Justin Marshall: Pinetree's contribution immense

Colin Meads playing with 3 year old Wayne Cooke taken on 13 March 1972 while Colin was recovering from a broken back sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Photo / photosport.nz

What Sir Colin 'Pinetree' Meads has done as a player, administrator, coach and manager is one of the greatest contributions that anyone will give the All Blacks.

I was very fortunate to come on to the All Black scene on the tour of France and Italy in 1995 when he was managing the team with Laurie Mains as coach - their last tour in connection with the All Blacks.

Pinetree made me very aware of what it meant to be an All Black and I recall clearly early on in that tour, as a young kid from Mataura, almost being too scared to look at him.

One night I was in a bar and he saw me and said, "boy, come and sit down for a pint", at which point my face went ashen white.

He had a formidable reputation as a player but also as a man who liked a beer.

I thought I was going quite well on my pint - I was about halfway through mine and he hadn't really touched his, but all of a sudden he had a "sip" and was level with me.

I decided then that I would be having only the one with him, but to be able to sit down one-on-one with him, a youngster at the start of his career in the presence of a legend of the game, was one of the highlights of my career.

Pinetree will be terribly missed and the game won't be the same without him. He was one of a kind.

SIR COLIN MEADS: 1936-2017
How Pinetree got his name
100 Greatest All Blacks - Colin Meads
Listen: Sir Colin Meads talks rugby, racing and beer
Colin Meads - don't call me Sir
Sir Colin Meads remembered: Five memorable moments
Colin Meads - don't call me Sir