Remembering the ‘Lansdowne landslide’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2024 (722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On June 1, 1974, the Lansdowne Rugby Football Club from Ireland visited Winnipeg to play an exhibition game at Winnipeg Stadium against the Manitoba Select XV. The Lansdowne club, which was formed in 1872 in Dublin, was on it first overseas tour. The team had beaten Vancouver Capilano and Calgary, but lost to Seattle, Victoria James Bay, and Vancouver Cats.

The visitors had no trouble with the home team beating them 32-0 in what the Winnipeg Free Press headlined as “A Landslide for Lansdowne” in its report of Monday, June 3. Left winger Vincent Becker scored three tries and Mick Quinn equaled his 12 points with a try and four converts. Both players were members of the Irish national team. Becker, a former sprint champion who had run the 100 metres in 10.6 seconds, was known as the fastest man playing rugby in the British Isles. Michael Kelly and Derek Keane each had a try to complete the scoring.

Jim Feasby, a 2014 Rugby Manitoba Hall of Fame builder inductee, donated a copy of the game program to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. The Selects lineup included forward Hans Jaanusson, the captain of the 1973 provincial team, and his Wasps teammates Riley Barkman, John Lake, Sid Latheron, and Jeff Birchall. Wasp Bob Moffat was named captain. Wasps left centre Lorne Hasinoff was described as being instrumental in organizing the visit.

Saracens teammates Al Brolly, Lou Furlan, Barry Tildsley, Ian Schaefer, and Gerry Nufer all had provincial team experience. Teammate Kim Cheng was a newcomer to the city from the Cheltenham club in England. The Assassins players were Wilf Erickson, Ian McLeod, Rod Katchulak, and Robin Wright, and the Wanderers supplied Ron Coley and Neville Rhoda. Nigel Corser, who coached the 1973 provincial team, was the Selects coach. The Selects were well-dressed in white, blue and black hooped jerseys, white shorts, and white and blue hooped socks.

The program included an article titled “The History of Rugby in Manitoba”, chronicled by R.J. (Bob) Page. He wrote that immigrants from Great Britain brought rugby, or rugger, as it is sometimes called, to Manitoba in 1880. The first Manitoba Rugby League Cup was competed for in 1885 at River Park. By 1908, there were four clubs – Barbarians, Harlequins, Irish and Welsh. Jimmy Pritchard was one of the outstanding players. Robb claimed that in 1974 at age 80, Pritchard still kicked the ball better than Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The Winnipeg Rugby Football Club, a.k.a. the Blue Bombers, entered a team in the rugger league in 1937, with Fritzie Hanson at centre, Dynamite Eddie James on right wing, and Rosie Adelman left wing. Andy Currie and Cliff Roseborough were forwards. In the final game of the 1938 season, the Bombers met the St. Vital Rugby Team. In the opinion of Robb, who had seen the international teams from Great Britain and France in action, it was the best rugby game he ever saw.

Nineteen-year-old Vince Karlenzie was the St. Vital star playing opposite Hanson, a halfback, who had led the Bombers to their first Grey Cup victory in 1935. Karlenzie reportedly outran him and tackled him and Hanson never ran more than 10 yards before he hit the turf. St. Vital beat the Bombers by a three-point penalty kick five minutes before full-time. Karlenzie went on to serve as a squadron leader in World War II and was killed in a battle over Britain at age 22.

The Lansdowne squad was not the first British rugby team to visit Manitoba. The previous August saw Llanelli from Wales humble the Manitoba team 48-6 in front of more than 5,000 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. The Welsh club team was noted for once defeating New Zealand’s national team, the All Blacks, one of the greatest teams in rugby history.