NZ Rugby World August/September 2021

jim@nzrugbyworld.co.nz THE 1981 SPRINGBOK TOUR WAS TUMULTUOUS FOR NEW ZEALAND AS A COUNTRY AND BEWILDERING FOR A YOUNG LAD WHO LOVED RUGBY and came from a racially diverse family. Two of my older sisters were vehemently against the tour and marched in the protests as angry teenagers have done throughout history. We were not a divided house, as some were at the time, but I remember rugby being a dirty word at home for a while, even though my older brother and I happily played the game that winter. I also remember one of my mates’ Dad riding his bike to Fowlds Park in Mt Albert, where the protestors massed, chaining it to a fence, marching in the anti-tour protest, then running back to his bike in time to ride home and watch…

There was a time when they didn’t matter. When others, like Australia, were of more importance. Yet, almost like an addiction, they were always there, lurking in the background of our consciousness, a goliath we knew would one day return. South Africa’s exclusion from sport due to it’s racist Apartheid regieme meant the Springboks were lost to a generation of All Blacks fans. Tales of grown men weeping over their beers after another series defeat in South Africa were kodak distant, a photo curled in the sun and yellowed in time. For 11 years they sat in the sinbin and after the violent protests against the 1981 tour to New Zealand, few missed them. Afterall, this was the country that discouraged Māori from touring with the All Blacks and (with the embarrassing support of the…

THE ALL BLACKS HAVE PLAYED THE SPRINGBOKS 99 times and won 59 of those tests, with FOUR DRAWS and 36 defeats. RICHIE MCCAW Played 26 of his 148 test against SOUTH AFRICA and beat them 20 TIMES DAN CARTER’S THE ALL BLACKS’ HIGHEST POINTS SCORER against SOUTH AFRICA with 255 and MORNE STEYN has scored 139 The ALL BLACKS have scored 2050 points and conceded 1580 for an average of 21-16 per game. The ALL BLACKS biggest win, by score and margin, was 57-0 at ALBANY in 2017. CHRISTIAN CULLEN’S 10 tries are the most against SOUTH AFRICA and BRYAN HABANA has scored EIGHT against the ALL BLACKS. The two foes have met FIVE TIMES at the RUGBY WORLD CUP (1995, 1999, 2003, 2015 & 2019) with the ALL BLACKS winning THREE TIMES and SOUTH AFRICA TWICE They’ve only met ONCE in…

A few years ago Steve Hansen ill-advisedly waded into the divisive topic of transforming the Springbok side. Having no doubt gleaned some insights on the subject from his great mate Heyneke Meyer, the Springboks’ former coach, Hansen was of the view that South Africa was the “only team in sport that doesn’t pick its best team” when interviewed for the book The Jersey: The Secrets Behind the World’s Most Successful Team. “I understand what they are trying to do,” Sir Steve warmed to his task. “Nelson Mandela understood it better than anyone else. He knew that the Springboks were a team that could unite the nation. “I still believe it is … if they got things right and allowed it to develop naturally. Rugby wasn’t a black man’s sport, but it was the…

John Minto tried out for the Napier Boys High School 3rd XV but didn’t get in. “I was tall, but I was skinny. I had no bulk and no speed,” Minto says. Undeterred, he later coached rugby for three years while he taught physics at Auckland’s Massey High School. “I enjoyed rugby. I played it at school and I coached sixth grade for three years when I started teaching.” This seems incongruous with a man who, aged just 28, became the face of a nationwide movement intent on stopping the Springbok rugby tour to New Zealand in 1981. Sitting at a small table in the Auckland Irish Society hall at Fowlds Park, where the marches against the third test of that tour at Eden Park began, Minto is a warm and engaging presence. “I AM…

It’s five days after the Super Rugby trans-Tasman final. Highlanders co-captain Ash Dixon’s in Wellington with the Māori All Blacks, the wounds are slowly healing, but he’s considering ripping off the plaster one more time. Even if it is a bit sadistic. “This one is hard to flush to be honest,” he concedes. “I haven’t watched the game so I’ll end up watching it. I’ve just let it sit there but I’ve got some thoughts in my head that just simmer away. So I need to watch it just to understand where we didn’t quite go right and where we could’ve done better. Then I’ll be able to go forward to Māori rugby. But the good thing is there’s something there for me which is really good, so it’s a dream result to…