Ian Clarke (rugby player)

Ian Clarke

Player information
Full name	Ian James Clarke
birthday	March 5, 1931
place of birth	Kaponga , New Zealand
date of death	June 29, 1997
Place of death	Morrinsville , New Zealand
size	179 cm
Nickname	Chutney
society
society	deceased
position	Pillar number eight
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
1950-1964	Kereone RSC
province
province	deceased
position	Pillar number eight
Provinces as active
Years	province	Games (points)
1951-1963	Waikato RU	126 (42)
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1953-1964	New Zealand	24 (0)
As of August 20, 2010

Ian James Clarke (born March 5, 1931 in Kaponga , Taranaki , New Zealand , † June 29, 1997 in Morrinsville , New Zealand) was a New Zealand rugby union player on the position of the pillar and number eight . After his active rugby career , Clarke worked as a referee and rugby official . He was the oldest brother of former New Zealand rugby union and cricketer Don Clarke . They had three other brothers named Douglas, Brian and Graeme who also played rugby.

As a student he went to the elementary schools of Pihama and Otakeho as well as the Hawera Technical High School before moving with his parents further north to Morrinsville, where he joined the youth division of the rugby team Kereone RSC in 1947. In 1949 he was appointed to the youth selection of the Waikato Rugby Union provincial association . A year later he ran for the first time in the first team of the Kereone RSC. Because of his services there, he was nominated for the first team of Waikato in 1951. With her, Clarke won the Ranfurly Shield against the North Auckland RFU in the same year . He was able to defend the Shield in six games with Waikato until 1952, before losing to the Auckland RFU .

In 1953/54 he took part in the European tour of the New Zealand national team ( All Blacks ). Clarke made his international debut against Wales on December 19, 1953. The All Blacks lost that game 8:13. It was Clarke's only international match on the tour, as he otherwise only played against clubs, provinces and various other national teams.

In 1955 he was in all three international matches for the Bledisloe Cup against the New Zealand touring Australia ( Wallabies ) team captain of the All Blacks. The New Zealanders won the first two games and lost the last. So they were able to successfully defend the cup. In this international series, he ran in all three games exceptionally on the position of number eight, instead of the usual pillar.

His greatest success in rugby was achieved a year later against the South African national team ( Springboks ) touring New Zealand . In the first game of the tour, Clarke and his brother Don were on the Waikato team, which surprisingly beat the South Africans 14:10. In the following, the All Blacks won three of their four internationals and lost one. This made them the first national team to win an international series against the Springboks. Clarke played as the only pillar in all four of the tour's internationals. Brother Don made his debut for New Zealand in the third game against South Africa on August 18, 1956, which the New Zealanders won 17:10.

In 1957 and 1958 he was able to successfully defend the Bledisloe Cup against Australia with the All Blacks again. The following year he ran in the New Zealanders' first two games against the British and Irish Lions , who were touring New Zealand , and won the international series with the All Blacks, as they won all four internationals. In 1960 he toured South Africa with New Zealand. There he played in two of the five international matches. Since the All Blacks won twice, lost twice and tied once, the international series ended evenly. In 1961, he defeated the French national team in New Zealand in his 100th game for Waikato . In the same year, all five Clarke brothers ran together for the only time in a team in their province. It was a game between Waikatos and Thames Valley . In 1962 he again defended the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand.

In 1963/64 he toured New Zealand for the second time in Europe. However, he did not appear in any international match. For this he got the honor of playing with the famous Barbarians against his own national team. In that game, Clarke scored the only points for the Barbarians with a drop goal in their 3-36 defeat.

After the tour, he ended his active rugby career and concentrated on his work as a dairy farmer in Morrinsville. He remained in rugby as a referee. He later worked as a rugby official with the Waikato Provincial Association, where he was a lifelong honorary member, and with the New Zealand rugby umbrella organization New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRU). He was elected Vice President of the NZRU in 1991 and President for two years in 1993. In these roles, Clarke fought for a long time to make Hamilton another home venue for the All Blacks. He died on June 29, 1997 at the age of 66 in his hometown of Morrinsville, the day after the All Blacks played an international match for the first time in Hamilton in his presence.

Web links

• Profile on allblacks.com
• Profile of the Dictionaries of New Zealand Biography
• Game statistics at Waikato