Robert Stanley Black (24 August 1893 – 21 September 1916) was a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. A

first five-eighth In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

, Black represented

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and Buller at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, selected for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, on their 1914 tour of Australia whilst representing the Otago province. 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, Black 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. Black enlisted in the

Otago Mounted Rifles The Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment was a New Zealand Mounted Regiment formed for service during World War I. It was formed from units of the Territorial Force consisting of the 5th Mounted Rifles (Otago Hussars), the 7th (Southland) Mounted Rifles ...

in November 1915 and, after transferring to the

Canterbury Regiment The Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment was a Territorial Force (Army Reserve) unit of the New Zealand Army. Formation and recent history The regiment was formed in 1964 during the reorganisation of the army by the amalga ...

, saw active service in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

. He was killed in action on 21 September 1916, and he was memorialised on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial, which commemorates over 1200 New Zealand soldiers who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916 for whom there is no known grave, although his body was subsequently identified and buried.

References

1893 births 1916 deaths People from Arrowtown People educated at Otago Boys' High School New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Otago rugby union players Buller rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves New Zealand military personnel killed in World War I New Zealand Army personnel Burials at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery Rugby union players from Otago New Zealand Military Forces personnel of World War I New Zealand Army soldiers {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1890s-stub