In 1949, the All Blacks lost a record six tests in a row, including two on the same day (September 3). The Bledisloe Cup was relinquished for the first time since 1934.
Before the 1951 tour of Australia star fullback Bob Scott announced he wouldn’t be available for selection, a surprise withdrawal.
In the final All Black trial at Athletic Park, 22-year-old Maurice ‘Snow’ Cockerill was a contender to fill the vacant fullback jersey. Cockerill recalls the tribulations of his trial.
“I was an emergency selection and played the second half, so I don’t think I was picked on form. I dislocated my shoulder in the final minute and was taken to Wellington Hospital,” he says.
“I learnt afterwards that a friend had rung Athletic Park and the caretaker answered the phone. He told my friend that the selectors were already meeting behind closed doors and he wouldn’t open them for anyone. However, he said he would write a note to say my shoulder was not broken.”
Cockerill was selected. On June 6 he joined 24 other players on a seven-hour flight to Sydney.
Cockerill made his debut in the first match of the tour, against Newcastle. The All Blacks won by 20-6, but it was far from a routine victory. Cockerill explains the uniform crisis that occurred in the dressing room before kick-off.
“We were putting our gear on and – hello – some of the shorts were too small so we had a swap around and it wasn’t too bad. Then Tiny White went to put on his socks and they wouldn’t go over his calf muscle – two or three others had the same problem. All the socks were the same size. Our massuer came up with a pair of scissors and that solved that problem.”
But the crisis wasn’t averted.
“After washing, the ferns, collars and numbers all turned grey so they had to be replaced. The jerseys shrunk as well. They sent over a new set for the Tests which we weren’t allowed to swap.”
In ankle deep water Cockerill and New South Wales were exposed to the genius of Ron Jarden. Cockerill says Jarden was the best winger he has seen and recalls a spectacular try he scored that showcased his class.
“In one movement in 20 yards he stepped inside, outside and swerved around six players without being touched. It was like a training run. He only stood 5’9″ and weighed 13 stone, but he was as strong as an ox and could fly like the wind.”
Jarden scored 88 points on tour, a record that eclipsed Billy Wallace’s haul of 85 from the 1907 tour to Australia. In the game against Central Parks, Jarden scored a then record 38 points (including six tries). Against Melbourne he scored 28 points (with five tries).
In the Central Parks match All Black prop Kevin Skinner scored two tries. He received a telegram from a selector complaining, “Front row props don’t score tries”. Cockerill laughs, “they do when they run up the centre of the field and wait for Jarden to arrive and then talk him into passing you the ball”.
The United Services weren’t so charitable. The All Blacks struggled to a gritty 15-6 win and Cockerill suffered a serious injury.
“I lost two front teeth and had a partial plate fitted by a dentist who was on the Australian Rugby Union. We played most of the game with seven forwards when Lachie Grant was injured. In those days there were no replacements.”
The first Test was played in heavy mud at the Sydney Cricket Ground. All the scoring happened in the first 30 minutes. Cockerill recalls the only try of the match, scored by Kevin Skinner.
“Australia cleared the ball and Ron Jarden took a quick throw that caught the Wallabies off guard. Australia claimed that Jarden didn’t use the ball that Australia had kicked out. They also claimed that Skinner had not been the required five yards inside the field of play when he received the ball. They were bluffing. It was clear try.”
Cockerill added a conversion and a penalty and the All Blacks won 8-0.
Interestingly, Keith Gudsell appeared in all three tests for the Wallabies. He played six games for the All Blacks in 1949. He studied veterinary science in Sydney and his medical expertise would have been handy for the All Blacks afterwards, as Cockerill explains.
“The changing room did not have showers, only baths. When we came off we were covered in really thick mud . You had trouble recognising people and couldn’t see your boot laces. It made a great facial for the girls. We jumped in the bath, boots and all, to get the first layer off and find the boot laces, then had a clean bath.”
“If you got a cut and the Bulli soil got in you, you had to scrub it until it bled otherwise it poisoned. One player missed three weeks through it.”
Turmoil of a different variety occurred the next day. Cockerill recalls the misadventures of Tommy Lynch.
“We were guests of the Manly Rugby Football Club and sailed across the Harbour. Tommy Lynch was in good form. He started the trip as captain then decided he would be head cook. He stepped forward towards a jetty that wasn’t there and fell in the water. Up he came, and he never spilt a drop from his bottle. His All Black blazer was soaked and his replacement clothes didn’t fit, but it was good day.”
Lynch’s father was an All Black and Tommy later played professional rugby league for Halifax. He scored 112 tries in 188 games for the club and earned a place in their Hall of Fame.
The All Blacks’ flight to Melbourne for the Victorian leg of the tour was hardly a Hall of Fame journey. Cockerill feared for his life.
“We had just received our lunch when we hit an air pocket. We dropped a long way and hit hard at the bottom. Not a very good experience. Food all over the ceiling and people. We had two Maori boys who turned Pakeha very quickly and stayed that way for most of the day.”
