From The Vaults

He played for Otago against the visiting South African team four days before making his debut for the All Blacks in the historic inaugural first test against the touring Springboks at Carisbrook, Dunedin on 13 August 1921. A very tight set of encounters, Richardson played on the side of the scrum in all three tests of the drawn series.

He toured with the All Blacks to New South Wales in July/August 1922 and played in all eight matches including the three encounters with New South Wales in which he scored three tries. In 1923 he captained the All Black team in the first two of three representative matches against the visiting New South Wales team and scored a try in the second test. Many years later, the Australian Rugby Union granted retrospective Wallaby test status to the players in matches played by New South Wales against International Board countries, but the New Zealand Rugby Union has never reciprocated and the matches remain official appearances for the All Blacks but are not recognised as test caps.

Jock Richardson had an exceptional tour and played in 23 of the matches including the four tests and scored 31 points from nine tries and two conversions. When the tour captain, Cliff Porter, withdrew in the week before the match due to a knee injury, Richardson took over the captaincy for the first international against Ireland. On the morning of the match, the Dublin Freeman's Journal said this of Richardson:

"One of the greatest forwards New Zealand has ever produced and the equal of the great Charlie Seeling of the 1905 All Blacks. Fast, dashing and dangerous, he is always on the ball. A deadly tackler and a fine leader, he will probably captain the side should Porter stand down."

The All Blacks won 6-0 in a close rain-swept contest with all the scoring taking place in the second half. Although Porter was fit for the second international against Wales four weeks later, he was not selected and Richardson retained the captaincy. In a thoroughly convincing display, the All Blacks overwhelmed Wales by 19 points to nil thereby avenging their historic 3-0 defeat on the 1905 tour.

Richardson broke his leg in a practice match in Canada on the tourists' journey home, but he recovered sufficiently quickly to play once more for the All Blacks against New South at Eden Park, Auckland Wales in September on the team's return. Thirteen of the team had been members of the 'Invincibles' and unsurprisingly the All Blacks won this match easily by 36 points to 10.

His 42nd match for the All Blacks rounded off Jock Richardson's distinguished representative career. He had scored 18 tries and two conversions and been an excellent ambassador for his country. He lived subsequently in Australia and died there at the age of 95 on 28 October 1994, having been the oldest living All Black representative since 1989.

Sources:

• The Book of English International Rugby 1871-1982 - John Griffiths (Willow Books 1982)
• History of New Zealand Rugby Football 1870-1945 - Arthur C Swan (AH & AW Reed 1948)
• Men in Black 1903-1988 - RH Chester & NAC McMillan (MOA Publications - 2nd edition 1988)
• The Pioneers - Hans Saestad (Hans Saestad 2011)
• The Pride of Southern Rebels - Sean O'Hagan (Pilgrims South Press 981)
• Something to Crow About - Lynn McConnell (Craigs 1986)
• The Triumphant Tour of the All Blacks 1924-1925 LT Watkins Limited, Wellington 1925)
• World Rugby Museum international and regional spreadsheets 1871-2024 (compiler: Richard Steele)