Bobby Black (rugby union)

Robert Stanley Black (24 August 1893 – 21 September 1916) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A first five-eighth, Black represented Otago and Buller at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, selected for the All Blacks, on their 1914 tour of Australia whilst representing the Otago province.

Bobby Black

Birth name	Robert Stanley Black
Date of birth	(1893-08-24)24 August 1893[1]
Place of birth	Arrowtown, New Zealand
Date of death	21 September 1916(1916-09-21) (aged 23)
Place of death	Somme, France
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)[1]
School	Otago Boys' High School
Occupation(s)	Bank clerk
Rugby union career
Position(s) First five-eighth All Black No. 211 Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1911–14, 1915 1914 Otago Buller 12 2 (0) National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1914 New Zealand 1 0
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Military career
Memorialised at	Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial
Service/branch	New Zealand Army
Years of service	1915–16
Rank	Private
Service number	9/2048
Unit	Otago Mounted Rifles Canterbury Regiment
Battles/wars	Battle of the Somme

He played in six of the matches on tour including the first test and scored three tries. Working as a clerk in the Bank of New South Wales, Bobby was posted, on his return from Sydney, to Westport where he played two games for Buller in September. He was back in Dunedin in 1915 but Pirates did not field a team in the senior championship so he transferred to the University of Otago club and played twice for Otago. [2]

Black enlisted in the Otago Mounted Rifles in November 1915 and, after transferring to the Canterbury Regiment, saw active service in the Battle of the Somme.[2] He was killed in action on 21 September 1916,[1] and he was memorialised on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial,[3] which commemorates over 1200 New Zealand soldiers who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916 for whom there is no known grave,[4] although his body was subsequently identified and buried.[5]

References

1. "Black, Robert Stanley - WWi 9/2048 - Army". Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
2. Knight, Lindsay. "Bobby Black". New Zealand Rugby Union. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
3. "Casualty details: Black, Robert Stanley". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
4. "Cemetery details: Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
5. McGibbon, Ian (2001). New Zealand Battlefields and Memorials of the Western Front. Auckland: Oxford University Press. p. 58.