When a full representative New Zealand side visited Australia
for a ten-match tour in the summer of 1929, the experienced
combination of players from New South Wales and Queensland that
faced them in the first test at Sydney contained many veterans of
the Waratahs tour to the UK two years earlier - full back Alex
Ross; winger Eric Ford; centres, Cyril Towers and Syd King; veteran
fly half and Oxford blue Tommy Lawton as captain; scrum half Syd
Malcolm; Arthur 'Huck' Finlay in the second row; and Wylie
Breckenridge in the back row. The addition of two formidable front
row forwards, prop Bill Cerutti and hooker Eddie Bonis, made this
an Australian team to be feared.
Some established All Blacks were unavailable for the 1929 tour.
Additionally their captain and wing forward Cliff Porter, UK tour
captain in 1924-25, was injured and unable to play in the first
test. The great fullback, George Nepia, was still available and the
selectors surrounded him with no less than 11 new caps and passed
the captaincy to their fly half Herb Lilburne in only his third
test. The inexperience of the All Black team was ultimately the
deciding factor in their defeat. Although the All Blacks led 8-6 at
half-time thanks to a try from centre Charlie Oliver converted by
Nepia who added a penalty, Tommy Lawton kept Australia in touch
with two penalty goals. The sole score in the second half was a
debut try scored by Waratahs winger, George Gordon, in his only
international appearance. Lawton missed the conversion and,
although the All Blacks attacked vigorously for the remainder of
the match, Australia emerged the winners by just the one point.
The Wallabies were forced to make a change in their team for the
second test. The centre Gordon Sturtridge became the first player
from the state of Victoria to play in a test match when he replaced
the injured Cyril Towers. For the All Blacks, Porter had recovered
and resumed the captaincy but Nepia who had left the field at
half-time in the first test, would play no further part on the
tour. There were six changes to their side in all but, after
holding the Wallabies to a 3-3 draw at half-time, the All Blacks
were swept away in the second half with the Wallabies expertly
marshalled by Tommy Lawton scoring three tries to secure a 17-9
victory.
The All Blacks, desperate to retrieve their honour, began the
third test strongly and scored three tries, two converted, to give
them a 13-9 half-time lead. But the 1929 Wallabies were a
formidable outfit and they overhauled the All Blacks in the second
half with two outstanding tries. The first was the result of a
sweeping run from Towers supported by his number 8 Jack Ford who
ignored the claims of his speedier brother, winger Eric, and
crashed over in the right-hand corner to score himself. Lawton
missed the conversion which might have been critical if his
back-line had not conjured up yet another magnificent try with
twelve minutes to go. This time it was Syd King who started and
finished a move in which numerous Wallabies handled before giving
King the final try-scoring pass. Lawton again missed the conversion
but the All Blacks could not reply and the Wallabies survived to
record their first-ever clean sweep in a three-test series against
the all Blacks.