacks legends from the 1924 Invincibles George Nepia (second from left) and Maurice Brownlie (far right) met 1956 Springboks captain (from left) Basie Vivers and team coach and Springbok great Danie Craven when the tourists were in Gisborne to play Poverty Bay-East Coast.
All Blacks legends from the 1924 Invincibles George Nepia (second from left) and Maurice Brownlie (far right) met 1956 Springboks captain (from left) Basie Vivers and team coach and Springbok great Danie Craven when the tourists were in Gisborne to play Poverty Bay-East Coast.
The first Tairāwhiti rugby stars to grace the world stage emerged with the 1924 Invincibles.
It will be 100 years ago on Monday that the triumphant 1924-1925 All Blacks, including fullback Geoge Nepia and halfback Jimmy Mill, were feted as all-conquering warriors after the team sailed into Wellington.
The side have since been immortalised as the Invincibles, after winning all 32 matches in Britain, France and Canada.
The streets of the capital were packed with an adoring public as the players were driven to a Government luncheon.
In attendance were jubilant politicians, dignitaries, relatives, members of the 1888 Native team who played 107 matches around the world and members of the 1905 All Blacks, the side known as the Originals – the first All Blacks side to tour Britain and France, and victors in 31 of their 32 matches.
Nepia and Mill were only two stars among a galaxy of all-time All Black greats in the Invincibles, including Mark Nicholls, Bert Cooke and Maurice Brownlie.
Applications to attend Wellington’s formal welcoming function for the All Blacks suggested Nepia’s father had 25 wives, 16 brothers, nine fathers and more than 100 children, the Poverty Bay Herald reported on March 20.
Nepia’s actual father, Peta, was nevertheless able to make his first visit to Wellington and attend the All Blacks’ welcome, the article said.
After the All Blacks split up to go home, Nepia and Mill got a rousing reception at Nūhaka.
1924 Invincible Jimmy Mill is still regarded as one of the great All Blacks halfbacks. But some pundits called instead for the selection of Wellington's Ginger Nicholls, one of three brothers to play for the All Blacks. And petition calling for Auckland halfback Don Wright's inclusion continued to circulate after the squad was announced. His supporters even asked Prime Minister William Massey to intervene, but were unsuccessful.
Mill travelled on to Gisborne and, as soon as he got out of the car, was “collared” by a man who asked him to play for Celtic.
The halfback was described by the Poverty Bay Herald as a quiet and unassuming fellow.
“His entry into Gisborne, like his mannerism, was just as quiet and unannounced – except for the enthusiastic gathering of rugbyites and hero worshippers.”
Mill’s “informal” welcoming function had numerous guest speakers representing Poverty Bay and East Coast rugby and cricket in addition to the deputy mayor.
Mill told his admirers that “although I represent Hawke’s Bay, I feel like I belong to Poverty Bay and am a Coaster”.
He departed for Tokomaru Bay, where he was born, the next morning.
Brownlie was another 1924 Invincibles great with links to Gisborne.
The loose forward farmed in Gisborne after his rugby career ended and, like Nepia and Mill, lies at rest in Tairāwhiti.
The World War I veteran, who played for Hawke’s Bay, died in Gisborne in 1957.
The Gisborne District Council cemetery website describes Brownlie’s occupation as “All Black”.
George Nepia, the superstar fullback who played all 32 matches for the 1924 All Black "Invincibles " in their tour of Britain, France and Canada. This picture was taken in 1929.
While Brownlie has been described as the Colin Meads of his era, French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique said Nepia was “the first great star of international rugby”.
The impact of Nepia was similar to that of Jonah Lomu, the newspaper reported.
A contemporary English critic wrote: “The question is not whether George Nepia is the greatest fullback in history, but who, among the others, would be worthy to lace up his Cotton Oxford boots”.
Nepia had primarily played in the five-eighths for Hawke’s Bay but was moved to fullback in a series of trial matches before the 1924 All Blacks were named.
He went on to become the only fullback in the 29-man squad and played in all 32 matches.
The (England) Rugby Football Union would not pay for a 30th player.
Mill, also a Hawke’s Bay player in 1924, who played in three of the four tests for the Invincibles, was noted for his running game, which resulted in 15 tries in 33 matches between 1923 and 1930.
The halfback also played for the Poverty Bay cricket side, who took the Hawke Cup (the Ranfurly Shield equivalent for minor associations) off Whanganui in 1919.
Mill had an unsuccessful career as a Hawke Cup top-order batsman with scores of seven, seven, 10 and 14, and suffered every batsman’s nightmare of being run out – twice.
Mill’s highest representative score was 67 for Waiapu against Poverty Bay in 1926 at the picturesque East Coast venue of Waipiro Bay.
The 1924 All Blacks, strangely, were named in two separate groups, with Nepia being selected in the first group of 16 “certainties” after the North versus South match.
The other 13 players, including Mill, who debuted in the black jersey against New South Wales in 1923, were named three days later after another trial match.
When the second selection of 13 players was announced, Nepia was sitting next to Canterbury fullback Jack Harris.
Nepia had told Harris his selection was a certainty. He was wrong.
Harris wished Nepia good luck and left, but not before Nepia expressed his regrets.
The Cantabrian did play eight times for the All Blacks in New Zealand and Australia in 1925. He was killed in action at Monte Cassino in 1944.
Gisborne double All Black (rugby and cricket) Bill Carson was also fatally wounded in Italy, dying on a hospital ship later in 1944.
Carson played three matches as a flanker in Australia for the 1938 All Blacks and toured England with the 1937 New Zealand cricket side, but played no tests for either team.
The highlight of his sporting career was scoring 290 against Otago at Carisbrook in a then world-record partnership of 445 with Paul Whitelaw for the third wicket in just 268 minutes.
The All Blacks perform the haka – led by Jimmy Mill – before playing England at Twickenham on January 3, 1925. The All Blacks won 17-11 despite Cyril Brownlie becoming the first player to be sent off in a test match. Photo / New Zealand Rugby Museum
In 1928, Mill and Nepia were omitted from the first All Blacks tour of South Africa because they were Māori.
The same fate had fallen upon several members of the New Zealand Army rugby team, who stopped in South Africa to play when returning from World War I.
Poverty Bay first five-eighth Parekura Tureia was one of those players.
He went on to captain the Māori All Blacks against the 1921 Springboks.
The distinguished soldier also served in World War II and was killed in Libya in 1941.
In 1928, Mill suffered the further ignominy of knowing the second-string Invincibles halfback Bill Dalley of Canterbury played in all four test matches in South Africa and was the vice-captain.
The team’s official vice-captain, star five-eighth Nicholls, was a shock omission from the first three tests, while midfield great Cooke stayed at home with his pregnant wife.
South Africa figured prominently in the life of Mill.
He played twice against the 1921 Springboks – for Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay and the Māori All Blacks.
The Hawke’s Bay-Poverty side included Poverty Bay’s Tom Heeney, who fought Gene Tunney for the world heavyweight boxing title at Madison Square Garden in 1928.
Mill was a Poverty Bay player in 1921 and later played for Wairarapa and, like Nepia, also turned out for the newly formed East Coast union.
The 1921 Māori match was one of the first controversies in the New Zealand-South Africa rugby relationship.
A telegram sent home by a South African journalist complaining of Europeans “cheering on a team of natives” was leaked to the New Zealand public.
The Boks won the McLean Park fixture 9-8, with a young Nepia watching the match from the sidelines.
Mill and Nepia returned to the All Blacks to play the 1930 British Isles side.
Mill was only 50 when he died in Gisborne in 1950.
In 1981, Mill’s daughter, the late Patricia Mill-Poi – who was active in the anti-Springbok tour movement – met with officials from the Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union to discuss the upcoming tour.
Poverty Bay were hosting the Boks in their first tour match.
Laurie Harrison, a Gisborne organiser for Halt All Racist Tours, accompanied Mill-Poi.
Harrison said Mill-Poi was so angry she threw her father’s All Black cap on the ground. The cap has not been seen since by the family.
Val Morrison, a great-nephew of Mill and a recent chairman of Ngāti Porou East Coast Rugby Union, confirmed the incident.
“Patsy wasn’t very happy,” he said.
Nepia played 46 times for the All Blacks between 1924 and 1930.
In 1950, he led the Olympians in a festival match against Poverty Bay, who were captained by his son George, who died in Singapore while serving in the Army.
