World of Boxing and Rugby Union
Outside-centre
3. Bruce Robertson
New Zealand rugby has had few midfield backs as elegant and as gifted as the tall, lithely built Bruce Robertson who through most of the 1970s and into the early 80s was pretty much an automatic All Black selection.
There were, however, a few glitches to his international record. He suffered many serious injuries which caused him to miss tests and also ruled him out of the 1979 tour of England and Scotland.
He was inexplicably overlooked, too, for the 1980 tour of Australia, the then coach Eric Watson being among a small minority who perceived some sort of defensive weaknesses in his game. They were not apparent to most other judges who felt that the fact Robertson was not a punishing tackler was more than offset by his superb sense of positional play and his exceptional attacking ability and skills. His original omission remains one of New Zealand rugby's great selection blunders. But because of injuries Robertson was sent to Austrlaia in 1980 joining the team in time for the second and third tests. In the second test he was immediately effective launching a marvellous counter attack which brought hooker Hika Reid as good a try as has been scored by the All Blacks before or since.
As a centre Robertson was much loved by his wings and the likes of Bryan Williams, Grant Batty, Stu Wilson and Bernie Fraser were all unanimous in their praise of his impeccable service, judgement and selflessness. The number of tries these wings scored at international level owed much to Robertson. But he also managed four himself and as a deft kicker of the ball he landed two dropped goals.
Aged only 19, he made the Counties side in 1971 and as an almost complete unknown made a huge impact when suddenly brought into the North Island side for that year's interisland match.
He was chosen in 1972 for the All Blacks' internal tour and made his test debut in that year's series against the Wallabies. He, Batty and Williams, despite their youth, formed a lethal three quarter trio on the 1972-73 tour of Britain and France,
Robertson probably reached his peak in the 1977 series against the British Lions and then on the Grand Slammers' tour of Britain in 1978.
He had also been outstanding on the tour of South Africa in 1976 and undoubtedly should have been awarded a penalty try when illegally brought down off the ball when he seemed certain to score. Robertson, though a mild mannered man, was embittered by his 1976 experiences in South Africa, both for the non award of penaly tries for Springbok offences and his personal abhorrence of apartheid. On principle Robertson joined the then test captain Graham Mourie in being unavailable for the series against the Springboks in New Zealand in 1981.
Robertson's last appearance for the All Blacks was in the 1981 test against Scotland at Eden Park and he bowed out on an appropriately high note, scoring a try himself and with his dashing running helping Wilson score three. Robertson finished with 102 All Black matches, including 34 tests. Click here to add your own text and edit me. I’m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you.