King Country's first All Black was William John Phillips, playing for the All Blacks in 1937 and 1938. As well he played for the New Zealand Maori team. Born at Raglan, on January 30 1914, he played for the Mako Mako Club of the then Kawhia Sub-Union. "Bill" Phillips was a strong running and speedy winger, capable of playing on both sides of the field as well as a number of other positions in the backline. He entered representative Rugby when he played for the King Country against Waikato at Hamilton, on June 30, 1934; in August he appeared against Wellington "B" at Taumarunui - his first home game. He was then a member of the Tai Tauauru side against Tai Rawhiti, in the Prince of Wales Cup match, at Rotorua, from which contest he was chosen to the New Zealand Maori team on its tour of four fixtures; Phillips played against Otago, at Dunedin, on the tour. In 1935, William Phillips took part in the trial match at Hamilton, playing for Northern Maori XV against Southern Maori XV for possible selection to the New Zealand side to later go to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada, but although unsuccessful in selection he was chosen to tour with the New Zealand Maori team to Australia. The side was captained by the illustrious George Nepia. "Bill" Phillips' contribution to its record being six tries in his ten appearances out of the eleven matches on the itinerary; he played at second-five-eighth in the side's first match, and on the wing in his other nine. On the team's return to New Zealand he was on the wing also in the games with Wellington and with Auckland; his other match of the season was for King Country against Hawke's Bay XV, at Ohakune, late in September. The following year after playing in all of King Country's five engagements he again won New Zealand Maori honours, in this occasion against Australia, at Palmerston North, when he replaced the injured H. Mason (of North Otago), at second five-eighth during the match. The next two seasons were notable ones for King Country in general, and for Bill Phillips in particular. He commenced the 1937 period with a match for King Country, and then played the first of his three matches for North Island. Followed were two New Zealand trials held to select the All Blacks against the South African team, soon to arrive in this country. "Bill" Phillips' first trial was for N. A. Mitchell's XV versus G. D. M. Gilbert's XV, the other for The Rest of New Zealand (as a replacement) against a New Zealand XV, both at Wellington. Next, was Bill Phillips' first meeting with the Springboks, he being one of the nine King Country representatives in the King Country-Waikato-Thames Valley combination, at Hamilton, where South Africa seemingly fortuitously won in the closing stages of the match; both sides scored a try, the visitors winning with a penalty goal. Two more King Country matches were preludes for Bill Phillips' selection for the Christchurch Test against the Springboks, he, as the left wing-threequarter, completely suppressing the activities of D. O. Williams, the Springbok threequarter danger-man. And it is one of the vagaries of selection that Bill Phillips was relegated to the reserves for the 3rd Test. The year finished with two more games for King Country. 1938 arrived and once again with it the All Black jersey. In June, Phillips played in his second North Island side, and earned selection with the New Zealand team to Australia, appearing six times, including the 1st and 2nd test matches. On his return to New Zealand he played his final two games for King Country. In 1939, he had moved to Waikato, where he intermittently represented that Union until 1946, in 1939, 1941 and 1946 from Raglan Club, and 1943 from Hamilton High School Old Boys Club, for a total of eleven matches. In 1939 he appeared for North Island for the third time, and was in the New Zealand Maori XV against the touring Fijian team, at Hamilton. Big and fast, Bill Phillips stood 6 feet (1.83m) and weighed around 13st. 7lb (86kg). He farmed in the Raglan district.