The main source for the following is an article in the match programme for Newport v New Zealand in 1989:-

Some expressed the opinion that the New Zealand All Blacks of 1935-36 lacked the hardness, superb drill and dedication of the 1905 and 1924 teams. Their record:-

Played 30, Won 26, Drawn 1, Lost 3, Points for 490, Points against 183 - did not satisfy the fans back home and the British sports-writers were critical of several below-par performances.

If the tourists did not reach the great heights of the previous All Blacks there were mitigating circumstances. The changes in the laws made it compulsory to pack three men in the front row and also the New Zealanders had been forced to abandon their wing-forward ploy which had been a key factor in their success in 1905 and 1924. The wing-forward had long been considered an obstructionist by the British. He would feed the ball into the scrum and remain there to baulk the opposing scrum-half or run from his position to prevent the opposing wing-forward getting to grips with the New Zealand outside half.

The All Blacks started their tour playing seven forwards and using the wing-forward to "put in". This proved ineffective and the All Blacks then adopted the 3, 4, 1 formation.

Early in the tour Jim "Rusty" Page tore knee ligaments and he played only three games. The absence of this thrustful five-eighth and the early injury to the star hooker Bill Hadley was also another setback. Of their eight games in Wales the Third All Blacks won six and lost two - narrowly to Wales at Cardiff by 13pts to 12pts, and to Swansea by 11pts to 3pts. The All Blacks only other defeat was against England and the drawn game was at Ulster - not a bad record!

When the New Zealanders arrived in Newport they were in a confident mood after two impressive victories - against Cardiff and Llanelli. The Newport team was without the regular outside half, Joe Dunn, and Ken Squire substituted. Heavy rain fell during the morning but the crowd had reached around 20,000 at the kick-off. The All Blacks attacked strongly from the start and within eight minutes Eric Tindall, at five-eighth, had dropped a neat goal. There followed a long period of pressure from the Newport forwards urged on by scrum-half Jim Hawkins, who made several storming runs which just failed to bring a score. Just before the interval however a harsh decision gave the All Blacks a penalty and Gilbert's kick just scraped over the bar. At half-time the All Blacks led by 7pts to nil (a drop goal was then 4pts) and three minutes after the change-over the Usksiders were 11 pts in arrears when Tindall dropped his second goal.

The score flattered the New Zealanders as Newport had enjoyed much more territorial advantage. Probably the youngest Newport pack ever to take the field in an international fixture (R.H. Williams was just out of the High School), played with a confidence and style that belied their tender age in this battling performance against formidable opponents. Led superbly by J R Evans, and with 'Bunner' Travers excelling in all facets of the game, the pack swarmed all over the field and the youthful Travers gave a hint of the greatness that was to come by decisively out-hooking his New Zealand counterpart. Newport lacked pace behind however and the All Blacks added to their lead with a goal from a mark by McKenzie and a scrappy try from Ball. The Black and Ambers were not done however and wing Jack Knowles scored a fine try under the posts which John Evans converted. Sadly John Evans was later to be killed on active service in North Africa in World War II. Although the defeat was clear-cut, the game ranked with the historic encounters of 1905 and 1924. It must be remembered that 14 of the 17 points scored by New Zealand came from kicks - the try count was equal!

The Times reported the game on 1st November 1935 as follows:-

"ALL BLACKS WIN AT NEWPORT"

"FROM OUR RUGBY FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT"

"There are more ways of winning a Rugby match than by crossing the goal line, but it was surprising all the same to find Newport able to score try for try against the New Zealanders yesterday and yet be beaten by 17 points to five. The score was two dropped goals, one penalty goal, one goal from a mark, and one try to one goal."

"The wet conditions did not rob the play of all pace and combined movement, but the Newport halves were wedded to the punt ahead, and the All Blacks, having started with a clever dropped goal and a penalty, and having also increased that score by another dropped goal, yet found themselves liable to be rushed and mostly seemed content with their share of the game of maul and scramble and kick and rush. They had raised their lead to 11 points, with about the same number of minutes left for play, before a great relieving run by N. A. Mitchell led up to their only try. Even then Newport continued to have their full share of the game and its chances, and just before "no side" they obtained an excellent try through their left wing, J. T. Knowles. Knowles seized upon one of the innumerable kicks ahead and ran round behind the posts for J. R. Evans to place a goal."

