Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Tauranga Domain has been grabbing the headlines in the local news recently, with the return of the Steamers to the inner-city ground, to square off against arch-rivals Waikato on the August 30.

In the 1970s, the Domain enjoyed nationwide attention as some of the best rugby and cricket players in the world stopped off in the Western Bay of Plenty.

On the August 10, 1971, Sideline Sid was amongst the twenty thousand rugby fans that squeezed like sardines into the Domain to watch the British Lions take on the Bay of Plenty.

During the near three-month long tour, the visitors travelled the length and breath of the country, playing 24 matches from Okara Park in Whangarei to Rugby Park in Invercargill.

The 1971 Lions were one of the finest sides to ever come to our shores - departing with a series win against the All Blacks. Players such as JPR Williams, Barry John, captain John Dawe and Willie McBride were just some of the legends of the game that took on New Zealand's best during that winter.

Bay of Plenty entered the game with a strong team, which had won five of their six matches, with the most notable players being All Black Alan Mc Naughton and Maori All Blacks Jim Maniapoto, Dinny Mohi and Rangataua's Ron Walker, who captained the team.

Greg Rowlands and Eddie Stokes would go on to tour Argentina with the All Blacks in 1976.

The Bay of Plenty lined up against the 1971 British Lions as follows:

BA Trask (St Michaels), MW Campbell-Patterson (Tauranga Cadets), EJT Stokes (Rangataua), GE Moore (Katikati), RL Kaipara (Te Teko), GD Rowlands (St Michaels), CT Jacob (Rangataua), TM Connor (Opotiki City Rovers), RM Spence (Tauranga Old Boys), HJ Maniapoto (Whakarewarewa), GP Hicks (Greerton), AM McNaughton (Kahukura), RJ Helmbright (Kaingoroa Forest), RH Walker (Rangataua), DR Mohi (Rotorua HSOB).

The match was an absolute thriller, with the Bay of Plenty boys scoring three tries to two before tasting a narrow 20-14 defeat. Graeme Moore and Ron Walker crossed for touchdowns, with Bruce Trask grabbing a (then three point) try and kicking a penalty and a conversion.

Later in the decade, a considerable number of the best cricket players in the world played at the Domain. The occasion was a World Series Cricket (WSC) match played on the November 9, 1978.

In 1976, after the Australian Cricket Board refused to accept Channel Nine's bid to gain exclusive television rights to Australian Test matches, Network Nine's Kerry Packer set up his own series by secretly signing a number of the best players in the world.

In so doing, world cricket was turned on its head.

Packer set up WSC by secretly signing players such as English captain Tony Greig, Australian captain Greg Chappell and the West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd. The three captains played key roles when it came to signing the rest of the players.

Never before had such a galaxy of world stars appeared in Tauranga.

The WSC Australian team featured household names as Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, David Hookes and Rod Marsh. Tony Greig led the WSC World XI, with stars such as Barry Richards, Lawrence Rowe, Michael Procter, John Snow and New Zealand's own superstar, Richard Hadlee.

In spite of the much-anticipated build-up, the match turned into a one sided affair with the highly-touted Australian XI rolled for 94, after the World XI posted 178.

To the delight of the crowd, Richard Hadlee, the sole New Zealand player, did considerable damage with the ball for the World XI.

He was immediately in action and all fire and venom in the first over, taking Bruce Laird's wicket in his second over before coming back to remove the last two Australian batsmen.