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Great moments in Lions tour history: The time Allen Prince flipped off Rory Underwood on his way to the tryline
By Jamie Wall
Jamie Wall remembers one of rugby’s greatest – and most ill-advised – middle fingers.
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I was 12 years old in 1993, and the second test of the Lions tour that season at Athletic Park was the first All Blacks match I ever went to. I probably should have stayed at home – the 20-7 result remains the Lions’ largest ever test win in New Zealand.
The test is probably best remembered for the classic Rory Underwood try which sealed the game. But the corner of Athletic Park in which he scored had already seen plenty of action on that tour. One incident in particular, which also involved Rory Underwood, happened a few weeks earlier when the Lions played the New Zealand Maori.
Allen Prince isn’t a name that would spring to the minds of many rugby fans. Unless, of course, you preface it with ‘that guy who pulled the finger when he scored against the Lions’.
Unforgettable piece of NZ #rugby history: Allan Prince flipping the bird to Rory Underwood on the way to the tryline pic.twitter.com/9K1pM5fW9e
— Jamie Wall (@JamieWall2) January 3, 2016
A product of the small time, then-second division and now-merged Nelson Bays union, Allen Prince was playing on the left wing for the Maori that day. For the first 40 minutes his side completely dominated the tourists and led 20-0 at halftime, thanks in part to his try in what was then known as ‘Bernie’s Corner’ (a reference to prolific Wellington winger Bernie Fraser).
Prince brushed off his marker, Welshman Ieuan Evans, then found himself with a clear run to the line. Naturally, he pulled the fingers at his nearest opponent: Rory Underwood.
This prototype of the Kiwi rugby bird-flip lacked the refinement of the later efforts of Andrew Mehrtens and Carlos Spencer. More specifically, it crucially lacked the bit where you win the game. Prince flipped the bird about 10 minutes into the game, giving Underwood more than enough time to exact a bit of revenge on this lower-division upstart.
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The Lions started their comeback with Evans redeeming himself by scoring in the opposite corner. He then sparked the movement that saw Underwood switch on the afterburners and leave Prince for dead as he crossed Bernie’s Corner to pull the deficit back to 3. He resisted the temptation to flip off, trash talk or even look at his opposite in doing so. However, it’s not hard to think how sweet it would’ve been for him when Gavin Hastings crashed over for the winner with 10 minutes to go. Final score: 24-20.
From a British point of view, that game and the second test were the high-water marks of a very up and down tour. They were beaten by Otago, Waikato, Auckland and second division Hawkes Bay, and thrashed in the final test at Eden Park – not helped by the fact that captain Hastings had been ruled out with injury.
Athletic Park remains the last venue in New Zealand where the Lions won a test match. It has long since been demolished, with the site now ironically a sprawling retirement village. The next time the Lions played the All Blacks in Wellington was across town at the new Westpac Stadium in 2005… and we all know what happened that night.
