27th November 2008 In their
last week of a tour to the UK and Ireland, a number of New Zealand supporters
visited the Pirates 'Westholme' clubhouse at Penzance on Tuesday evening. The
group was escorted by Dave Hunt, who worked and lived on St. Michael's Mount for
a number of years, and keen for his fellow countrymen to see the island and castle,
besides visiting Land's End and the Minack Theatre. 
A
good friend of Dave's was Harvey Richards, a former captain and Chairman of Penzance
& Newlyn RFC, and Past President of the Cornwall RFU, who organised a number
of former Pirates players and officials to greet the Kiwi guests. Club
archivist Phil Westren welcomed the group and showed them a selection of programmes
from matches played by the 'All Blacks' in Cornwall and Devon over the years,
including a copy programme printed for the Cornwall versus New Zealand match played
at Camborne in 1924. He also - which is an opportunity
never to be wasted - made sure that all present saw a photograph showing the club's
very own 'Stack' Stevens scoring a try for England when they beat New Zealand
at Eden Park, Auckland, in 1973. Also present on the night
was Jimmy Glover, a 'Pirate' who had captained both Cornwall and Oxford University
in his playing days, and was someone who proudly played for the SW Counties against
New Zealand at Exeter in 1963. In a most interesting speech,
Harvey Richards reflected on the origins of the club, with it not to be forgotten
that he featured in the Pirates first ever match which took place against Guy's
Hospital at the Mennaye Field in 1945. In particular, Harvey also highlighted
the name of John MacG. K. Kendall-Carpenter, another famous Pirate and true giant
of the game who was Chairman of the organising committee for the first ever Rugby
World Cup tournament which took place in (and was won by) New Zealand in 1987. 
At
the end of the evening, all present agreed that despite the many changes that
had taken place in the sport over the years, being involved in rugby is akin to
being part of a big family - with there a warm welcome to be found at all rugby
clubs throughout the world. | 
