We hope you enjoy this look back as we look forward to many more years of recording the history of Buller Rugby Union.
We acknowledge all the information from the NZ “Rugby Almanack” Series since 1934 and appreciate their hard and dedicated work in providing this detailed history. – Web Admin

Back to Year by Year Index click here

Results

Mon 04 Jun	2:30 pm	H	Representative Match	New Zealand U21 XV	00 - 10	Match Center
Sat 16 Jun	2:30 pm	H	Rundle Cup	West Coast	07 - 24	Match Center
Sat 30 Jun	2:30 pm	A	Representative Match	Mid Canterbury	29 - 10	Match Center
Tue 03 Jul	2:30 pm	A	Representative Match	Otago	39 - 00	Match Center
Thu 05 Jul	2:30 pm	A	Representative Match	North Otago	34 - 03	Match Center
Sat 07 Jul	2:30 pm	A	Representative Match	Canterbury XV	38 - 12	Match Center
Sat 21 Jul	2:30 pm	A	Seddon Shield	Marlborough	39 - 03	Match Center
Sat 11 Aug	2:30 pm	A	Rundle Cup	West Coast	16 - 09	Match Center
Sat 25 Aug	2:30 pm	A	Representative Match	Nelson Bays	39 - 06	Match Center
Sat 01 Sep	2:30 pm	H	Representative Match	Canterbury XV	14 - 10	Match Center
Wed 03 Oct	2:30 pm	H	Representative Match	Auckland	09 - 30	Match Center

THE 1973 SEASON:

After the euphoria of the 1972 season, Buller was dumped solidly back to earth in 1973. Only one game was won (that against Canterbury XV) and the team scored only 73 points while conceding more than 300.

Throughout the season’s eleven games only five tries were scored in all and, once again, the bulk of the scoring was left to the prolific boot of Gerald Hart who again contributed two-thirds of the team’s points.

Sadly, heavy defeats became the order of the day and a further dampener on the season was the retirement of Orlando Nahr after an amazing Representative career stretching back to 1956 and well over 100 games for Buller.

The season did, however, produce one new face who was to become a major force in Buller Rugby. Reefton prop, Richard Banks, later to play more than 100 games for Buller, made his debut in the game against Nelson-Bays.

Thirty two players represented Buller this season but only five played all eleven games while fifteen players played three or fewer games.

Match results were:

v. New Zealand Under 21 at Westport Lost 0-21
v. West Coast at Westport Lost 7-24
v. Mid Canterbury at Ashburton Lost 10-29
v. Otago at Dunedin Lost 0-39
v. North Otago at Oamaru Lost 3-34
v. Canterbury XV at Christchurch Lost 12-38
v. Marlborough at Blenheim Lost 3-39 {Seddon Shield}
v. West Coast at Hokitika Lost 9-16
v. Nelson-Bays at Nelson Lost 6-39
v. Canterbury XV at Westport Won 14-10
v. Auckland at Westport Lost 9-30

Scorers were:

v New Zealand Under 21: No scorers
v West Coast: Jim Halsall (try), Harold Pablecheque (drop goal)
v Mid Canterbury: Brian Stack (try) Gerald Hart (2 penalties)
v Otago: No scorers
v North Otago: Harold Pablecheque (penalty)
v Canterbury XV: Gerald Hart (4 penalties)
v Marlborough: Gerald Hart (penalty)
v West Coast: Brian Morgan (try), Gerald Hart (penalty, conversion)
v Nelson Bays: Gerald Hart (2 penalties)
v Canterbury XV: Robin Hughes (try), Alan Ireland (try), Gerald Hart (2 penalties)
v Auckland: Gerald Hart (3 penalties)