North v South should be NZ State of Origin

By Jesse Wood

Former All Blacks forward Stan Meads truly believes that a North Island versus South Island match should be an annual fixture like the National Rugby League’s (NRL) State of Origin in Australia.

“I’m very adamant about that, they’ve missed the beat there. The programme is so full, it would be hard to fit in but the league programme is full too, and they fit it in State of Origin,” Meads says.

Having played, coached and watched much rugby over his 85 years, Meads’ opinion is certainly one you’d take into account.

King Country #465 and All Black #619, Meads looks back fondly on his 1960s outings for the North team.

He represented the North Island team between 1960 and 1966 and said there was always a big rivalry. The game was a level up, just like State of Origin.

The interisland match was “mates against mates” in a “dog-eat-dog” game.

Often it would be like a final All Blacks trial. Rather than being thrown together and put onto the field like a trial match, though, they would spend three days together and get their “pattern” sorted.

“I played for the North Island versus the South about five or six times. Boy, they were great. I reckon that’s one of the things about New Zealand, they should still have North-South.”

“One of the funny stories coming out of that. After that [All Blacks] tour to the UK and France in 1963-1964, we were all bloody good mates and we were up against South Island at Athletic Park. South Island were after us, John Graham was captain, he used to be the Auckland Grammar headmaster.

“In the first five minutes, South scored, it was Bill Birtwistle, he scored this brilliant try in the corner. We were walking back and [Ian] ‘Spooky’ Smith, one of my great mates, he was walking past [Kelvin] Tremain and he said, ‘stick that up your f******g a*s’.”

While having a beer after the match, Tremain said “Oh, I can’t believe such terrible language,” Meads recalls.

From then on, every time Smith was around, the North boys would chime in “here comes ol’ stick that up your ...”. “We had a lot of fun, having a beer together after.”

Another story Meads tells is about the great Tiny Hill, who “was tough as old boots”.

“In 1960, when the All Blacks were in South Africa, North played South at Lancaster Park in Christchurch. We were all the immature and inexperienced side against the South Island. Tiny was the captain of the South Island. We’d come to a lineout and ol’ Tiny would stalk up and down that lineout.

“He’d strong eye you as much to say ‘you bloody catch that ball and I’ll do you’ sort of thing. He defied us to catch it, we caught it sometimes, but you knew were going to cop it. Not dirty wise but you weren’t going to get away with much. They won by 20-odd points.”

The interisland rivalry dates back to 1897 and was played on annually until 1986 — the year before the first Rugby World Cup.

In that timeframe, only 12 years went without a clash — mainly due to the wars.

There have been 81 matches, with 50 won by North, 28 by South and three drawn.

September 5, 2020, was the last time a North v South match was played, with South Island taking a 38-35 win in Wellington.

Prior to that, 1995 and 2012 had matches played in Dunedin.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission