KEY POINTS:
"Quick - get some ice, Sid's rolled his ankle." The ice finally arrived, 20 minutes later - from the local dairy.
But it was far too late. Sid Going's ankle had swollen to almost twice its normal size and, as a result, he missed the first two matches
of the British section of the 1972-73 All Blacks tour of North America, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France.
The All Blacks lost their second match in Britain, to champion Welsh club Llanelli coached by Carwyn James and which contained many of the successful British Lions team which toured New Zealand in 1971. It was a setback in what was a most difficult tour.
Covering the tour as a reporter, I realised how the All Blacks' management team was hopelessly inadequate. The 30-strong team played 32 matches from mid-October 1972 to mid-February, 1973. They had one manager, the late Ernie Todd, and one coach, former All Black lock Bob Duff. Two others joined the All Blacks in England, a young baggage man and an elderly secretary, both appointed by the Rugby Union.
These were the days of "the great amateur game", as we were often reminded by New Zealand rugby administrators. They contrast to what we have since the game has gone professional.
On this present All Blacks tour of England, France and Wales, the 32-strong team has a supporting cast of 16 - for just four matches.
The management team comprises head coach Graham Henry, assistant coaches Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, manager Darren Shand, selector and father figure Brian Lochore, doctor Deb Robinson, physiotherapist Peter Gallagher, muscle therapist George Duncan, mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka, skills coach Mick Byrne, scrum coach Mike Cron, strength and conditioning coach Graham Lowe, assistant strength and conditioning coach Ashley Jones, analyst Andrew Sullivan, baggageman Errol Collins and media manager Scott Compton.
But... back to that 1972-73 All Blacks tour. A couple of days before the first match in Britain, against Western Counties, I asked Todd if ice was available at practices and games.
Surprised, Todd replied: "What would you want ice for - to put in their drinks at halftime?"
I explained, from my knowledge of physiology gained as a decathlete at the Commonwealth Games, that if a player sprained an ankle or tore a hamstring, it was common to apply ice to the injury immediately, preventing swelling and internal bleeding and aiding recovery.
Within 30 minutes of this conversation, Going had badly sprained his ankle warming up for training. Consequently he was unable to play against Llanelli.
Another early tour incident convinced me rugby really was in the dark ages. Tane Norton, the All Blacks' top hooker and, like Going, a crucial member of the team, was having trouble with a nagging Achilles tendon injury.
A decade earlier, I had a similar injury when on the track team at the University of Southern California, where I was studying physical education, including the prevention and treatment of sports injuries.
I asked Norton if he would like me to tape his tendon so he could train with less discomfort. He said "Yes", so I asked the baggageman if he had any tape.
He said he had one roll only - then reluctantly handed it to me and asked me not to use it all as it cost two shillings. Here was the All Blacks' No 1 hooker begrudgingly given part of a roll of tape costing 20 cents when the Rugby Union stood to make more than $3 million from the All Blacks tour.
In 1963, the budget for tape alone for the University of Southern California's sports teams was US$50,000. Every footballer and basketballer was taped before all practices and matches.
The coaching of the 1972-73 All Blacks also left much to be desired. But it wasn't all Bob Duff's fault. How much better to have had with the team an assistant with in-depth knowledge of backline play.
Bryan Williams, who had a sensational tour of South Africa with the 1970 All Blacks, agrees.
"Apart from Sid [Going], we had a very young and inexperienced backline on the 1972-73 tour," Williams says. "Joe Karam was just 20 at the start of the tour while Grant Batty, Bruce Robertson and Ian Hurst were 20 or 21.
"We had great talent in the backs but it needed to be nurtured and developed. I'm certain the team would have performed much better had a backline coach been there to assist Bob Duff."
Williams is also critical of the lack of medical back-up on this and other All Black tours he was on during the 1970s. In 1977, the All Blacks toured Italy and France - again with only a coach, Jack Gleeson, and manager, Ron Don, plus a French liaison officer.
In the first test against France in Toulouse, Williams severely dislocated his hip and was stretchered off. The French liaison officer ordered that Williams be sent back to the team's hotel, not to hospital.
It was only at the insistence of Don and All Black No 8 Lawrie Knight, who was a doctor, that Williams ended up in hospital, where he had major surgery.
"I was told later that had I not gone to hospital for the operation, I might have lost my leg as gangrene could have set in as a result of lack of blood flow to my hip," Williams says.
So while there may sometimes seem to be overkill with the size of the management teams recently, there is little doubt it pays off.