Battling the Lions: The $20 distraction from test match tension

Lee Stensness scrags Gavin Hastings in the 3rd test of 1993

It's 12 years ago since the Lions were last here and therefore 12 years since I made my test debut in the third and deciding test of the series. Twelve years - damn, that must mean I'm old!

Age notwithstanding, the memories of that day and indeed that week are still strong. That week/game was the highlight of my career. I was lucky that it was such an important game as that made it all the more memorable but also lucky that at the time I perhaps didn't realise how important it was. Sure, it was an important game to me as it was my first of few tests but its historical significance wasn't as apparent to me then as it is now. Many reputations and careers would have been vastly different if the All Blacks had lost. Even the mighty Sean Fitzpatrick's position was under threat before that decider, but not after.

Selection for me came as a surprise, "a bolt from the blue", as quoted in the Herald. Corny I know, but it was a huge surprise. I had missed selection the week before, for the second test, when I thought I had a better chance after Walter Little had been injured in the first test, so hadn't really considered it for the third test. I was with my boss driving to a meeting on the Monday morning when we heard it on the radio. He seemed happier about it than me, as I was just stunned. That afternoon was a barrage of media interviews and cheesy photos, then the next day into camp with the team. Some senior All Blacks have since said that that was the most pressurised week of their test careers - again, thankfully, I was oblivious to the magnitude of the pressure.

Of the match itself, I remember being amazed at how much doing the haka pumped me up before the kick-off. I was never a very aggressive player or person, but was very keen to smack someone in a red jersey at the end of the haka.

Midway through the first half came the moment that I am best remembered for, "that little left-foot chip kick for Frank Bunce to score" as people often say to me. In hindsight it was lucky, relying on a fortuitous bounce, and had it not bounced to Bunce, would have seen me as a "one-test wonder", as we were hot on attack and 10-0 down. However, in my defence, I could see that the fullback was out of position and it all turned out okay. Running back to halfway, I gave the Mehrtens middle-finger salute to the large section of Lions supporters in the north stand.

Later in the match, sometime during the second half, when the Lions had a scrum 5m from their line, I looked down and something caught my eye - it was $20 half-buried in the ground. My university student instincts took over and I shuffled over to it and stuffed it in my sock. That is the only time I ever found anything interesting on a rugby field during a game. A few years later I read in Laurie Mains' book that I told him I had spent it, and Laurie was unimpressed.

Well, that pissed me off because I still have that $20, complete with Eden Park sand still on it, so I don't know how he came up with his version of that story.

My most cherished memory of that day actually came after the match, when it was time to swap jerseys. You never swap your first test jersey so I was in a bit of a predicament in terms of how I was going to get a Lions one. Fitzy went into the Lions changing room to ask Jerry Guscott if he would give me his, but Guscott declined, which was fair enough as he wanted an All Black jersey in exchange.

So Fitzy gave me the Lions one he had swapped with his opposite. I was extremely grateful and still am to this day. That's a captain!

* Lee Stensness is a Herald on Sunday columnist