100 Greatest All Blacks - 1st XV: No 14 Andy Haden

Wynne Gray talks to All Black Andy Haden about his career in the black jersey.

Life in the All Blacks for Andy Haden began in a small New York Stadium and finished in Buenos Aires.

It was a globetrotting theme which followed Haden in 41 tests and another 76 games as he married his sporting skills and business acumen to challenge opponents and confront administrators who ran the game.

Initially Haden set out to be a vet but when he moved out of rural Wanganui to Auckland he swapped to geology studies which fitted around his blossoming rugby life.

Haden's All Black career was in two parts, a beginning in 1972 with no great uptake until he made his test debut five years later. He listened to eight All Black coaches in his 14 year stint and at the start, was not convinced his calling would be in international rugby.

The environment changed as players gained more input into the sort of dynamic discussions Haden sees with the current All Black group.

Controversy has shadowed Haden since the 1978 test against Wales in Cardiff when he dived out of the lineout and gained a penalty for Brian McKechnie to kick the winning goal.

Haden says the idea developed as a remedy for the repeated obstruction the All Black jumpers faced throughout the tour and when he dived, referee Roger Quittendon told him he had penalized his marker, Alan Martin, for the foul.

"They climbed over me all day, that's why we came up with the remedy we did," he said.

In a stoppage before the lineout Haden told Mourie he was going to dive before he made his dramatic plunge, noisy and expansive.

"The penalty wasn't for that, it was for all the other lineouts they had obstructed me all the way through the game and I felt absolutely justified. I also felt you don't go back to your dressing room asking yourself what more I have done to win the game, don't be a mug."

Haden was centre stage once more in the dramatic home series with the Springboks in 1981.

"We learnt a bit about handling the pressure across the series, the quality of rugby was outstanding and as good an All Black team I played in," he says. "There is no more difficult time to find concentration when it is most needed and it was then."

The best locks he played alongside were Peter Whiting, Frank Oliver then Gary Whetton in the '81 series, while at the start of his career Springbok Louis Moolman and then Schlak Burger and Alan Martin towards the end were great rivals.

Haden's management career has run parallel with the All Blacks as he traversed the globe. At one stage the agent provocateur worked for three years as a marketing agent for the rugby union.

However his temperament was better suited to making others think rather than sitting in committee rooms.

Does he think the game is in good shape?

There was a great depth of players in New Zealand, the All Blacks were magnificently prepared and well led. They were entering the next stage of professionalism and there was a better balance about the pay structure.

Haden thinks World Cups are a great addition to the calendar. A tremendous debt was owed to NZ administrators like Dick Littlejohn, Tom Johnson, Ron Don and Richie Guy who maintained progress after Northern Hemisphere administrators tried to sabotage the 1987 "trial run" events.

Statistics
Date of birth: 26 October 1950
Position: Lock
Matches: 117
Tests: 41
Test debut: 18 June 1977 v British & Irish Lions, Wellington
Last test: 2 November 1985 v Argentina, Buenos Aires
Province: Auckland
Test tries: 2
Test points: 8