Neville Wyatt Black (25 April 1925 – 24 January 2016) 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 ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in rugby union.

Rugby union career

A rugby union first five-eighth, Black played for

Ponsonby RFC Ponsonby District Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Auckland, New Zealand. The club was established in 1874 and is affiliated with the Auckland Rugby Football Union. Ponsonby is the oldest extant member of the Auckland union, a ...

. He represented

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, 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 1949 tour of South Africa. He played 10 matches for the All Blacks on that tour, three of them at halfback, including one international.

Rugby league career

In 1951 he switched codes, signing for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. He made his début on 22 December 1951. He later also played three matches for the

Other Nationalities The Other Nationalities rugby league team are a rugby league representative team that usually consists of non-English players. They have also played under the name The Exiles and more recently Combined Nations All Stars. They competed in the first ...

side in the

European Rugby League Championship The Rugby League European Championship (formerly known as the European Cup and European Nations Cup) is a rugby league football tournament for European national teams that was first held in 1935. Originally, the European Cup had three teams, wi ...

. In 1953 he, along with four other Wigan players, signed with

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

. He returned to New Zealand in 1957 and played for the Ngongotaha club.

Later years

Black died in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

on 24 January 2016.

References

1925 births 2016 deaths People from Kawakawa, New Zealand People educated at Rotorua Boys' High School New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union scrum-halves New Zealand rugby league players Wigan Warriors players Rugby league five-eighths New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby league players Ngongotaha Chiefs players Keighley Cougars players {{NewZealand-rugbyleague-bio-stub