Rugby-cricket crossover has a precedent
How unique is Jock McKenzie’s feat of playing top-level domestic cricket and rugby within a few weeks?
Having played for the New Zealand XI against the Netherlands, he returned to the Blues training squad and was named in the 23 to play Moana Pasifika at Mt Smart Stadium on Tuesday.
Blues coach Leon MacDonald, a more than reasonable cricketer in his youth for Marlborough, felt it could be something unique.
Well, here’s the news.
It may be unique in the Super Rugby era but not in rugby, or cricket generally, by any stretch.
Is there a more obvious example than that of Brian McKechnie, one of New Zealand’s rugby-cricket double All Blacks?
Selected to attend his second cricket World Cup in England in 1979, McKechnie kept playing club rugby for his Star side in Invercargill until only a week before those New Zealand players remaining at home departed for the Cup.
Players like Glenn Turner, Richard Hadlee, Geoff Howarth and John Wright were already playing county cricket in England.
In the inaugural World Cup in 1975, also in England, New Zealand reached the semi-finals. They repeated the feat in 1979.
New Zealand met England in the 1979 semi-final on June 20. It was a game the Kiwis were well capable of winning. But they paid the price for a selection blunder that saw probably their best one-day batsman Glenn Turner moved from his usual position of opening to No5 behind Wright, Bruce Edgar, Howarth and Jeremy Coney.
England won by nine runs, but McKechnie finished New Zealand’s best bowler at the tournament with nine wickets at 15.66, which was one of the best efforts among all the teams.
As beaten semi-finalists, the team stayed on to see the final three days later before returning to New Zealand.
No sooner was McKechnie back in Invercargill than he played one game of rugby for his club before captaining Southland against the touring French on July 10.
In his autobiography, McKechnie Double All Black, he described Southland’s 12-11 victory.
We were down 0-11 with about 20 minutes remaining. But then [French captain] Jean-Pierre Rives began to argue with the referee, and he disputed every penalty decision.
Leicester Rutledge was worked over in one ruck and was so badly injured he had to leave the field. That set the spark for the team to lift itself. We were given a penalty as a result of the incident, and I kicked a goal. Then, three minutes later, it was ruled that I was late-tackled after putting a kick ahead, and we were given the penalty where the ball landed.
The Rugby Park crowd was cheering us on and after a counter-attacking burst, No8 Ash McGregor went over to score a try midway between the posts and the sideline. I landed the conversion and, with about 10 minutes to go, we held a 12-11 lead which we defended until the end.
After the game, McKechnie learned the convener of the All Blacks selectors Jack Gleeson wanted to speak to him.
When I went over to where he was sitting, he handed me the air tickets to go to Auckland for the second Test where I was added to the reserves. He must have had them ready for me before he came to the game.
A week or two after that, he played for the All Blacks against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. But that is another story.
Surely that ranks among the more unique examples of competing in two international sports within three weeks.
Article by Lynn McConnell – Silver Fern Sports – https://lynn.substack.com/
