Standouts all over the park
The article on BOP's best players (Sport, September 27), I have a small concern re Bill Gray who played all four tests against the mighty 1956 Springbok team.
Bill didn't just play against them his strength and nous kept the entire AB backline together nor did he break his leg in that series. It happened the following year when playing for NZ Māori against Australia.
The 56 series was notable for some of NZ's finest players ever being selected and all 15 playing magnificently. There were standouts all over the park Peter Jones the Tiger from the North at No. 8; Ron Jarden on the wing as complete a player as ever donned an international jersey; R. A. White from Poverty Bay as mighty as the mountains that bred him and then the two mightiest of the mighty.
Kevin Skinner, tight-head prop, Bill Gray, second-five-eight. You can get a dictionary and find 100 adjectives for these two and still you'd miss nailing them. Unadulterated courage, utter indifference to pain, complete refusal to give an inch on the field – they dominated the pitch mentally and physically. Sadly both men have left this mortal coil.
But make no mistake Skinner and Gray will be in the Almighty's team – you can bet the house on that!
John Rush
Mamaku
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