World of Boxing and Rugby Union
Lock
3. Colin Meads
When I started out with this website I stated that many of the players would be my contemporaries because they are the ones I know best. Trawling through match reports or old footage from the middle of the last century held no appeal. The exception? This great man. He simply had to be included as one of the greatest All Blacks who has ever lived coupled with being instrumental in the development of the great Martin Johnson.
'Pinetree' and no nickname was more apt because for nearly 14 years in All Black rugby, Meads firstly as a backrow forward but more constantly as a lock, was a towering presence, one of the best and most inspiring players New Zealand rugby has known in any position.
Throughout the 1960s, a golden era in All Black rugby, Meads became the personification of the New Zealand style of the game. He was rugged and uncompromising and as the All Black prototype he quickly became a genuine folk hero. A farming product of backblocks New Zealand, Meads epitomised the nation and the rugby of his era, one which is in stark and somwhat nostalgic contrasts to the way the game and society with it has evolved under professionalism.
For Meads was to achieve his status as a rugby icon while always playing at representative level for his small, rural-based provincial union, King Country.
Meads was no bigger than many of his contemporaries and at at about 1.92m and around 100kg he
would be regarded as too small as a lock for modern rugby. But he always gave the impression of being a giant and he complemented his natural athleticism with a rare ferocity. Inevitably he had the reputation of being what euphemistially is called 'an enforcer' and certainly he was involved in his share of controversial incidents and in 1967 he became only the second All Black ordered off in a test for dangerous play against Scotland at Murrayfield. For many years, too, he was seen as a villain by Australians because they believed that his reckless action in trying to pull Wallaby halfback Ken Catchpole from a ruck prematurely ended that player's career. There were other occasions when Meads erred with an indiscreet punch. But for all that, while Meads would never be intimidated and was quick to take action if one of his team-mates was suffering from someone else's illegality, he was never a deliberately dirty player. Such was his power, commitment and determination he never really had to be.
By 1956 Meads was on the brink of All Black honours, playing in national trials and for the North Island. While he was not risked, wisely perhaps because he was just 20, in the tests against the Springboks his promotion to the national side was by now a formality and in 1957 he was taken on the tour of Australia. He played in ten of the matches and was capped in both the internationals against the Wallabies
From 1957 onwards Meads was pretty much an automatic All Black selection. Meads had an outstanding tour of South Africa in 1960, among other notable deeds scoring the try which clinched the second test win. By now he was established as a lock and over the next decade, he held a mortgage on a test spot.
In 1963-64 Meads had another phenomenal tour, being one of the stars of the formidable pack fielded on the tour of Britain and France. He then claimed series wins in 1965 and 1966 over the Springboks and the Lions and then on another successful British tour in 1967.
Meads was made vice captain of the All Blacks for the 1970 tour of South Africa and though he was 34 it seemed he was poised on another triumphant tour. Unfortunately, his arm was broken early in the tour and though he recovered and appeared in the final two tests he was not quite the force of old.
In 1971 he led an inexperienced All Black team to a narrow series loss to the Lions and that was to be the end of his long and illustrious career.
Of the 361 first class matches in which Meads played from 1955 to 1973 133, including 55 tests, were for the All Blacks. He was the first to reach a half century of tests and while that figure has become commonplace with the growing number of tests, in Meads' career it was a colossal feat and considerably more than any of his playing contemporaries. Had he played in the modern professional era with at least 12 tests a year Meads would easily have exceeded 100.
In 1973 he appeared in two President XV matches against the All Blacks in games which were billed, albeit unofficially, as his farewell to New Zealand rugby. At Athletic Park the Meads-led President's XV upset the All Blacks then led by Ian Kirkpatrick.
You now know why he's here; if I was a generation older he could easily be my number one lock of all time