New Zealand Universities hooker Dave Syms recalls phoning his wife the night before his side played the 1977 British and Irish Lions and forecasting, “either everything will go right for us or we will get absolutely smashed.”
The Lions had been unbeaten for 39 consecutive games before the ninth fixture of that tour at Lancaster Park in Christchurch.
Midway through the second-half the students were holding a slender 12-9 lead when Syms’ prediction became a favourable prophecy. New Zealand scored their only try of the match which broke a stalemate. Syms captures the drama:
“There was a lineout inside their 22 which we won. Halfback Mark Romans broke away and set up a ruck in midfield. There was another ruck before Romans handled again. Now, depending on which eye you were watching from, he either fumbled the ball backwards or knocked it forward twice. Eventually he secured possession and linked with me. I went into contact against Bruce Hay, but managed to offload while falling to ground to Paul Macfie who scored a try.”
“It was all a bit fortunate, but it was the pivotal moment of the match.”
Terry McLean moaned in Winter of Discontent, “God knows what the hooker was doing there.”
Prior to Tuesday, June 14 the tourists had outscored eight previous opponents 32 tries to seven. Varsity was dismissed by the pundits as a bunch of “get together, no names.” Wayne Graham and John Black in the reserves were the only future All Blacks in the forwards.
Lions coach John Dawes was relaxed telling the BBC.
“Oh these New Zealanders, they’re always telling us the next match will be our fifth Test. I suppose now they’ll be telling us that we’ll be in trouble against the New Zealand Universities.”
Syms was hopeful University could capture the Lions “on the hoop.” In front of 20,000 spectators there was early drama.
“I noticed props Fran Cotton or Clive Williams would tap hooker Peter Wheeler on the shoulder to signal to the halfback to put the ball into the scrum. I deliberately grabbed Cotton’s hand when it was his turn to gesture to unsettle this process. I won a tighthead. At the next ruck Wheeler punched me in the face and warned, ‘don’t hook my ball.’ It was an early psychological victory to get under the front rowers skins.”
“They were very good in the scrums, much bigger and more powerful than us. We had to adopt a hit and run approach where we folded in straight away, which you could do in those days, and hook the ball out as quickly as possible.” Syms explains.
Not enjoying their usual scrum superiority and impeded by a heavy track the Lions discipline wavered.
Second-five Doug Rollerson kicked two of the first three penalties to establish a 9-3 lead. The Universities skipper, later to become an All Black, was an instrumental figure.
“Doug was an incredible optimist and natural sportsman. He never doubted his ability in anything he did whether it was sport or business. In addition to being a wonderful all-round rugby player, Doug earned age group rep honours in cricket, athletics, soccer and tennis.” Syms marveled.
“I heard recently Doug visited a building site one time where a bloke had fallen off a ladder. There was an audience of people gathered around the stricken man panicking about his welfare. Doug pushed through the crowd convincing everyone he was a doctor and reassured the man he would be alright until an ambulance arrived. That was classic Doug,” Syms continued.
The Universities positive vibe suffered an early setback in the second-half. Lions No.8 Derek Quinnell scored a converted try to equalise, but there was little panic from the home team.
(AAP Image/Ross Setford)
“It was a sporadic kind of game. We were able to frequently disrupt their backs and referee Kevin Lynch from Gisborne issued 32 penalties. The Lions were never able to build consistent momentum and that suited us.” Syms reflects.
“In general play our forwards smoked them. We tackled everything and though we got the rub of the green, I felt like we made a lot of our own luck by the way we played. ”
The Universities loose forward trio was exceptional. Denis Thorn from Auckland played 39 first class games and later became a lawyer as did Graham Elvin who played 106 games and settled in the Bay of Plenty after a stint in Otago. Randall Scott scored an impressive 31 tries in 53 games for Canterbury and was later prominent in the education sector.
Syms partnered lawyers Greg Denholm and Paul Oliver in the front row. The latter was the brother of All Black captain Frank Oliver and appeared 64 times for Otago. Denholm gained notoriety for turning down the All Black jersey twice, but was revered by Syms.
“I played most of my rugby for Auckland with Greg and he was an immensely strong scrummager. He made those around him better.”
Bill Clark and Barrie Hutchinson were the Universities coaches. Both were qualified to inspire forwards to greater heights. Clark, nicknamed ‘seagull’, was an All Black flanker and Hutchinson was a lock and prop who captained Wellington and Auckland and won a silver medal for New Zealand in water polo at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland.
Ironically first-five Macfie whose controversial try dramatically turned the tide in favour of the students would later became a notable referee.
The other points scorer was Canterbury fullback Doug Heffernan. He slotted two 50-metre penalties, including the last scoring act 12 minutes before time.
“Doug was great for us that day. Defensively he was very sound and his big boot punished the Lions. We had two kicks hit the post as well.” Syms enthused.
In 2015 Heffernan was made a Companion of the Order of New Zealand for his contribution to the electricity business.
“We were dumbfounded to have won. The celebration went on for at least two days. I remember returning back to Auckland and drinking in a bar in Parnell when the highlights started playing on the TV. That only made things worse.” Syms laughs.
Centre Ian McGeehan and flanker Moss Keane were the only Lions retained for the first Test four days later at Athletic Park in Wellington.
Syms finished his first class career with a tally of 45 games and two tries. He was a New Zealand Junior selection and became a long time maths teacher and sports coach at Auckland Grammar School.
He coached the First XI cricket team when it featured New Zealand great Martin Crowe and in 1986 guided the First XV Rugby team to the National Top Four championship. Dual International Matthew Ridge was the fullback.
Between 1987 and 2002 Syms was the rector of Palmerston North Boys’ High School where he was instrumental in the founding of the Super 8 sports series.
After retiring from education, Syms worked for Auckland rugby and helped organise the 2011 World Cup, before switching to cricket to help arrange the 2015 World Cup. Today he lives in Plimmerton, Wellington.
Dave’s son Josh played representative rugby for Bay of Plenty and is a school teacher. Josh has won National cricket and rugby titles as a college coach and presently works for Hutt Old Boys Marist.
Dave concludes with some advice for the 2017 Lions.
“I was involved in hosting the 2005 Lions for their two games in Auckland. Coach Clive Woodward insisted on his own dressing room separate from the players. They also had support staff whose job it was to iron the shorts at halftime. There was a whole entourage of hangers on. It was completely dysfunctional. The Lions will bring a big touring party this year, but they would be advised to keep things more simple than the 2005 team.”
The Universities match was the only midweek game the 77 Lions lost. Syms went to school with Laurie Knight who scored the winning try in the fourth Test at Eden Park.
On May 3, 2017, Rolleston lost his battle with prostate cancer aged 63. Forty years ago he quipped, “When I am an old man and dying and they start to shovel dirt in on me, I’ll still be able to say we were the first team to beat the 77 Lions.”
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