Marcus Nicholls
Encyclopedia
Mark Nicholls, born Marcus Frederick Nicholls (13 July 1901 - 10 June 1972) was a New Zealand Rugby Union player and All Black as well as a Wellington
and North Island Selector. A member of the legendary 1924/5 All Black Invincibles
, Mark was best known as a first five eighth (or fly-half) though he actually played many games, including Tests, at either second five eighth or centre. Hugely influential in his day, he has largely become forgotten in modern times although George Nepia
and Bert Cooke
, two of his better-remembered contemporaries, acknowledged the significance of his role in assisting their success.
. His father Syd was a co-founder of the Poneke Rugby Club in Wellington in 1883, his brothers Harold "Doc" and Harry "Ginger" were briefly All Blacks in the early 1920s while sister Dulcie won several national tennis titles during the 30s.
Mark began playing Rugby Union as a hooker at Petone West Primary School. He was moved into the backs by coach Jimmy Lynskey at Petone District High School, and he captained the 1st XV at age 15. In 1917 he transferred to Wellington College where he went straight into the 1st XV, captaining the team in 1918 and 1919. Upon completing school, he returned to Petone to play for the local Club's Senior team. His performances were so eye-catching he was almost immediately selected to play for Wellington Province where he much such an impression he was drafted into the All Blacks for the Test series against the touring Springboks in 1921.
Springbok legend and rival fly-half, Bennie Osler
regarded him as "the best fly-half I ever played against" even though he only ever faced Nicholls once in a 10 year international career. The match Osler was referring to was the Fourth Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Newlands in 1928 which saw Nicholls out-Osler Osler himself with his positional kicking in the wet and muddy conditions. Nicholls then went on to score all his team's points and ensure a surprise 13-5 victory for the All Blacks to square the series at 2-2, the best result for New Zealand in South Africa for 68 years. The normally taciturn Springbok coach "Boy" De Villiers was moved enough by the performance to note that: "Like the (South African) forwards and Bennie won the first Test match, so did the (All Black) forwards and Nicholls win the last Test match."
This ability was never more apparent than on the Invincible All Blacks tour of Great Britain and France in 1924/5. Often Nicholls' style of play was to run across the field on a diagonal feigning to pass to one teammate or another looking for a weakness in the opposition's backline. Once one was spotted, he would pass to a teammate and set him free into the gap. To the forward play obsessed British, it was a tactic they found almost blasphemous - although John Wisden's Rugby Football Almanac was impressed enough to name Nicholls one of their Players of the Year and even credited him with being responsible for most of the All Blacks' tries.
This abrasive nature may have contributed to his being overlooked for the first three Tests of the monumental four match Series against the 1928 Springboks. The South Africans themselves were baffled as to why Nicholls had not been selected before the decisive Fourth Test with their tactical genius Bennie Osler musing: "Why this player was so consistently overlooked throughout the tour I will never know, but we Springboks were certainly grateful that Mark did not get more opportunities against us."
Journalist Graham Beamish, who toured Britain with the Invincibles, later had a theory that certain teammates harboured resentments from that 1924 tour where the British press had repeatedly praised Mark Nicholls as the "brains" of the team. And that these resentments had resurfaced again on the 1928 Tour with the former teammates now using their status as senior players to block Nicholls' place in the side via "persistent selection of players who had not the genius of Nicholls."
This approach of playing mind games with his teammates certainly seemed to have paid off with around 90% of the matches involving Mark Nicholls as an All Black ending in victory.
, Dave Gallaher
and Billy Stead
have been largely lost to most modern fans. Some modern Rugby Union writers still rate Mark Nicholls as amongst the greatest All Black first five eighths ever to play. Perhaps Grant Fox
was the last great All Black first five eighth to show a similar dominant kicking game and intense chess player-like thinking on the football field. But there is no shortage whatsoever of modern All Blacks who share the same determination to win as Marcus Frederick Nicholls.
Wellington Rugby Football Union
The Wellington Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union in the city of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand...
and North Island Selector. A member of the legendary 1924/5 All Black Invincibles
The Invincibles (rugby union)
The Invincibles was a nickname given to the 1924-25 New Zealand rugby union team which toured the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Canada. The team was captained by Cliff Porter, and numbered among its top players George Nepia and brothers Cyril and Maurice Brownlie.Between September 1924 and...
, Mark was best known as a first five eighth (or fly-half) though he actually played many games, including Tests, at either second five eighth or centre. Hugely influential in his day, he has largely become forgotten in modern times although George Nepia
George Nepia
George Nepia was a Māori rugby union and rugby league player. He is remembered as an exceptional full-back and one of the most famous Māori rugby players. He was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2004 he was selected as number 65 by the panel of the New Zealand's Top...
and Bert Cooke
Bert Cooke (rugby)
Albert "Bert" Edward Cooke was a New Zealand dual-code international rugby footballer of the 1920s and 1930s, who represented for his country in both rugby union and rugby league....
, two of his better-remembered contemporaries, acknowledged the significance of his role in assisting their success.
Background
Mark was born to a noted sporting family from PetonePetone
Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the narrow triangular plain of the Hutt River, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour...
. His father Syd was a co-founder of the Poneke Rugby Club in Wellington in 1883, his brothers Harold "Doc" and Harry "Ginger" were briefly All Blacks in the early 1920s while sister Dulcie won several national tennis titles during the 30s.
Mark began playing Rugby Union as a hooker at Petone West Primary School. He was moved into the backs by coach Jimmy Lynskey at Petone District High School, and he captained the 1st XV at age 15. In 1917 he transferred to Wellington College where he went straight into the 1st XV, captaining the team in 1918 and 1919. Upon completing school, he returned to Petone to play for the local Club's Senior team. His performances were so eye-catching he was almost immediately selected to play for Wellington Province where he much such an impression he was drafted into the All Blacks for the Test series against the touring Springboks in 1921.
