Grant Batty

Grant Batty

Player information
Full name	Grant Bernard Batty
birthday	August 31, 1951
place of birth	Greytown , New Zealand
size	165 cm
society
society	Career ended
position	Outer three-quarters
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
1970 1971-1975 1976-1977	Victoria University Old Boys Wellington Marist-St Pat's Tauranga Old Boys
province
province	Career ended
position	Outer three-quarters
Provinces as active
Years	province	Games (points)
1970-1975 1976-1977	Wellington RFU Bay of Plenty RU
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1972-1977	New Zealand	15 (16)

Grant Bernard Batty (born August 31, 1951 in Greytown , New Zealand ) is a former New Zealand rugby union player on the position of the outer three quarters .

He attended St Mary's Convent School in Carterton and Greytown Public School before moving to Kuranui College, where he went through all of the rugby teams there. After finishing school he went to Wellington in 1970 at the Victoria University of Wellington for the rugby team he played. In the same year he was appointed to the selection team of the Wellington RFU for the first time . He also ran for the national university selection. However, since he realized that he could not assert himself at the Victoria University Old Boys, he switched to the newly founded Wellington Marist-St Pat's association in 1971. There he played for the first time as an outside three quarters. Previously, he was mainly used as a scrum half , but also as an inner three-quarters and goalkeeper . He also lost with his province of Wellington in 1971 against the British and Irish Lions touring New Zealand .

In 1972, Batty played for the New Zealand junior national team as an outside three quarters on their tour in Australia . Because of his achievements, he was nominated in the same year for the New Zealand national team (All Blacks) and toured with her in Europe . There he played in all five international matches against England , France , Ireland , Scotland and Wales . Three of the games could be won, whereas the All Blacks drew 10:10 against Ireland and lost against France.

With Wellington he won the Ranfurly Shield in 1974 against the South Canterbury RFU . This could only be successfully defended in one game before losing it to the Auckland RFU in the same year . In addition, Batty succeeded with his national team in 1974 to defend the Bledisloe Cup against the Australian national team (Wallabies). He played in two of the three internationals, both of which were won.

At the end of 1975 he moved to Tauranga to work as a manager of the New Zealand bank PSIS. Therefore, he moved to the rugby club Tauranga Old Boys and its parent provincial association Bay of Plenty RU . In 1976 he injured his knee very seriously during a pre-season game. Despite this injury, he toured with the All Blacks in South Africa and played in all four international matches against the South African national team (Springboks). The New Zealanders could only win one international game and lost the other three. Because of his injury and the South Africa tour, Batty Bay of Plentys missed winning the newly introduced National Provincial Championship (NPC).

When the British and Irish Lions toured New Zealand in 1977, he was on the All Blacks' starting line-up for their first international match. At the game, after intercepting a pass and sprinting 50 m, he put the attempt that secured the 16:12 victory over the Lions. Although he should play in the second international match, he announced his retirement from the national team after the victory.

After his active rugby career, a biography about him was published in 1977. In later years he moved to Australia.

Web links

• Profile on allblacks.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ Top Dog in the BOP . Rugby News , April 7, 2010; archived from the original on May 18, 2010 ; accessed on June 5, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).  
2. ↑ BOPRU Honors Board . Bay of Plenty Rugby , archived from the original on June 19, 2009 ; accessed on June 5, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).