Lawrie Kavanagh (right) with great Queensland mates Dick ‘Tosser’ Turner (left) and Barry Muir
Future Courier-Mail chief rugby league writer Lawrie Kavanagh impressed for Wide Bay in their match against the touring New Zealand side at Maryborough’s Eskdale Park.
Kavanagh’s future work colleague, the then Courier-Mail chief league writer, Jack Reardon, a former Test centre, had this to say about Lawrie.
“Kavanagh had few chances to show his speed, but when he did he left young Kiwi winger Arnold Green from Greymouth trailing.”
But Green finished with three tries in the Kiwis’ 29-5 win so he must have done something right. Big prop John Bond scored two tries for NZ; halfback Keith Roberts and lock Rex Percy one each with fullback Des White landing four goals.
Kiwi five eighth, George Menzies, also from Greymouth, spent 45 minutes in the dentist’s chair having a tooth extracted before taking the field. Menzies had been injured in the previous Saturday’s Second Test against Australia when he took a knock to the jaw which split the tooth. Australia won the Test 8-2 to clinch the series after winning the First Test in Sydney 12-9, both games played on mud-heaps.
Menzies was ill on the flight from Brisbane to Maryborough and in pain when the team arrived so it was decided he needed immediate attention.
Conditions at Eskdale Park were heavy after overnight rain but the Kiwis threw the ball around from the start with Menzies and Wellington second rower Ossie Butt two of the best. Menzies, although well marked by local five eighth Brian Sherwood, showed plenty of speed and handled beautifully.
Reardon was impressed by young Maryborough centre Wayne Beck comparing him in style to Test centre Alex Watson from Brisbane Wests. “Although a bit raw, his defence was particularly solid,” wrote Reardon.
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