History: Rugby's Maradona moment
Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:41
Thirty years and a few days ago in Cardiff Wales played New Zealand in a Test that has remained controversial and is a part of Welsh folklore. The Haden Dive is nearly as notorious as the Maradona Hand.
To the New Zealanders it was perhaps payback time for the incident 73 years before that when,, they claim, the Welsh pulled Bobby Deans back from the goal-line, causing New Zealand to lose to Wales.
Wales denied cheating in 1905 and in 1978 the All Blacks claimed that while they had cheated that was not what the penalty was for and that the penalty was justified and so they won the second Test of their first-ever Grand Slam tour.
Wales have beaten the All Blacks but the last time was in 1953. The two countries have played 23 times. New Zealand won 20 times, Wales 3.
New Zealand vs Wales, 13-12 at Cardiff Arms Park on 11 November 1978
The Dive of Shame, the Welsh dubbed it. The player concerned admits it. The referee says he saw something else.
Wales kicked four penalty goals and led 12-11. Gareth Davies started the scoring with two penalty goals. At this stage Clive Currie was tackled by Steve Fenwick and was replaced by Brian McKechnie. Then Fenwick kicked a long penalty. Stu Wilson chased a Glen Osborne kick and scored a try. Davies kicked a penalty as did Brian McKechnie and the score at half-time was 12-7 to Wales. McKechnie goaled a second to make the score 12-10.
There were three minutes to play. Nerves amongst the crowd of 50 000 were near bursting.
Then came the dive. Andy Haden, the diver, enjoyed talking about the incident. He devoted a whole chapter to it in his autobiography Boots 'n All. He and lock partner Frank Oliver were having problems in the line-outs and discussed ways of dealing with them during the week before the match.
Graham Mourie, the All Black (captain), had first mentioned the possibility during a practice session and at an injury break during the match in Cardiff Haden thought of it. It was a tactic, devised by JJ Stewart apparently, discussed at practice and at an injury break before the fatal line-out.
Haden writes:
"I walked over to Graham Mourie, who was alongside the injured Doug Bruce, and said quietly in his ear, 'I'm going to dive - shall I?' He looked at me with a somewhat sideways glance, then smiled. That was good enough for me.. I walked back to where Frank Oliver was waiting for the line-out, summoning his strength for one last effort, and told him what I had told Mourie. I saw a faint smile break through his deeply concentrating expression."
Bobby Windsor threw in. Haden, at No.4 in the line-out, dived protesting out of the line-out as if shoved though Allan Martin and Jeff Squire had no interest in him.
Quittenton penalised Wales. Afterwards, and forever after, he said that he had penalised Geoff Wheel at No.2 for getting leverage off Oliver.
Brian McKechnie, a replacement, a test cricketer, kicked the goal that won the match and brought New Zealand a Grand Slam.
The whole of Wales believed that New Zealand had cheated, shrugging off what Quittenton had to say. The whole of New Zealand believed Quittenton.
They beat England 16-6, Scotland 18-9, Ireland 10-6 and Wales 13-12. GRAND SLAM!
Scorers:
For New Zealand:
Try: Wilson
Pens: McKechnie 3
For Wales:
Pens: Davies 3, Fenwick
Teams:
Wales: JPR Williams (captain), JJ Williams, RWR Gravell, SP Fenwick, CFW Rees, WG Davies, TD Holmes, AG Faulkner, RW Windsor, G Price, GAD Wheel, AJ Martin, J Squire, DL Quinnell, P Ringer
New Zealand: CJ Currie (replaced by BJ McKechnie), SS Wilson, BJ Robertson, WM Osborne, BG Williams, OD Bruce, DS Loveridge, WK Bush, AG Dalton, BR Johnstone, AM Haden, FJ Oliver, GNK Mourie (captain), GA Seear, LM Rutledge
Referee: RC Quittenton (England)
Results down the Years
1905: Wales won 3-0 at Cardiff Arms Park
1924: New Zealand won 19-0 at Swansea
1935: Wales won 13-12 at Cardiff Arms Park
1953: Wales won 13-8 at Cardiff Arms Park
1963: New Zealand won 6-0 at Cardiff Arms Park
1967: New Zealand won 13-6 at Cardiff Arms Park
1969: New Zealand won 33-12 at Eden Park, Auckland
1969: New Zealand won 19-0 at Lancaster Park, Christchurch
1972: New Zealand won 19-16 Cardiff Arms Park
1978: New Zealand won 13-12 Cardiff Arms Park
1980: New Zealand won 23-3 at Cardiff Arms Park
1987: New Zealand won 49-6 at Ballymore, Brisbane
1988: New Zealand won 54-9 at Eden Park, Auckland
1988: New Zealand won 52-3 at Lancaster Park, Christchurch
1989: New Zealand won 34-9 at Cardiff Arms Park
1995: New Zealand won 34-9 at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
1997: New Zealand won 42-7 at Wembley Stadium, London
2002: New Zealand won 43-17 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2003: New Zealand won 53-37 5-1 Stadium Australia, Sydney
2003: New Zealand won 55-3 at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
2004: New Zealand won 26-25 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2005: New Zealand won 41-3 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2006: New Zealand won 45-10 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
