Smith John Jb

edmondsallan - hello - This time I had better do no raving and give him some back ground - Mind you even in doing so,I can still feel the damage he inflicted on me . To ( JB )
John Burns Smith was born on 25 September 1922 at Kaikohe, Northland, one of three children of Niria Takiwira (Dargaville) and her husband, Leslie John Smith. His father, a baker who had settled in the town after serving in the First World War, had played rugby for South Auckland and represented North Island Country in 1912. His mother belonged to the hapu Te Uri-o-Hua of Nga Puhi, and was from Kaikohe.
Even at school Johnny Smith demonstrated uncanny ability to adapt to any sport. He attended Kaikohe School and then went on to Kaikohe District High School, where he played for the First XV from 1935 to 1937. After leaving school he worked in the family bakery, and linked up with the Kaikohe Rugby Football Club. In 1940 he joined the army. It was while playing in an army match, at Palmerston North in September 1942, that he first commanded the attention of rugby followers outside Northland. He had made his first-class début for the 12th Brigade Group side earlier that year and went on to represent the North Island in August 1943. The following month he appeared for the New Zealand army against the Royal New Zealand Air Force, running 40 yards to score late in the match and help turn an 8–9 deficit into an army victory.
In January 1944 Smith went overseas and served with the 21st Battalion in the Middle East and Italy. Subsequently, he won selection in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force rugby team, the incomparable Kiwis of 1945–46, for whom it is generally agreed he played his finest rugby. He appeared in 13 of the team’s first 16 matches in Britain, Ireland and France, missed four with influenza, and then played in the final 13 games. A second five-eighth or centre, he was a stocky man with powerful thighs and sharp acceleration. Rugby critics hailed his perfect poise, his swerve, fend and sidestep, his superb timing of passes, and the fact that he never, even under the greatest provocation, lost his cool. Known as The Master, JB or just plain Johnny, he was an outstanding team player, admired not just for the tries he scored, but for the numerous opportunities he created for his team mates; it was said that he ‘made mediocre wings into champions’.That would be him alright , No glamour . always down to earth . He walked tall among his fellow man , Till we meet again -Regards edmondsallan