100 Greatest All Blacks: Alan Whetton

The start to Alan Whetton's test career gave little inkling of the value he would bring to the black jersey. Four times he pushed off the reserves bench when comrades were hurt and then served a two match suspension with the rest of the Cavaliers before he got the call.

He turned in a shocker against the Wallabies in '86 in Dunedin. He was so disappointed he drank too much and was escorted back to the team hotel before the test dinner that night.

"I knew I'd let myself down and started drinking port after the game. Although my parents and friends wanted to blame the selectors (for dropping him) I accepted their decision. They'd given me a chance and I'd blown it."

Worse followed when he was overlooked for the end of year trip to France with Mike Brewer, Andy Earl and Mark Shaw picked. Suddenly the idea of a decent run in the All Black squad was fading and the roles with twin brother Gary were going into reverse. At school, AJ had been much sharper as his twin mucked about before Gary got his act together and got a three year All Black jump on his twin.

Whetton reassessed. He got super fit and with Brewer and Shaw out of shape, he slotted into a magnificent World Cup trio with Wayne Shelford and Michael Jones. His support work, accuracy and speed shone on the blindside.

His next World Cup was much more of a struggle as an ageing All Black squad fell in the semifinal against a sparky Wallaby side at Lansdowne Rd. Inevitably with a new regime under Laurie Mains there were going to be player changes and Whetton was not surprised when he missed the national trials.

Statistics
Date of birth: 15 December 1959
Position: Flanker
Test debut: 21 July 1984 v Australia at Sydney
Last test: 27 October 1991 v Australia at Dublin
Matches: 65
Tests: 35
Province: Auckland
Test tries: 10
Test points: 40