Richard William Roberts (23 January 1889 – 8 March 1973) 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 centre three-quarter, Roberts represented at a provincial level either side of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 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 ...

, for their 1913 tour of North America and 1914 tour of Australia, captaining the side on the latter tour. In all, he played 23 matches—nine as captain—for the All Blacks, including five internationals, and scored 102 points (22 tries, 15 conversions and two penalty goals). In 1918 Roberts was sent overseas as part of the 41st Reinforcements,

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

, and served as a rifleman with the

New Zealand Rifle Brigade The New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own), affectionately known as The Dinks, was formed on 1 May 1915 as the third brigade of the New Zealand Division, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. During the First World War it fough ...

. After the conclusion of the war, he was a member of the

New Zealand Army rugby team The New Zealand Army rugby team of 1919 was a rugby union team which represented New Zealand after the end of the First World War. Although spoken of as a single team, there were several New Zealand Services teams playing in Britain at the conclu ...

that won the King's Cup and then toured South Africa. During that tour he held the rank of temporary sergeant.

References

1889 births 1973 deaths New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand military personnel of World War I New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Manaia Taranaki rugby union players {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1880s-stub