The Yorkshire Post declared: ‘It is safe to say that not for many years has an international player made such a triumphant debut as this dashing Irish three-quarter back.’ Even Sir Rowland Hill, perhaps with a tinge of regret, admitted that Maclear had, ‘stamped his authority and class on the match’.
The game was difficult to watch for the English selectors, whose journey home from Cork must have seemed slow and tortuous. When they arrived back in England, the newspapers were probably best avoided. In print they were met with criticism of their selection choices, and the headlines starkly declared that England had been overwhelmed. There were fears expressed that England could end the championship without a win, and across the press there were constant mentions of the ‘Englishman’ that got away: Basil Maclear. The Yorkshire Post’s correspondent who travelled to Cork praised his ‘steam engine runs’, declaring that he was ‘the greatest discovery in modern times and it will be a great thing for football, not in Ireland alone’.
Maclear’s performance in Cork impressed so many people that it was no surprise to find him in the starting fifteen when Ireland travelled to Edinburgh a fortnight later to meet Scotland. Ireland continued their winning ways, and again Maclear was instrumental, with a series of fine runs. Ireland won by 11 points to 5, and Maclear converted one of the tries. The victory in Scotland set up a winnertakes-all clash with Wales for the ‘Triple Crown’.
On 11 March a crowd of some 40,000 packed into the ground at St Helens in Swansea. Buoyed up by wins in Cork and Edinburgh, hundreds of Irish fans took passenger boats over from Ireland to watch the game. Their number included a band from Cork who paraded through Swansea hours beforehand. Wales were the favourites to win, and, with the finest back line in the world, were a formidable side. Nevertheless, Ireland also fielded a strong team, with Maclear lined out alongside J.C. Parke and the talented backs of Landers and Thrift.
Patriotic songs, rowdy cheers and applause greeted the two teams as they ran out onto the pitch for a game that had the feel of a cup final.The conditions suited Wales, and at times ‘the ground seemed much too heavy for the Irish forwards’. However, things were different for the Irish backs, and ‘Maclear was the best of the Irish three quarters but he did more spoiling than running.’ At half-time Wales were ahead by 10 points to 3, and despite Ireland’s best efforts the scoreline didn’t change in the second half. The Triple Crown belonged to the men of Wales, but the Irish camp had every reason to be pleased with the way they had performed throughout the competition. They had been runners-up to Wales, and Ireland had played some great rugby. To cap it all, the ‘English reject’, Basil Maclear, had been the discovery of the championship.
By the start of the summer in 1905, Maclear was an established member of the Ireland back line. Although the championship was over for another year, he would get a chance to show off his skills in the autumn when the New Zealand team arrived. In fact, Maclear was so keen to play against the visitors that he would oppose them on four occasions with four different teams, two Irish and two English.
In September, just before they arrived in England, the newspapers were full of reports about the rugby players from the ‘other side of the world’. It was the first time New Zealand had toured Europe, and journalists did not know what to expect from the men in black. What was about to happen would change the way rugby would be played. The New Zealanders had a style of their own that encouraged a free, flowing game, with forwards playing as if they were backs. They also had a distinctive scrum formation, which enabled a roving forward to disrupt the opposition. Above all, they played with passion and flair, which would be on full display during the winter months of 1905.
Their captain, Dave Gallaher, who was born in Ramelton in County Donegal in 1873, was an inspirational figure. His father ran a drapery shop, and his mother was a teacher. When Dave was just five years old, they emigrated to New Zealand. Gallaher, like Maclear, had a military background, and was a Boer War veteran who had seen action in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. A tough, quick-thinking forward, he led a team called ‘The Originals’, but which would become better known as ‘The All Blacks’, a name that was coined during their tour across Britain and Ireland.
Like Maclear, Gallaher would serve on the Western Front during the Great War. He had natural leadership qualities and often put himself in dangerous situations without thinking of his own safety. During an assault with the Auckland Regiment he was seriously injured on 4 October 1917. A shell exploded close to him, and he was taken to a makeshift hospital at a clearing station. He was given the last rites and died shortly afterwards.
Gallaher was one of the finest players ever to represent the All Blacks, and his death was felt keenly in New Zealand. After he stopped playing he became a coach and wrote a successful rugby book. He was forty-three when he died.
One of his former teammates, Ernest Booth, summed up Gallaher’s philosophy:‘To us All Blacks his words would often be, “Give nothing away; take no chance.” ’
Booth played with Gallaher back in 1905, when an exhausting thirty-two games were lined up for the New Zealanders in the British Isles, with other matches against France and British Columbia also pencilled in at the end. No one knew much about them or the kind of rugby they played, but the assumption in the press was that British teams would easily beat them. After they sailed into Plymouth, the tour began in Devon in mid September against the county side. When the final score filtered through to newspaper offices around the country, no one could believe the result. The visitors had thumped their hosts by 55 points to 4. In fact, a number of publications credited Devon with the win, thinking the original score was a mistake. Their triumphant opening match was followed by games in Cornwall, Bristol, Northampton, Leicester and Middlesex. In those early games the tourists amassed a points tally of 176 without reply.
By now, the press started to take the New Zealanders seriously. They got respect, and because of the colour of their shirts the name of ‘The All Blacks’ entered the rugby vocabulary. In November, Basil Maclear got his first chance to try his luck against the men in black when his old team, Blackheath, welcomed the tourists to their London ground.
Understandably, the touchlines were packed with spectators for the biggest day in the club’s history. If the locals had come to watch an upset, they would be disappointed. The New Zealanders’ fine form continued, and despite the best efforts of Maclear and the other seven internationals on the Blackheath team they were no match for their dashing opponents, who scored 32 points without reply. The general consensus in the press was that the skilful men from the southern hemisphere were invincible. One correspondent reported that those who represented Blackheath had ‘probably never had such a gruelling before and certainly would not like to go through such an experience again’. The reporter had obviously not met Basil Maclear, who could not get enough of playing against the visitors.
Eleven days later he turned out for his home club, Bedford, as they tried to stop the all-conquering tourists. Schools, factories and offices in the county town closed early to allow people to attend. By the kick-off, a crowd of around 8,000 gathered in the shadow of the new stand to see if Bedford could succeed where other clubs across England had failed. Any thoughts of a home win proved to be in vain as the visitors won by an even greater margin than in the Blackheath game, finishing the match as winners by 41 points to nil.
Even though Maclear had now been on the losing side twice in recent games, the press reports for his play were favourable.
Ten days later it was Ireland’s chance to do battle.
After travelling through England and Scotland, the All Blacks had played twenty-one games and