Wynne Gray's 50 greatest rugby moments: No.8

Buck Shelford in action against Wales at the 1987 Rugby World Cup. photo / Getty

It was a vaudeville end to a one-sided semifinal. The All Blacks were coasting to a 49-6 win against Wales and thinking about the ramifications for the 1987 World Cup final.

The trip to Brisbane had been a handy diversion from the growing fervour in New Zealand. Joe Stanley had been replaced because of a hamstring niggle but everything else was in order until a late maul.

There was a scuffle and Welsh lock Huw Richards clobbered his opposite Gary Whetton several times. Several All Blacks danced in to protect their teammate and Wayne Shelford felled Richards with one vicious right.

"If he wanted to start it, he should be prepared to continue it on," former Wallaby prop turned commentator Chris Handy opined about Richards.

Whetton tried to exaggerate his injuries to protect Shelford and shift the blame on to his Welsh rival.

After some magic water and help from the Welsh trainer, a wobbly Richards got to his feet and was ordered off by referee Kerry Fitzgerald -- probably the only time a player has been revived to be shown a red card.

It was the final indignity for Wales who were outplayed all over Ballymore by the All Blacks who had pace and adventure out wide and power up front as Shelford scored several pushover tries. But it was an anxious moment as Fitzgerald wandered back to talk to captain David Kirk. Fortunately for Shelford there was no second dismissal as the No 8 later revealed the referee couldn't rule on the retaliation because he had not seen the punch.

That's unlikely as Fitzgerald had a ringside view of both boxing bouts but his opinion cannot be checked as Fitzgerald collapsed and died in 1991 in his Brisbane office, six weeks after refereeing at the second World Cup.

Fitzgerald warned Shelford and accepted a touch judge's advice the All Black had acted in self-defence.

Shelford was luckier than Wallaby loosie David Codey who was sent off two days later by referee Fred Howard for his second offence after a late charge then some trampling in the Wallabies playoff loss to Wales.