Lions Three-Quarter, Tony Novis, Runs In To Score The Lions Final Try

In 1930, the British & Irish Lions toured New Zealand for the fifth time, and for just the second time, the tourists visited the West Coast for a fixture against a West Coast-Buller combined side, with their first visit being in 1908. The combined side was selected after a West Coast v Buller match on June 7th, just four days prior to the encounter at Victoria Park in Greymouth, with West Coast defeating Buller 24-19. 

From that match the combined side was picked, featuring 8 players from West Coast and 7 from Buller, with notable players being 1928 All Black, Frank Freitas and Arthur Fong from West Coast, with a future West Coast All Black in Mike Gilbert, who as a 19 year old, played the one season for Buller in 1930. William McNeight the Buller representative, repesented the South Island in 1931-32, also playing for West Coast from 1934-35, before switching to Rugby League, earning two test caps for the Kiwis between 1936-38. 

The teams were as follows:

Lions

Full-back, Jones-Davies; three-quarters, Morley, Murray, Novis, and Knowles; stand-off half, Spong; scrum-half, Poole; forwards, Row, Parker, O’Neill, Hodgson, Dunne, Ivor Jones, Wilkinson and Prentice (captain)

West Coast-Buller

Full-back, A. Graham (B); three-quarters A.M Jamieson (WC), G.D.M Gilbert (B), L.T Martyn (WC); five-eighths, A.S Fong (WC), M. Houston (WC); half, M. Davidson (WC); wing forward, A. McCabe (B); forwards, R. Gardiner (B), J. Bell (Captain) (WC), D.F.E Freitas (WC), G.V Goodall (B), J.A.J Wilson (WC), S. Grogan (B), W.J McNeight (B).

The match kicked off in fine weather on a damp ground, with rain falling overnight, only stopping at 7.00am that morning, but come kick off time, the weather was clear, with the Christchurch Press reporting a cold South Easterly wind blowing, and a 'superb view of Mt Cook obtainable' with a crowd close to 6,000 in attendance. The gate takings for the match were £470, which was a record for a rugby match in Greymouth. 

The Lions fielded a strong team, and were pushed a lot harder than expected, with the visitors only holding a slender 6-3 lead at half time. The scores were locked up at 11-11 with only 15 minutes to play, before the Lions superior fitness saw them scoring 23 points in the final part of the game, to run out 34-11 victors. 

The Lions were told in the North, that the match would be a 'picnic' for them, but at the aftermatch, Lions captain F.D Prentice remarked that he would be inviting his informants to a picnic when he got back. 

The Otago Daily Times reported Spong, Jones-Davies, and Morley as being the pick of the Lions backs, with Wilkinson, Prentice, and O’Neill the most noticeable of the forwards, while for the West Coast-Buller side, Fong, Jamieson, and Graham were the best backs, and McNeight, Freitas, and Grogan were prominent in the forwards.

Scorers: 

Lions - T.E Jones-Davies 3 tries, J.C Morley 2 tries, H. Wilkinson 2 tries, A.L Novis 1 try, D. Parker 5 conversions.

West Coast-Buller - W.J McNeight 2 tries, L.T Martyn 1 conversion, 1 penalty. 

The following is an excerpt from the diary of Michael 'Mike' Joseph Dunne, an Irish international player, who played lock for the Lions in the match, and it gives his insight into not only his thoughts on the match, but on the journey to and from the West Coast, and his experiences while visiting. 

10th June, 1930, Tuesday This morning we were spared the usual early morning bustle as we did not depart for Greymouth until 10 o’clock am. This trip was right across the South Island from East to West. We left Christchurch at 10 o’clock and travelled the first forty or fifty miles over very flat country. 

It was very good land, mostly sheep ranches, was remarkably well covered for the time of the year. We then came to the first of what is known as the Southern Alps, which stretch right down the centre of the Island. As we got right into the mountains we found some beautiful scenery. Huge cliffs and valleys, mountaintops covered with snow and the lower parts thickly covered with curaco bush. At times we were right in the clouds that was at an altitude of 2,000 ft above sea level.

We passed through 18 tunnels in all and at the longest of these (5 miles – 12 minutes) our train was transferred to an electric engine as the smoke would be too much for a driver in the tunnel. When we got out of this tunnel we had lunch at the rest station. The rest of the journey was through a heavily wooded country which was then being cleared. I saw the freshly cleared land and the men actually working on it with huge saw mills all along the line.

We arrived at Greymouth at 4.30pm and found a typically country welcome awaiting us. All the town was in holiday mood and gave us a hearty reception at a dance that night. I got to bed at 10.30p.m.

11th June, 1930, Wednesday Rose at 9 o’clock and had a ramble round the town before lunch. Greymouth is an old town for N.Z. It is not nearly so well kept or prosperous looking as others we have seen. It is an industrial town, the surrounding districts being noted for coal and some gold mining. A great number of the people are Irish or of Irish descent and this may be the reason for its reputation for drinking.

It is practically cut off from the rest of NZ and its people are a law unto themselves. They play football and open their theatres on Sunday and there is also some professional football played there. It is a noted district for earthquakes and the walls of the hotel in which we stayed (the Albion) are cracked since the last one. Men earn for £5-£7 per week in the mines, but they save most of it as owing to earthquakes property is in danger of being destroyed.

Our match today v Buller & West Coast was very poor indeed. We played wretched football for more than half the game, but ran up a few points at the end to win by 34 pts to 11 pts. The refereeing was quite good but the opponents were very weak. I played today for the third time. We had the usual dinner but no dance and I got to bed at 11.30 pm. I met Mr Fogarty (nephew of bishop) and Fr. Houlahan (Roscrea) also Mr McGavin, Britain St. Dublin.

12th June, 1930, Thursday Rose at 8 o’clock am and after breakfast 7 of us (R Spong, H Jones, T Jones, Davies, T Novis, McClean, Valentine and self) started by motor coach to do part of return journey to Christchurch. 

The first interesting spots we saw were the shafts of the old gold mines of the West Coast, which 20 years ago were a source of great wealth to the country but are now valueless. After 20 miles or thereabouts we arrived at the foot of the Southern Alps. From this on we were climbing for almost 40 miles. 

We travelled along the old stage coach road, which brought us along some wonderful scenery. First of all the thick bush country in the process of reclamation, then the high peaks of the range covered with snow, until we finally got to the top of the gorge. 

It was truly a magnificent sight 3,200 feet above sea level, surrounded by snow clad mountains some of which showed us the result of a recent earthquake. After seventy miles by road we rejoined the train at “Arthurs Pass” and arrived in Christchurch at 5.15 pm. After dinner I went to the pictures and got to bed at 11 o’clock pm.

*Dunne played a total of 16 tests for Ireland between 1928 and 1934, and played 7 games on the 1930 Lions tour, but did not play in any of the tests. 

(A very special thank you to Mike Dunne's grandson, Paul Driscoll, for permission to use the diary excerpt, and to Peter Davies for some of the photos)