Brian Turner: Meads

By WYNNE GRAY*

When I first telephoned Colin Meads the call was made with some trepidation. Not fear but some apprehension about intruding on his Te Kuiti lair. He was, after all, an All Black legend, conspicuous even in All Black packs which carried such greats as Ken Gray, Wilson Whineray, Kel Tremain, Waka Nathan and Brian Lochore.

After the deep thunder of Meads' voice came down the line, a tone which further questioned my reverence levels, the chat went smoothly. There was an engaging directness about his comments, his ideas and thoughts on rugby very clear.

Memories of the conversation are gone, but the emotion involved in that call still remains. It was about respect for a superstar.

As the All Black coach from 1966-68, Fred Allen, said: "To me Colin Meads was the greatest rugby player ever. There's been no one better. They threw away the mould when they made Pinetree."

We also thought they had thrown away the mould when the late Alex Veysey produced his 1974 masterpiece Colin Meads All Black. It was a book which drew on Meads' wonderful career in the black jersey which finished at a record 133 games in 1971.

But since then Meads has continued to be a force in rugby, sometimes a controversial figure as he was with the Cavaliers in 1986, at other stages a part of the establishment as a councillor, then manager of the All Blacks. He continues to be sought for his views and knowledge.

So it was time for another look at the life of Pinetree, the King Country colossus. Turner has done a fine job, his easy style delivering a nice read, a strong flavour about what makes Meads tick.

There are new stories and warmed-over ones, but Turner has kept fairly clear of the traditional rugby lifeline from the cradle to hanging up the boots.

He devotes the first part to life in the King Country, the way rugby and farming blended into life for Meads and his life in the All Blacks. The middle chapters are about his administrative, selecting and coaching career, and the last part on Meads' thoughts on the modern game.

While there was enormous admiration for Meads' athletic prowess as a tight forward, there were also many tales about his aggression, his fearsome attitude and presence on the rugby field.

So it is a delightful counterpoint for Turner to start his book with a story about Meads' first rugby meeting with Keith Murdoch, a prop with a fearful reputation. Murdoch kept niggling Meads, and when warned responded by telling Meads to have a go.

It was some predicament for Pinetree, who was captaining an All Black trial team and felt constricted by that appointment. Murdoch also looked fairly menacing.

Meads suggested to a couple of his teammates they should deal to Murdoch, but they declined. So Meads waited until three minutes from fulltime and then hit Murdoch so hard he thought he had broken his hand. The prop reeled but did not go down and Meads, in humorous detail, recalls how he managed to last the rest of the game without being confronted by Murdoch.

In his life as All Black manager, Meads reveals other incidents like the game in Catania which was reported to be funded by the Mafia, his feelings for Josh Kronfeld when he damaged an ankle before playing any game on a tour to France, and the time he lost an unidentified All Black on the same trip.

The missing player had been given a single room because he was a champion snorer. But when he came back to the team hotel, he went to the wrong floor. When his key did not work he banged on the door so hard he woke the French occupier, demanded to know what he was doing in the wrong room, chucked him out and went to sleep.

In a scene which would do justice to the Pink Panther, the Frenchman complained to the desk about the monster in his room, but the staff could not wake the All Black and the bewildered Frenchman had to be hustled off to another room.

The drama got worse when the team assembled the next morning a player short, though Meads, with the help of Zinzan Brooke, finally located the lost man.

Such anecdotes lace the story of Meads together, they flesh out the life of a man who still dedicates himself to his sport, his family and his causes.

There was a lot more to tell after Veysey's original book and Turner has done justice to the task.

* Wynne Gray is the Herald's chief rugby writer.

* Published by Hodder Moa Beckett, $49.95

* Meet New Zealand's living rugby legend: Colin Meads will be at Whitcoulls Botany Downs, 4pm-6pm, today. He'll speak at 4pm and then sign copies of Meads.