Coming from lands beset by shortages and rationing, the Lions took full advantage of their hosts’ generosity, and in turn they proved to be wonderful ambassadors for the sport in Britain and Ireland. The sparkling play by the backs in most matches and their sportsmanship in all of the games was rivalled only by their obvious enjoyment at the many receptions and outings laid on for them in New Zealand in particular.
‘We had a wonderful time,’ recalled Matthews. ‘The people in New Zealand were often more British than the British, and were always asking us how things were “at home”, even though they had never been there.’
The Lions played a full part in the social whirl that surrounded the tourists, as Matthews remembered:
There were no pubs as such, and people just took us into their homes where we ate and drank merrily. Often they would take us out to hunt wild pigs—fortunately they also brought along professional hunters.
I remember when we visited the Maori settlement at Rotorua and it was quite a sight to see our lads up there dancing with the Maori.
The pace was also leisurely largely because of the way the Lions got around: ‘We would travel by bus or train, never by aeroplane,’ recalled Bleddyn Williams, ‘and would train on school grounds. We had no coaches so Karl would look after the forwards and I would take charge of the backs. Afterwards we would have to give a little talk or answer questions from the pupils.’ Both he and Jack Matthews are adamant about the source of most of the questions—‘The girls, no doubt about it,’ said Matthews. ‘They really were very interested in all aspects of the game.’ So there you have the true secret of the All Blacks’ success—wives, mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters all keeping the men on their toes.
Jack Kyle recalled that the four national captains—Karl Mullen, Bleddyn Williams, Peter Kininmonth, and Ivor Preece of England—did the selection chores: ‘We went out without coaches and, to be frank, it was quite a leisurely affair at times.
‘We had plenty of time to see the sights and scenery and at the age of just 24, being carefree and away with a crowd of chaps with nothing to do but play rugby and enjoy ourselves, it really was quite something, a tremendous experience.’
That 1950 visit is still called the ‘Friendly Tour’ in New Zealand, as much for the style of play exhibited by the Lions as by their undoubted social charms.
‘It was all arranged beforehand,’ revealed Bleddyn Williams some 58 years later. ‘We threw the ball about because we all agreed that we wanted to entertain the people who came to see us, and we felt we did that.’
The appreciation of the backs in particular was shown by the fact that Kyle and Jones were named as two of the five players of the year by the Rugby Almanack of New Zealand. Due to injuries, other backs distinguished themselves in unaccustomed roles, with Scottish fly-half or centre Ranald Macdonald making an impact as a winger.
Sadly, however, the results of the Test Matches against New Zealand brought only a small degree of contentment to the Lions. Having started off with three easy victories, the Lions were humbled in the first two difficult provincial games against Otago and Southland, before travelling to Dunedin for the first Test. The match against Otago in particular saw the Lions come up against that province’s fierce rucking game that was to become such a feature of rugby in the land of the long white cloud.
A hard fought and highly creditable draw in Dunedin, where the Lions led until late in the game only for New Zealand captain Roy Elvidge to score a converted try, was followed by three defeats to give the All Blacks another series victory. The second Test was lost 0–8 in Christchurch, where the Lions were reduced to 14 men when flanker Billy McKay was forced off with a broken nose and concussion. McKay was obviously a forgiving sort—he liked New Zealand so much that he emigrated there after qualifying as a doctor.
Scores of 3–6 in Wellington and 8–11 in Auckland show just how close the Lions came to matching their opponents, especially in the latter Test. Bleddyn Williams still recalls the best try of the tour in that match.
We were 11–3 down and right on our goal line when I said to Jack Kyle, the finest fly-half I ever played with, to get the ball out quickly as we were going to run it. The ball went from Rex Willis to Kyle but it never reached me because behind me was Lewis Jones who nipped in and intercepted it, running up to their full-back and passing to Ken Jones and we scored at the other end of the field. Fred Allen, who later coached the All Blacks, says to this day that it’s the best try they have ever seen at Auckland.
From the kick-off I nearly scored a try but Peter Henderson, who was an Olympic runner like Ken Jones, caught me and pinned my arms in the tackle. He later told me it was the best tackle he had ever made.
The All Blacks themselves had been whitewashed 3–0 by South Africa the previous year—so how good did that make the Springboks? The Lions would have to wait five years to find out.
By common consent, the problem for the 1950 Lions was that, apart from the first Test, their forwards could never quite match the All Blacks in gaining and keeping possession. Perhaps only Roy John of Neath, Ireland’s Jimmy Nelson and Peter Kininmonth of Scotland were physically able to compete with the opposition in the Tests.
Some observers say that had the superb Lions backs been matched with New Zealand’s forwards, it would have created a dream team the like of which had not been seen in world rugby. As it was, those peerless backs Kyle, Matthews, Williams and Jones had to make do with considerably less possession than their opposite numbers.
The results from that period in New Zealand show that when the Lions backs got plenty of possession against the lesser provincial sides, such as Wanganui and Taranaki, they scored a barrowload of points, winning 31–3 and 25–3 respectively against these two sides. Indeed, the Lions won every non-Test Match after their defeat by Southland. Against the mighty rucking pack of the All Blacks, however, they were forced into defensive duties in the main, and though they usually coped admirably, no side on the back foot can hope to keep out New Zealand permanently.
‘We did play good rugby,’ recalled Matthews. ‘I was lucky enough and fit enough to play in all six Tests, and there were all these good players around me. We only just lost the series against the All Blacks by a few points over the course of the four games, and I’ve had many letters from New Zealand saying that our 1950 Lions were the best rugby-playing side that ever went there.’
Waving a fond farewell to their conquerors, the Lions moved on to Australia where again the hosts were magnificently hospitable and the rugby was rather less difficult. The backs feasted on much greater possession and ran in a total of 150 points in 6 matches.
The first Test in Brisbane was comfortably won by 19–6, with Lewis Jones scoring 16 points with a personal ‘grand slam’—all the possible scores of a try, conversion, drop goal and penalty featured in his haul. The second Test in Sydney was even easier, with a scoreline of 24–3 in favour of the Lions.
Their Australian copybook was blotted, however, with a lacklustre performance in the final match against a New South Wales XV who surprisingly won 17–12. Perhaps all those long days of travelling, not to mention the hospitality Down Under, had taken its toll.
Despite the final setback and the losses in New Zealand, the tour was judged a massive success, not least because the Lions had boosted the public image of the sport.
Karl Mullen’s words at the start of the tour summed up his squad’s approach and resonate down to us today as embodying the proper creed of the Lions: ‘We are not after records of matches played and won. We want to see the game played for the game’s sake and to give you good football. We will be only too happy if you beat us in a good football match.’ Sadly, not too many coaches and captains would dare to utter such sentiments in our winner-takes-all society of today.