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1973 England rugby union tour of Fiji and New Zealand

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The 1973 England rugby union tour of Fiji and New Zealand was a series of matches played by the England national rugby union team in Fiji and New Zealand in August and September 1973. England played five games, including a test match against the New Zealand national rugby union team and a match against the Fiji national rugby union team for which England did not award full internationals caps. England beat Fiji by only a single point and lost all three matches against New Zealand provincial teams but completed the tour with their first win against New Zealand since 1936.

Contents

This tour was hastily organised at very little notice when the originally planned tour of Argentina was cancelled due to terrorist threats against the players. A squad of 25 was selected, all but three capped, and nine of whom (six in the pack) had played in the match against the All Blacks at Twickenham nine months previously, in January 1973. David Duckham and "Stack" Stevens had been, with John Pullin, on the 1971 Lions tour.

Matches

Scores and results list England's points tally first.

Touring party

  • Manager: D.L. Sanders
  • Assistant Manager: J. Elders
  • Captain: John Pullin (Bristol) 30 Caps
  • Full backs

  • Peter Rossborough (Coventry) 1 Cap
  • Tony Jorden (Blackheath) 4 Caps
  • Three-quarters

  • David Duckham (Coventry) 24 Caps
  • Geoff Evans (Coventry) 4 Caps
  • Jeremy Janion (Richmond) 9 Caps
  • P.M. Knight (Bristol) 3 Caps
  • Peter Preece (Coventry) 6 Caps
  • Peter Squires (Harrogate) 2 Caps
  • Half-backs

  • Martin Cooper (Moseley) 2 Caps
  • Alan Old (Middlesbrough) 4 Caps
  • Steve Smith (Sale) 3 Caps
  • Jan Webster (Moseley) 5 Caps
  • Forwards

  • Mike Burton (Gloucester) 5 Caps
  • Fran Cotton (Coventry) 7 Caps
  • P.J. Hendy (St Ives) No Caps
  • N.O. Martin (Bedford) 1 Cap
  • Tony Neary (Broughton Park) 16 Caps
  • John Pullin (Bristol) 30 Caps
  • Chris Ralston (Richmond) 12 Caps
  • Andy Ripley (Rosslyn Park) 10 Caps
  • Brian 'Stack' Stevens (Harlequins) 15 Caps
  • Roger Uttley (Gosforth) 3 Caps
  • J.A. Watkins (Gloucester) 3 Caps
  • J. White (Bristol) No Caps
  • Bob Wilkinson (Cambridge University) No Caps
  • References

    1973 England rugby union tour of Fiji and New Zealand Wikipedia