All Black forgettables

The All Blacks touring party of 2004 remain one of the most discussed and controversial selections of recent times. Many fans and pundits have questioned the selection of several players and the 'cheapening' of the All Black jersey. Most discussions have raised the prospect of some - or even more than some - of the players not appearing for the All Blacks again after this tour.

But that circumstance has been apparent in many All Black touring teams over the last 30 years - as evidenced by the Herald on Sunday's touring team selected here. The criteria: All Blacks selected but who dropped off the national rugby radar like the proverbial stone in the last 30 years.

As these selections go back to 1974, there's some obvious concentrations - like 1976 - when teams were called All Blacks even though the test matches they played were against nations who, in those days, were not judged to be test status. In 1976, for example, a second All Black team was sent on tour to Argentina while the 1976 All Blacks were in South Africa. Some of those players - like All Black skipper Graeme Mourie - went on to have famous careers. Others were gone but not remembered.

Or there was the 1980 All Black team which played Fiji in Auckland - but which still gave out All Black jerseys even though most of the touring side to Australia were rested. Or the famous 1986 'Baby Blacks' team which was selected while most of the senior All Blacks were banned after the Cavaliers' tour of South Africa. The 'Baby Blacks' should not have beaten France but did anyway - and included players who reached an international high but who were never again required by the national selectors.

Some of the selections in the Herald on Sunday team have thus played a test match or even two while others have played several games for the All Blacks but no test matches. It is a team spanning the fast-changing dimensions of All Black rugby. For example, it was possible, during the 30-year selection span, for players like Wellington prop Laurence Hullena to play nine matches but no tests for the All Blacks over two tours. Meanwhile, current All Black Chris Jack has played 33 matches for the All Blacks - all test matches.

So the purpose here is not to play that well-known pub game 'Pick Your Worst All Black Team' nor to cast aspersions on the quality of those chosen. Rather it is to show that, for 30 years and longer, there are more than a few players who have been winning the All Black jersey and then dropping probably the only All Black to take the field but never play against foreign opposition

Among the most famous "forgotten All Blacks" are the twin kid wingers - Ken Taylor and Craig Wickes. Taylor played in that test match in 1980 against Fiji which wasn't a test match, as caps were not awarded, and it wasn't an All Black team - as it was called a New Zealand XV - but full All Black colours were awarded. Go figure.

Taylor had plenty of promise, scored two tries, was injured and then substituted by Wickes. Taylor never again got close to national selection and stopped playing first-class rugby in 1985.

Wickes, on the other hand, had an even more meteoric career. He had just 14 minutes of All Black-dom after replacing Taylor and also never appeared for the All Blacks again. Wickes was a schoolboy sensation - an outstanding athlete, he held the national schools 100m record for some years.

During one weekend he played for his province on the Sunday and for his school in a quadrangular tournament on Saturday and Monday. Injury cut short what might have been a famous All Black career - for reasons other than 14 minutes of being an All Black.

A more recent "minute-man" All Black was Wellington's Paul Steinmetz - called into John Mitchell's 2002 development tour of Britain as a replacement and who received 13 minutes of All Black rugby in the test against Wales, during which he barely touched the ball. Another hard-done-by Wellingtonian was Jason O'Halloran whose debut was ruined by a bereavement interrupting his 2000 tour to France and Italy - and he too received only a few minutes of All Black rugby as a replacement.

But perhaps the most bizarre story belongs to Wairarapa's Marty Berry. Some will argue that Berry does not deserve to be in a "most forgotten" or "most forgettable" All Black team ahead of rivals like Kurt Sherlock (Auckland, 0 tests, 3 matches) and Kieran Keane (Canterbury, 0 and 6 matches).

However, Berry got his first All Black cap by replacing Frano Botica in the dying seconds of the test against Australia in 1986. He had time only to chase the kick-off after he joined his All Black colleagues under the posts for a Wallaby conversion of a just-scored try. He became possibly the only All Black ever to have played a test career without actually touching the ball.

But it would be unkind to leave Berry's name in this context. He was a hard, uncompromising footballer, as evidenced by his selection in the All Black team to tour France later that year and again, as a surprise selection, in 1993. However, he never played in another test match.

Another bizarre All Black career belongs to dreadlocked Wellington flanker Kupu Vanisi. Josh Kronfeld was rested for a warm-up match by the All Blacks against New Zealand A - a match which was somehow given All Black status.

Vanisi never again got the call to national honours and is probably the only All Black never to have played against opposition from another country.

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