Bobby Black (rugby union)

Bobby Black

Full name	Robert Stanley Black
Date of birth	(1893-08-24)24 August 1893[1]
Place of birth	Arrowtown, New Zealand
Date of death	21 September 1916(1916-09-21) (aged 23)
Place of death	Somme, France
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)[1]
School	Otago Boys' High School
Occupation(s)	Bank clerk
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	First five-eighth
New Zealand No.	211
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1911–14, 1915 1914	Otago Buller	12 2	(0)
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1914	New Zealand	1
Military career Memorialised at Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial Service/branch  New Zealand Army Years of service 1915–16 Rank Private Service number 9/2048 Unit Otago Mounted Rifles Canterbury Regiment Battles/wars Battle of the Somme

Robert Stanley "Bobby" Black (24 August 1893 – 21 September 1916) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A first five-eighth, Black represented Otago and Buller at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, on their 1914 tour of Australia. He played six matches for the All Blacks on that tour, including one international.^[2]

Black enlisted in the Otago Mounted Rifles in November 1915 and, after transferring to the Canterbury Regiment, saw active service in the Battle of the Somme.^[2] He was killed in action on 21 September 1916,^[1] and he is memorialised on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial,^[3] which commemorates over 1200 New Zealand soldiers who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916 for whom there is no known grave.^[4]

References