Rugby: Softer side of tough fullback

Fergie McCormick kicked 121 points for the All Blacks in 16 tests. Photo / File

Canterbury hardman has recently ended a stint as a women’s rugby coach

As a player, Fergie McCormick was known for his uncompromising approach and fierce loyalty, and in his retirement, those qualities still shine through.

McCormick's career for Canterbury spanned 1958-75. During that time, he also played 44 matches for the All Blacks, 16 of them tests.

The 75-year-old now spends his time tending sheep and cattle on a rural lifestyle block near Lincoln, having just stepped down from coaching women's club rugby. It was something he got into through his daughter.

"She started off playing for Waihora," he says. "When she left, she played for High School Old Boys and they didn't have a coach, so I started there. And then Linwood didn't have a coach, so I went and coached the Linwood girls."

The move to Linwood was something of a homecoming. McCormick played for the club for 18 years in a career that overlapped with another All Black, Canterbury and Linwood stalwart, Tane Norton.

McCormick first made the All Blacks in 1965 for the fourth test against the Springboks. Although they won that test, McCormick would have to wait another two frustrating years before he got another crack in the black jersey.

"I was working at the Belfast freezing works [and] I had a lot of league mates who worked beside me on the chain," he says. "They were putting pressure on me to go to Aussie to play professional league."

McCormick dismissed his mates' talk and went on to make the 1967 tour of Britain. He had some star turns for the All Blacks, including a then-record haul of 24 points against Wales at Eden Park in 1969.

But the enduring memory of his international career came during the spiteful 1970 tour of South Africa, when McCormick was accused of stiff-arming Springbok wing Syd Nomis in Cape Town.

Nomis lost a few teeth in the collision, but McCormick is keen to set the record straight.
"A lot of that is bullshit," he says of the legend created by the incident.

"He was a very quick winger and he kicked over my head. I crossed his path and put my arm out [but] he actually ran into me. I didn't stiff-arm him. The papers got hold of it and blew it out of proportion."

McCormick says he has clippings of press photos that show his back turned to Nomis at the point of impact.

But the parochial South African media whipped up a frenzy of outrage, which set the scene for a brutal third test in Port Elizabeth.

"In the first minutes of the game, they gave me an up-and-under and I got cleaned out by Piet Greyling and the flanker who were just a wee bit offside - like 10 or 20 metres," he laughs. "I got hurt pretty badly but I lasted the game."

McCormick played in an era of "ruthless" rugby and is glad the game has been cleaned up.

But one thing that hasn't changed is his love for Canterbury and the province's rich rugby
history. He goes to almost every game at AMI Park and says the core of Canterbury's famously loyal support remains.

"I'm Canterbury through and through," he says. "You'll never change me on that. If Canterbury were the worst side in New Zealand, I'd still be following them."