Influence as a player
Though he only played 10 Tests between 1921 and 1930, Nicholls' influence ran deep particularly in positional kicking and in general play. George Nepia recalled that he "plays his Rugby as other people play chess, by a series of openings which are aimed at an end result utterly confusing to the other side."Springbok legend and rival fly-half, Bennie Osler
Bennie Osler
Benjamin Louwrens Osler was a rugby union footballer who played internationally for South Africa. Osler played mainly at fly-half for both South Africa, and his provincial team of Western Province....
regarded him as "the best fly-half I ever played against" even though he only ever faced Nicholls once in a 10 year international career. The match Osler was referring to was the Fourth Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Newlands in 1928 which saw Nicholls out-Osler Osler himself with his positional kicking in the wet and muddy conditions. Nicholls then went on to score all his team's points and ensure a surprise 13-5 victory for the All Blacks to square the series at 2-2, the best result for New Zealand in South Africa for 68 years. The normally taciturn Springbok coach "Boy" De Villiers was moved enough by the performance to note that: "Like the (South African) forwards and Bennie won the first Test match, so did the (All Black) forwards and Nicholls win the last Test match."
Midfield general
Though not a great try scorer himself, Nicholls managed only 5 in 51 games as an All Black, it was his ability to set up his outside backs to score that saw team mates like Bert Cooke profit; "Mark baked the cake, and Bert iced it."This ability was never more apparent than on the Invincible All Blacks tour of Great Britain and France in 1924/5. Often Nicholls' style of play was to run across the field on a diagonal feigning to pass to one teammate or another looking for a weakness in the opposition's backline. Once one was spotted, he would pass to a teammate and set him free into the gap. To the forward play obsessed British, it was a tactic they found almost blasphemous - although John Wisden's Rugby Football Almanac was impressed enough to name Nicholls one of their Players of the Year and even credited him with being responsible for most of the All Blacks' tries.
Controversial nature
Perhaps one of the reasons Nicholls played so few Tests was due to his personality. Described variously as "outspoken" and "coarse" he was also known to be conceited, regarding himself as "the only player who was ever any good."This abrasive nature may have contributed to his being overlooked for the first three Tests of the monumental four match Series against the 1928 Springboks. The South Africans themselves were baffled as to why Nicholls had not been selected before the decisive Fourth Test with their tactical genius Bennie Osler musing: "Why this player was so consistently overlooked throughout the tour I will never know, but we Springboks were certainly grateful that Mark did not get more opportunities against us."
Behaving badly
Nicholls certainly had form for obnoxious behaviour; an altercation with a Rugby official on the 1922 tour of New South Wales had seen him ignored for All Black selection altogether the following year.Journalist Graham Beamish, who toured Britain with the Invincibles, later had a theory that certain teammates harboured resentments from that 1924 tour where the British press had repeatedly praised Mark Nicholls as the "brains" of the team. And that these resentments had resurfaced again on the 1928 Tour with the former teammates now using their status as senior players to block Nicholls' place in the side via "persistent selection of players who had not the genius of Nicholls."
A brilliant comeback
But these resentments were forced to give way to desperation after the Third Test of the tour with South Africa having taken an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series. The senior players relented on their policy of non-selection for Nicholls and brought him in from the cold to try and square the series. Mark repaid their contrition by scoring all the All Blacks' 13 points in a virtually single-handed demolition of the Springboks in the Fourth Test to spare his fellow New Zealanders' blushes.Method to the madness
George Nepia certainly saw method to Nicholls' caustic madness, claiming that in team meetings en route to Britain in 1924 Mark's overt criticism of his play had been in order to deliberately get "a rise out of me so that I shall start thinking of fullback play, deeply and earnestly. That is Mark - thinking ahead, always thinking."This approach of playing mind games with his teammates certainly seemed to have paid off with around 90% of the matches involving Mark Nicholls as an All Black ending in victory.
Later career
Nicholls went on to be a Wellington and North Island Selector throughout the 1930s and also played cricket to Senior Club level. After a stint working for New Zealand Railways, he became a publican at several hotels around the country before retiring to Tauranga where he died in 1972. A son, Mark Junior, also played for Petone and made one appearance for Wellington Province.Legacy
It is difficult to pinpoint just how influential Nicholls has been to the All Blacks' style of play down the decades as even the exploits of other better-known players such as; George Nepia, Bert Cooke, Billy WallaceBilly Wallace
William Joseph Wallace , usually known as Billy Wallace, was a New Zealand rugby union footballer. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks. Wallace won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia...
, Dave Gallaher
Dave Gallaher
David "Dave" Gallaher was a New Zealand rugby union footballer, best known as the captain of "The Originals", the first New Zealand national rugby union team to be known as the All Blacks....
and Billy Stead
Billy Stead
Billy Stead was a New Zealand rugby union player born in Invercargill who played for the All Blacks in their 1905 tour. Stead also played for Southland, and later coached various teams, including Southland and the New Zealand Māori...
have been largely lost to most modern fans. Some modern Rugby Union writers still rate Mark Nicholls as amongst the greatest All Black first five eighths ever to play. Perhaps Grant Fox
Grant Fox
Grant James Fox is a former rugby union player from New Zealand. He was born in New Plymouth. He attended Auckland Grammar school....
was the last great All Black first five eighth to show a similar dominant kicking game and intense chess player-like thinking on the football field. But there is no shortage whatsoever of modern All Blacks who share the same determination to win as Marcus Frederick Nicholls.