Birth name | Robert Hugh McKenzie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 1 June 1869 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 24 June 1940 71) | (aged||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Hamilton, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Robert "Rab" McKenzie (1 June 1869 – 24 June 1940), was a rugby union player who represented New Zealand twice in 1893. He first played provincial rugby for Auckland in 1888, [1] including three against the touring 1888 British Isles team. [2] [3] He scored Auckland's first ever try against a British Isles side in the first match, and was in the team less than a week later for the second; the second match resulted in a 4–0 loss for the tourists. He continued representing Auckland until 1891, and the following year was living in the Taranaki, for whom he played provincial rugby that season. [1]
The following year he was back in Auckland and playing for the Auckland Suburbs club. [4] In 1892 the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was founded by the majority of New Zealand's provincial unions (with the exceptions of Canterbury, Otago, and Southland), and in 1893 the newly formed national union organised a New Zealand representative team to tour Australia. [5] McKenzie was not originally able to tour, but traveled to Australia late in the tour to bolster the tourists following some injuries. He played in two matches, including one against New South Wales. [1]
McKenzie returned to the Auckland team in 1894 and played against the touring New South Wales side. He also played for the North Island against the tourists. [1]
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Patrick Keogh, also known as Pat Keogh or Paddy Keogh, was a New Zealand rugby union footballer who toured with the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team. Playing at half-back, Keogh was considered the star player on the tour, which was the first by a Southern Hemisphere team to the British Isles. He played in at least 70 of the team's 107 matches in the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand. After playing for Dunedin club Kaikorai from 1884, he was selected to represent his province of Otago from 1887, and played for them against the touring British Isles team in 1888. By this time Keogh had established himself as the outstanding half-back in New Zealand, and he was approached by Joe Warbrick to tour with the Native team in mid-1888.
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