January 18 - 1919 'Divisional XV' win trial match

The trial match to finalise the NZ Army team to play a series of matches in the United Kingdom was played at Richmond on January 18 1919 with the “Divisional XV”, from the NZ Division that had been serving in Europe, beating the “UK XV” of personnel from depots in England by 5 – 3. The teams included 16 past or future All Blacks, seven in the “Divisional XV”, nine in the “UK XV”.

It was the last recorded match for both these teams, but the NZ Army team, made up of players from both sides, went on to play 38 matches in Britain and France, winning 33 of them, and taking out the King’s Cup at an international tournament, before embarking on a 15 match tour of South Africa.

Scorers:

Divisional XV 5: E A Bellis, try, L B Stohr conversion.

UK XV 3: Arthur “Ranji” Wilson try.’