November 7 - 1945 NZ Services and RAAF draw at Richmond

The New Zealand Services team must have felt confident going into their 9^th match of the 1945-6 season, having won the previous eight. Wasps, Cardiff and Northampton were among the clubs defeated. But they found the going tougher against the Australian Air Force and had to be content with a draw, two tries apiece.

The Services side, captained by five eight Clive Geary, included future All Blacks Ian Botting, Morrie Goddard, Ray Dalton and Lachie Grant. Grant and hooker Morrie Ingpen had been triallists for the NZEF “Kiwis” team but had missed selection. Both were shortly to be called into the “Kiwis” as replacements.

Notable in the RAAF team was their hooker, Ken “Killer” Kearney who played for the Wallabies in 1947-48 before switching to rugby league and also representing Australia in that code. Something of a character, “his relish for hard tough games was matched only by his relish for food. He was without equal in dispatching a loaf of bread cut down the centre and filled with condensed milk, and was sometimes caught late at night raiding hotel kitchens.”¹

Match referee was WO/1. J Hore (New Zealand), an All Black 1928,30,32,34-36 and more recently a selector of the “Kiwis” team.

“Australian Rugby Union The Game and the Players” by Jack Pollard, p.366.