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How the most famous All Blacks jersey came to be owned by an Englishman and the special tribute planned for 1905 “Originals”

By Chris Jones
The Dave Gallaher jersey bought for £180,000 by Nigel Wray and the Jonah Lomu jersey worn by the All Black wing in the 1995 destruction of England, also owned by Wray

The All Blacks are to pay homage to their country’s most famous rugby jersey which Saracens owner Nigel Wray paid £180,000 to buy and is on display at Twickenham’s World Rugby Museum in the build-up to Saturday’s test with England.

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Wray has temporarily loaned the jersey Dave Gallaher, captain of the legendary 1905 “Originals” wore in the defeat by Wales – the only loss on that 35 match tour – to the museum. Wray outbid five New Zealanders in 2015 to own the jersey which is part of his extensive sporting memorabilia collection that includes the jersey Jonah Lomu wore when destroying England in the 1995 World Cup semi-final in Cape Town.

The All Blacks will travel from their Lensbury base in nearby Teddington to the museum to see the special display marking the England v New Zealand match which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, a conflict that claimed the life of Gallaher, who is All Black No. 97.

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Despite being exempt from conscription because of his age, Gallaher enlisted and was serving as a company sergeant major when he died aged 43 from his wounds at Passchendaele after the action at Gravenstafel Spur in 1917.

Wray told RugbyPass: “ The Dave Gallaher jersey is now at the museum and is the one from the Wales game which is famous for the “was it a try?” by Bob Deans for the All Blacks. I regard Gallaher as a genuine hero because he falsified his age to enlist so he could fight in World War One after the death of one of his brothers.

“I also have Jonah Lomu’s jersey which he wore while running over England in 1995 and a couple of weeks before Jonah died I had breakfast with him and said to him “ Jonah, I have something to show you” and walked towards him with the Dave Gallaher jersey. That big man retreated before the jersey and said “ I think I know what that is”. That tells you about why the All Blacks are so good because they respect their past so much. Jonah took a selfie with the jersey and that is also at the museum.

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Jonah Lomu takes a selfie with the Dave Gallagher jersey, held by Nigel Wray.

“The All Blacks are going to see the jersey because Gallaher was the father of All Black rugby. On that 1905 tour they only brought one set of jerseys and had to have another set made during the tour. I bid for the jersey against five New Zealanders and I am surprised I got it because it is arguably the most important jersey in New Zealand sport.”

Gallaher was in the Ponsonby side which won the Auckland senior championship in 1897 and between 1896 and 1909 he played in 26 representative matches for Auckland. He was in the side which played the first Ranfurly Shield match against Wellington. Because of his service in the Boer War, as a corporal in the Mounted Rifles, he missed all of the 1901-02 seasons in New Zealand.

The official history of the All Blacks, states that in 1905,on the boat trip to Britain, Gallaher resigned his post as captain along with his vice captain. “Despite the protests of team manager George Dixon that the New Zealand appointments of both men could not be challenged, a vote was held among the players which confirmed the two leaders even though the result was far from unanimous.”

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A legacy of the England v New Zealand match staged at Crystal Palace on the 1905 tour is the whistle carried by the referee, Gil Evans, which was used to start the opening game of the first seven Rugby World Cup tournaments. Evans passed it on to another Welsh referee, Albert Freethy, who used it for the 1924 Olympic Games final in Paris that saw the United States beat France. In 1925 it was used to send All Black forward Cyril Brownlie off during their 17-11 victory over England at Twickenham sealing his place in history as the first player to be dismissed. It was later presented to All Black Invincibles manager Stan Dean, who gave it one of the founders of the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston North, John Sinclair, in 1969.

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Jon 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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