HENRY ROBERTS

REPRESENTED NEW ZEALAND: 1884 (7 matches)
Points for New Zealand: 8, 4 tries
Position: HALFBACK
Born: Wellington 1862
Died: Wellington 1 January, 1949
Provincial Record: Wellington 1883. 85 (Wellington) 1885, 86, 88, 89 (Poneke)
Canterbury 1887 (East Christchurch)

Harry Roberts has the distinction of scoring New Zealand’s first-ever try, against a Wellington XV for the 1884 team before touring Australia. Four years later he organised his own team from Wellington and Wairarapa representatives to play the 1888 British tourists when the Wellington RFU refused to field a side for a return game. S.E. Sleigh, the 1884 team manager, described Roberts as ‘a very smart light man. The way he pounced around the scrummage on to the opposing half-backs was worth seeing. Can play in any position'. He became the first New Zealand representative to have a son play for the country when Teddy Roberts was selected for the 1913 All Blacks. Two other sons, Harry Jnr (1909) and Len (1920) also played for Wellington while a grandson, Bruce, played for a New Zealand XV 1944. Roberts also represented his province at cricket on 12 occasions 1893-90. He worked in the Government Printing Office and was a pastor in the Pentecostal Church.