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Doolan Downing #176

Born and educated in Napier, Albert Joseph Downing, playing first for the Napier Old Boys club then for Marist, represented Hawkes Bay from 1909-12. He appeared above provincial level for the first time in 1911 when he played every game on a five match tour by a North Island Country team.

Selection for the full North Island team followed at the end of that season and again the following year. North Island Country toured again, to the South Island, in 1912 with "Doolan" Downing appearing in all four tour matches. The last tour game, against South Island Country in Wellington, had to be abandoned at half time owing to the state of the ground, a rare occurence in New Zealand rugby.

Moving to Auckland and joining the Marist club Downing represented Auckland throughout the 1913 season before making his international debut in the first test against Australia, then touring North America with the All Blacks. He had a successful tour, playing in 14 of the 16 matches including the test against All-America and scoring 6 tries.

A J Downing toured again with the All Blacks, to Australia in 1914. Once more he had a heavy workload, appearing in all three tests and 10 of the 11 tour matches and winning high praise for his lineout ability.

Enlisting in the Army in 1915 "Doolan" Downing played twice for Trentham Military Forces, against Wellington and Auckland, before leaving New Zealand in June 1915 with the Fifth Reinforcements (Wellington Regiment). Less than two months later he was dead, killed in action in the Battle of Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli, in support of the landing at Suvia Bay, the first New Zealand rugby representative war casualty.

Described by Hawkes Bay and North Island Country team mate Norman McKenzie as "an outstanding lineout forward with a wonderful pair of hands" Downing, 6ft tall (1.83m) and weighing around 14 stone (89kg) was a top player whose standing would have been greater had he not played in a low key period of New Zealand rugby.

Profile by Bob Luxford
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME	Albert Joseph Downing
BORN	Monday, 12 July 1886 in Napier, New Zealand
DIED	Sunday, 8 August 1915 in Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, Turkey
PHYSICAL	1.83m, 89kg
POSITION	Loose forward and lock
LAST SCHOOL	Napier Boys' High
RUGBY CLUB (First made All Blacks from)	Auckland Marist
PROVINCE	Auckland
NICKNAME	Doolan
ALL BLACK DEBUT	Saturday, 6 September 1913 v Australia at Wellington aged 27 years, 56 days
INTERNATIONAL DEBUT	Saturday, 6 September 1913 v Australia at Wellington aged 27 years, 56 days
LAST TEST	Saturday, 15 August 1914 v Australia at Sydney aged 28 years, 34 days
ALL BLACK TESTS	5 5
ALL BLACK GAMES	21 21
TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES	26 26
STARTING POSITIONS	Jersey Number 3 : 2 Jersey Number 4 : 1 Jersey Number 5 : 2
ALL BLACK TEST POINTS	0pts
ALL BLACK GAME POINTS	21pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS	21pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)
ALL BLACK NUMBER	176

ALL BLACK GAMES THAT DOWNING PLAYED

(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date below to view the Match Card

1913

6 Sep vs Australia at Wellington 30-5

10 Sep vs Wellington at Wellington 19-18

4 Oct vs Olympic Club at San Francisco 19-0

8 Oct vs University of California at Berkeley 31-0

11 Oct vs Barbarians Club at San Francisco 30-0

15 Oct vs Stanford University at Palo Alto 54-0

22 Oct vs University of Santa Clara at Santa Clara 42-0

25 Oct vs University of California at Berkeley 38-3

29 Oct vs University of Nevada at Reno 55-0

3 Nov vs University of California at Berkeley 33-0

8 Nov vs University of Southern California at Los Angeles 40-0

12 Nov vs University of Santa Clara at Santa Clara 33-0

15 Nov vs USA at Berkeley 51-3

19 Nov vs Victoria (B.C.) at Victoria 23-0

22 Nov vs Victoria (B.C.) at Victoria 35-0

24 Nov vs Vancouver at Vancouver 44-0

1914

1 Jul vs Wellington at Wellington 14-19

11 Jul vs N.S.W. at Sydney 27-6

15 Jul vs Central-Western Districts at Orange 59-10

18 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 5-0

22 Jul vs New England at Armidale 35-6

25 Jul vs Queensland at Brisbane 26-5

1 Aug vs Australia at Brisbane 17-0

5 Aug vs Metropolitan Union at Sydney 11-6

8 Aug vs N.S.W. at Sydney 25-10

15 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 22-7

POINTS SCORED FOR THE ALL BLACKS	t	c	p	dg	pts
vs University of California, 8 Oct 1913	1	-	-	-	3
vs Barbarians Club, 11 Oct 1913	1	-	-	-	3
vs Stanford University, 15 Oct 1913	1	-	-	-	3
vs University of Nevada, 29 Oct 1913	1	-	-	-	3
vs University of Southern California, 8 Nov 1913	2	-	-	-	6
vs Wellington, 1 Jul 1914	1	-	-	-	3
Totals	7	0	0	0	21