Full name | Murray Clifton Wills | ||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 11 October 1941 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Hāwera, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||
Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||
Weight | 89 kg (196 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Murray Clifton Wills (born 11 October 1941) is a New Zealand former rugby union international.
Wills, who hails from Patea, South Taranaki, was educated at Hawera High School and made the first of his 132 provincial appearances for Taranaki in 1962 at the age of 20. [1]
A loose forward, Wills was a member of the All Blacks squad for the 1967 tour of Britain, France and Canada. [2] He played in five uncapped matches over the course of the tour. [1]
Wills captained Taranaki against the 1971 British Lions. [1]
In 2010, a sports centre named after Wills was opened in his home town of Patea. [3]
New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Plymouth District, which includes New Plymouth City and several smaller towns, is the 10th largest district in New Zealand, and has a population of 88,900 – about two-thirds of the total population of the Taranaki Region and 1.7% of New Zealand's population. This includes New Plymouth City (59,600), Waitara (7,550), Inglewood (3,870), Ōakura (1,730), Ōkato (561) and Urenui (429).
Stratford is the only town in Stratford District, and the seat of the Taranaki region, in New Zealand's North Island. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki, approximately halfway between New Plymouth and Hāwera, near the geographic centre of the Taranaki Region. The town has a population of 6,320, making it the 62nd largest urban area in New Zealand, and the fourth largest in Taranaki.
Patea is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on State Highway 3. Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the east. The Pātea River flows through the town from the north-east and into the South Taranaki Bight.
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