KEY POINTS:
From all Black to house husband - it's not a journey many make but then Terry Wright was always a different kind of All Black.
Newly returned to his home in Singapore after heading a New Zealand tour group to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, one of Auckland's
and the All Blacks' most prolific tryscorers, is settling back into managing six-year-old James and three-year-old Alexandra. Meanwhile wife Lindsay focuses on her job as head of business development and strategy for Deutsche Bank in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region.
Wright, now 44 and still regarded as one of the most efficient wingers and finishers in Auckland and All Black rugby, is a trained accountant. But he has largely parked his career in favour of following Lindsay in hers, with Deutsche Bank postings that have seen them in Sydney, Tokyo and now Singapore.
"It's not something I ever imagined I'd be doing but it has been great," says Wright of his house husbandry. "It's important, too.
"Kids are great but they need a lot of time and work and we want them to grow up knowing where they come from and to have certain values - and that wouldn't be happening if we were both working. I think it's really important, what I'm doing, and I'm enjoying it."
Not that rugby is ever too far away from the Wright perspective. He coaches the rugby section at the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) - a fine old establishment with a rich history, four rugby teams and a compelling mixture of competitive and social rugby - and he was one of many former All Blacks squiring a tour group to watch the All Blacks' ill-fated 2007 RWC campaign.
Even in these days of high scoring, Wright still sits just outside the top 10 All Black test tryscorers of all time - his 18 tries in 30 tests is ahead of Zinzan Brooke but just behind Stu Wilson and Frank Bunce. Even more remarkably, he scored 112 tries in 135 matches for Auckland between 1984-1993 and scored a record 53 Ranfurly Shield tries in 52 Shield matches during Auckland's massive run with that trophy.
Renowned as a finisher, the pencil-slim Wright allegedly weighed 75kg (many thought it was much less than that) and the chances would be equally slim of him making it to the All Blacks if he was playing in today's defence-dominated, bash-and-crash, extra-loose-forward duties for backs. Stronger frames are de rigeur for today's game and Wright always looked as if the strong winds which have buffeted New Zealand recently might have swept him away.
Not that his lack of bulk ever stopped him using his considerable speed to score or his efficient boot to clear and, surprisingly for one so comparatively frail when stacked up next to Auckland and All Black team-mate John Kirwan, making tackles.
However, he had a different problem to tackle when his tour group arrived in Cardiff just three days ahead of the recent ill-fated quarter-final in Cardiff.
"A lot of those people had paid about $40,000 minimum to go on that trip, by the time you factor in spending money," says Wright. "It was the trip of a lifetime for many of them and - I don't know, I'm guessing - but I'd say some of them had borrowed some money and then we get there just in time for that.
"It was totally devastating - we were three days out of 21 into the tour and they had to face up to something that wasn't in the brochure.
"However, we went to the Fiji-South Africa quarter-final and that was an amazing game and it just helped put some smiles back on faces; it was just inspiring, a tonic. Also, while the All Blacks' loss was difficult, most of my group were very good sorts and quite independent people and they soon adapted to getting on and enjoying what they were doing."
As for the All Black loss, Wright puts it down to three issues: they forgot or overlooked their game against France, rotation and reconditioning meant they were ill-prepared for the knockout stages, and selection issues.
For the last, Wright says he found it ironic and barely understandable that the All Blacks had played, for the third World Cup in a row, a fullback at centre and wonders if Leon MacDonald had been carrying an injury too.
"I thought Conrad Smith was always a long shot - he never did anything, for me, that suggested that he was the No 1 choice and, when they decided Isaia Toeava wasn't it, that left them with a big hole.
"But mainly it was that they had plenty of opportunity to win that game - but they seemed to be playing for penalties. That's how England play. I think they [the All Blacks] overlooked their game."
Back in Singapore, Wright discovers that the SCC made it to the final of the local competition, only to lose to rivals Bedok. There might have been a little bit too much confidence, he says he's been told.
That smacks a little bit of the All Blacks too but at least Wright has his own grounding mechanism - James and Alexandra.