Withstanding aerial turbulence the All Blacks were a settled team, and Cockerill scored his only try in 38 first class games against the Combined XV. By contrast Australia was in disarray.
Captain Arch Winning broke his jaw in the first Test and never played international rugby again. Meanwhile, the redoubtable Rex Mossop was suspended by the Protest Appeals Committee after being sent off for the third time in year.
In a club game for the ‘Dirty Reds’ he took exception to being punched by John Lord so retaliated by breaking his noise. Dismayed by his stand down ‘The Moose’ flagged rugby union and went onto enjoy an illustrious career as a player and commentator in league.
More misery was heaped upon the Wallabies early in the second Test in Sydney. Jarden scored a try after 30 seconds, the fastest Bledisloe Cup try ever until Jason Little scored after 16 seconds in 1994.
Australia rallied and tries to five-eighth Dick Tooth and prop Nick Shehadie propelled the Wallabies ahead by 11-9 at halftime.
The All Blacks dominated the second-half going on to win 17-11. Jarden completed a double and Australia wouldn’t see the Bledisloe Cup again until 1979. Wallaby flanker David Brockhoff would coach that team.
The referee tried to restore some balance in Brisbane, Cockerill moans.
“The referee ruled out a conversion because he said half-back Brian Steele, who held the ball for me, let it touch the ground. He also penalised John Tanner for shepherding. I caught the ball on the 25-yard line. Tanner was on the 10-yard line.”
The All Blacks crossed for four unanswered tries and achieved a resounding 16-6 triumph.
On the way home the All Blacks beat Auckland (with Bob Scott playing for Auckland), thus becoming the first All Black team to play an overseas tour, then play a game at home and win.
The All Blacks played 13 games in 1951 and won them all, scoring 85 tries. Cockerill played 11 games and scored 50 points.
He says he loved the tour except for the food.
“Most nights we had to walk down the road and have baked beans or spaghetti to fill up and this cost seven shillings and sixpence, our day’s pay. At lunch if there were four of you at the table you got four little rolls of butter. No wonder we all lost weight.”
By 1952, Cockerill had retired from rugby. Six shoulder dislocations and a damaged knee put paid to his career. Cockerill was always a fine sportsman. He attended Hawera Technical High School between 1943 and 1947.
He was a house captain, prefect, First XV and First XI captain as well as the boxing, diving and swimming champion. He didn’t win the Victor Ludorum though.
“I was shafted by some joker, Milky Dunlop.”
Cockerill’s father Reuben (‘Joe’) was an insurance agent. His mother Exel owned a confectionary store across the road from a cinema. The movies, sport and weekend dances were the only real entertainment in Hawera. Cockerill laughs, “I actually preferred the illegal alcohol outside.”
The love of his life was Greene whom he meet at high school and married three weeks before the 1951 tour. Greene was a machinist and died in 2012. She is survived by Snow and their two children, Graham an insurance man and Pam, a school teacher.
Cockerill has lived a productive life. He worked as a builder, before moving to Hastings where he owned the Windsor Service Gas station. For 17 years he sweated away in the freezing works, and turned his hand to rugby coaching.
In 1967 he guided MAC to the Hawke’s Bay club championship. He was sacked the following season.
“I was seen as too old school. I taught these jokers how to dribble and run up the stairs of the grandstand because they were unfit.”
Cockerill’s fitness started to suffer in the late seventies. He was diagnosed with glaucoma and is today almost totally blind.
That didn’t stop him from winning a Hawke’s Bay Today newspaper competition in 2014. The All Blacks hosted Argentina at McLean Park, Napier, and locals were encouraged to write a letter explaining why they and ten friends should be the lucky ones to go to the game and a VIP breakfast.
Cockerill didn’t go to the game, but was presented with an All Black jersey. A 77-year-old women who had never been to a game of rugby loved the experience.
Cockerill is 86. He lives in Summerset in the Orchard Retirement Village. Friday is Happy Hour and drinks are only two dollars. Cockerill laughs, “I can still see beer and blondes.”
Did you know?
Cockerill’s nickname ‘Snow’ comes from his fair hair.
Ironically, Dick Tooth, who played against Cockerill in 1951, was an accomplished orthopaedic surgeon. In 1971 he performed the first knee reconstruction surgery in Australia on Johnny Warren, who went on to captain the Socceroos at the 1974 World Cup.
Cockerill rates Don Clarke as the greatest fullback he has seen. He stresses that in addition to Clarke’s fabulous boot he had great positional play on both attack and defence. He says Christian Cullen was “magnificent,” but moans “I couldn’t see him all the time”.
All Blacks either born or educated in Hawera include: Conrad Smith, Steve Pokere, Ian Clarke (Don’s brother) and Michael Knight.
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He was born 1905, 1904 or 1908 according to various reports, in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, and is remembered as one of the great Māori players.
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