Legendary All Black whacked by 'bloody Aussies'

Bob Scott was lining up for a guard of honour when he was hit by a stray ball. Photo / Getty Images

Legendary All Black fullback Bob Scott reckons he was "deliberately marked" when he was flattened by a rogue Australian "bomb" at Eden Park on Saturday night.

Scott was with a handful of former players on the field shortly before kick-off in the test against the Wallabies when he was hit on the head by a stray ball.

The 88-year-old had just been waving to the crowd while doing a parade of the park and was lining up in a guard of honour as both teams continued their warm-ups.

"I was standing there and then, God, I got this smack on the top of the head with this ball and it was bloody hard," said the man who, in 17 tests, was regarded as utterly reliable under the high ball.

"The bloody Aussies, they deliberately marked me. It hit me on the bloody head.

"It's the first time I've never taken the ball cleanly, and if they had warned me, I would have bloody well caught it."

Despite getting a "hell of a shock", Scott proved he was still durable and suffered no injuries.

Paramedics rushed to his aid but he shook the incident off before he rose to his feet to applause and cheers.

"I'm as good as gold, but it was nice to be important for a moment when it all happened," Scott said yesterday from his home in Whangamata.

He still does not know who kicked the ball. "I have no idea. I guess it might be a bit of payback - my father was born in Australia."

He said he bore no malice against the Australians.

Scott, who has concerns about the modern game - including night-time matches, the loss of rucking and the touch-crouch-engage policy for scrums - was reasonably happy with the All Blacks' 22-16 win.

But he said the New Zealand side would be up against it when they played South Africa next weekend.

"The Springboks are a bit like the Aussies. They play an attacking type of game, more so than what we do. We are a bit mechanical.

"I think it will be a pretty tough battle. We don't tend to dominate the way we used to. We don't dominate because half the forwards are out in the backs."

Scott, who caught up with many of his old mates at an All Black capping dinner on Friday night, played his last test against France in Paris in 1954.