Ron Elvidge

Ronald Rutherford Elvidge (born 2 March 1923 in Timaru, New Zealand; † 30 March 2019) was a New Zealand international rugby union player at the inside three quarter position. He was instrumental in the New Zealand national team (All Blacks) victory in the 1950 Test series against the British Lions.

Elvidge played provincial rugby for the Otago RFU where he captained the side. In 1947 he won the Ranfurly Shield with Otago by defeating Southland Rugby. Over the next three years Otago successfully defended the Shield in 18 consecutive challenge matches. Elvidge played eleven of those matches.

He made his national team debut on 14 September 1946 in an international match against Australia in Dunedin. This first match of the Bledisloe Cup 1946 the New Zealand All Blacks won with 31:8. As they won the second match as well, the New Zealanders defended the cup.

It was not until three years later that he made another appearance for the All Blacks. This was in 1949 on a tour of South Africa that included a four-match Test series against the South African national team. The All Blacks lost all four. As a result, the South Africans won the Test series by a clear 4-0 margin. Elvidge was one of the few outstanding New Zealand players on the tour and therefore took over the captain's armband from the injured Fred Allen after the second loss to South Africa. He played 14 games on that tour, scoring two tries - one of them against South Africa.

The following year the British Lions toured New Zealand. Elvidge again captained the All Blacks in three of the four internationals. The first match was drawn 9-9 and in the second the All Blacks won the match 8-0. When the third Test match was drawn 3-3, Elvidge earned his place in the annals of rugby history. He was forced to leave the field due to a collarbone injury and a gaping wound on his face that required four stitches. However, when pillar Johnny Simpson also had to leave the field due to a serious knee injury, Elvidge returned to the field despite being in great pain as the All Blacks would otherwise have had to play with two men less. At the time, substitutions in and out were strictly forbidden even when injuries were present. He took up the position of extra custodian and scored the only try of the game for a narrow 6-3 final score for the All Blacks. This meant New Zealand had already won the 1950 Test series against the Lions before the final match.

Before that, he also managed a win over the Lions with his province of Otago.

He was unable to play in the fourth as well as the last international match of the tour due to injury and never played rugby again after that, retiring from rugby in the same year. He successfully concentrated on his medical career as a gynaecologist from then on.