BRITISH & IRISH LIONS

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Lions against Auckland in history

Monday 04th July 2005

Honours even

The Lions play Auckland at Eden Park on Tuesday evening. It will be the 11th match between Auckland and the Lions. At present honours are even. Each has won five times.

Auckland and Eden were the same man. People had been living in Auckland for some 800 years though they did not call it Auckland. Those Polynesians had come in waka (canoes). Later people would come from Europe in sailing ships, and in 1939 they started settling. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. Maori and Brit would live happily together, respecting each other's property.

Auckland was founded and named by Captain William Hobson, the lieutenant-governor of New Zealand, and he named the city, then the capital, Auckland after his patron the first Earl of Auckland, First Lord of the Admiralty and then the Governor-General of India. Lord Auckland was originally known as George Eden. Hobson peppered the place with his patron's names.

George Eden was born on 25 August 1784 on Eden Farm near Beckenham in Kent. He succeeded his father to the earldom in 1814. He died on 1 January 1849 at The Grange neat Alresford in Hampshire. Unmarried, he was succeeded by his brother John, a parson. Anthony Eden, prime minister of England and later the Earl of Avon, was a relative. There is no longer an Earl of Auckland.

One of the Eden names in Auckland was Mount Eden with its volcanic cone. It looked down on Auckland and nearby Eden Park, once a swamp sometimes big enough to be called a lake.

John Walters acquired a farm there in 1840, eight acres of which plus six acres belonging to Mr Leith formed Eden Park. From 1903 on it was sued for cricket. Eden Park Cricket Club bought the ground and volunteers made it playable. Later the Auckland Cricket Association took over the ground. In 1913 rugby got involved. Gradually the land was reclaimed, the drainage improved and in 1921 the first Test was played there before 40 000 spectators. In 2003 the ground was dug up to improve the drainage again.

Auckland, the City of Sails, is New Zealand's biggest city. The biggest crowd was 61 000 for the fourth Test against the Springboks in 1956.

The Auckland RFU was formed in 1883, one of the founder members of the New Zealand RFU.

I suppose we should not count that strange side of 1888 which played Auckland four times, winning two, drawing one and losing one. We should really, it seems start in 1904.

Eden Park was not yet in use and the Lions of 1904 played Auckland at Potters Paddock, later named Alexandra Park Morrie Wood captained the Aucklanders on a great day for rugby. There were some 20 000 spectators to see the home side score three tries and win 13-0. It was the last match of the five-match New Zealand leg of the tour.

The Anglo-Welsh side of 1908 also went down, losing 11-0 at Alexandra Park. Again Auckland scored three tries.

Auckland completed a hat-trick of victories in 1930 when they won 19-6, four tries to one, though the Lions were close to Test strength for the match.

There was a scrap in this match involving Laurie Knight of Auckland and George Beamish of the Lions. The referee warned both sides but Laurie Knight thought that he was speaking to his brother Arthur whose nickname was Bubs. Laurie said to the referee: Don't go nipping at him. Nip at me." Whereupon the referee sent Laurie Knight off, much cheered by the spectators. Carl Aarvold of the Lions asked the referee to call Knight back but referee Joe Moffitt would have none of it. Laurie's son, also Laurie, became an All Black in 1974.

In 1950 the Lions won and did so handsomely, thrashing Auckland 32-9. They scored five tries to one by Pat Crowley. Wing Ken Jones and loose forward James McKay each got two tries. The Lions' backs, guided by the great Jackie Kyle, were simply too good for the home side.

Again in 1959 the Lions fielded their strongest team against the holders of the Ranfurly Shield. A huge crowd watched a tense match, won 15-10 by the Lions after the home side had led 10-6 at the break. Peter Jackson and Tony O'Reilly scored tries for the Lions as well as captain Ronnie Dawson after a great run by O'Reilly. For Auckland lock Dalzell scored two tries.

The 1966 match at Eden Park between the Lions and Auckland was a disgrace. The fighting started at the first line-out. The Lions won 12-6. Ronald Lamont scored the only try of a match which actually produced some rugby in the last 20 minutes.

The great Lions of 1971 won 19-12. The Lions were ahead only 14-12 till Gareth Edwards sent John Dawes over for a try which produced a shower of missiles from an angry crowd.

In 1977 the Lions scored five tries to one in winning 34-14 on a heavy field with 56 000 people to see them play. Fran Cotton and Graham Price did much to destroy the Auckland scrum, and fullback Andy Irvine scored two tries.

The 1983 side lost six matches on their New Zealand tour, including the match against Auckland when they went down 13-12 in the second match in New Zealand. Each side scored a try but Grant Fox kicked a drop and two penalty goals. The drop was the winner, coming four minutes before the final whistle. The foundation for victory was laid by the Auckland pack which included the Whetton twins, Andy Haden and John Drake.

In 1993 Auckland beat the Lions 23-18. That means that they are again on a hat-trick. The loss of captain Gavin Hastings at half-time coincided with a drastic change in fortunes for the Lions. After leading 18-11, the tourists remained scoreless for the next 40 minutes while Grant Fox added four penalty goals to the two he had kicked earlier.

An interesting feature of the match was that both fullbacks left the field and were replaced by players ill at ease in the position. Will Carling substituted for Hastings while Shane Howarth’s replacement was Craig Adams, also a midfielder.

Auckland was captained by Zinzan Brooke and featured such stars as Sean Fitzpatrick, Olo Brown, Craig Dowd, Michael Jones, Robin Brooke and John Kirwan. The coach was a certain Graham Henry.

Lions vs Auckland summary:

1904: Auckland won 13-0
1908: Auckland won 11-0
1930: Auckland won 19-6
1950: Lions won 32-9
1959: Lions won 15-10
1966: Lions won 12-6
1971: Lions won 19-12
1977: Lions won 34-15
1983: Auckland won 13-12
1993: Auckland won 23-18