"A VIGOROUS GAME"

"It was a hard and exciting struggle. There was indeed a good deal of unnecessary vigour shown, and, as generally happens, to little purpose. The Newport pack was not so strong as it had been expected to be, either inside or outside the scrummage, but under cover of their efforts a really clever and reasonably fast back division must have scored more than five belated points. J. C. Hawkins had had a shoulder injury early in the game, which no doubt accounted for much. Newport's best stand-off half, J. H. Dunn, could not play at all, another handicap which deprived the centre of most of its penetrative power and quickness off the mark. It is fair to add that in defence no one could have better readiness to go down to the New Zealand rushes than Dunn's substitute, K. M. Squire.

"The Newport pack may be said to have held their own fairly well in the loose rushes that swept up and down the field periodically and changed the course of the game at least as often as the passing movements and individual breaks-away. But although one has no reason to question the value of W. Travers (the son of the great George Travers who played against the original All Blacks) as a hooker, the advantages in opening up the play mostly belong to New Zealand. It was a quick heel and a good pass out by M. M. Corner which enabled E. W. Tindill, the first five-eighth, to drop each of his two goals from short range. Such goals cannot be dismissed lightly as flukes and barely deserved when they are the result of first-class team work. Nor because the Newport defence succeeded on all but one occasion in keeping out the opposing backs and forwards, who were as fast as usual in backing up, must it be assumed that there were no combined movements which might have scored. The mid-field men had to be closely marked, and G. F. Hart and N. J. Ball made several runs that went near. The most dangerous of these movements originated from the line-out, where the All Black forwards revealed a further improvement."

"It was a round of passing and a run by Hart which brought about the situation out of which the forwards in the scrummage and corner and Tindill engineered the first try. This occurred after seven minutes' play, and was soon followed by an exciting breakaway on the Newport left wing. A. M. Gear gave his partner, J. T. Knowles a clear run for the line, but the latter could not get into a full stride quickly enough, and Hart overhauled him. Newport did not fail to keep up a hot attack after this, but the forwards were poorly supported by their halves, who were much too slow to give the other backs a fair chance. Eventually the All Blacks broke away at the rush, and in the 24th minute Gilbert took full advantage of a penalty-kick, awarded just inside the Newport half of the field. By hard play up in front and, to some extent by the cross-punting ahead of the backs Newport kept New Zealand busily engaged up to half-time, when the score stood at seven points to nothing."

"SAFETY TACTICS"

"The All Blacks made a determined effort to increase their lead - obviously an important, even a decisive, matter - in the second half, and, sure enough, Tindill dropped a goal which in essentials was a replica of his first. In this way New Zealand led by 11 points at the end of four minutes. The All Blacks followed this up with some swift passing movements, but they were held, and after a while fell back on what almost amounts to safety tactics, with the forwards doing most of the attacking. Once Tindill was through, but he kicked ahead, and just lost the race for the ball. On another occasion Hart was well tackled close to a corner flag; the next score also came from a kick, a magnificent drop from 50 yards out by McKenzie, who had made his mark."

"The two tries did not come until the last few minutes of the match. Mitchell, who fielded a cross-kick and ran from the "25" before he passed over the head of Griffiths, made that of the All Blacks possible. Ball's pace and side-stepping did the rest, and Manchester failed with the place-kick. The game was almost over and Gilbert off the field with an injured muscle when Knowles followed up a rolling kick ahead and scored Newport's try behind the posts, amid the roars of a crowd that otherwise would have had little to cheer."

"The teams were:-"

"NEWPORT.- W. S. G. Legge, back; L. H. Hopkins, K. F. Allen, A, M. Gear, and J. T. Knowles, three-quarter backs; K. M. Squire and J. C. Hawkins, half-backs; V. J. Law, E. J. T. Weight, J. C. Jerman, J. C. Wright, R. H. Williams, T. J. Rees, W. Travers, and J. R. Evans (captain), forwards."

"NEW ZEALAND. - G. Gilbert, back; G. F. Hart, N. A. Mitchell, and N. J. Ball, three-quarter backs; E. W. Tindill and J. L. Griffiths, five-eighths; M. M. N. Corner, half-back; A. Mahoney, J. E. Manchester (captain), R. M. MacKenzie, R. R. King, S. T. Reid, A. Lambourn, J. Hore, and C. Pepper, forwards."

"REFEREEE. - R. W. Barry."