Pine Tree A True Giant Of The Game Has Fallen

Sir Colin Earl Meads – farmer and All Blacks legend

Born – Cambridge, Waikato, New Zealand: 03 June, 1936

Died – Te Kuiti: 20 August, 2017, aged 81

THE entire Rugby Union world is today mourning one of the true greats, Colin “Pine Tree” Meads, the legendary All Black forward, who has lost his year-long battle against Pancreatic Cancer.

In rugby, as in all contact sports, there are “hard men”, nobody was ever harder than “Piney”, the furrowed-brow “enforcer” in the All Blacks' boiler-house from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. He gave no quarter, and asked none in return, a rampaging force of nature driving-on the black tide of New Zealand packs.

The Enforcer

But, off the park he had a keen sense of humour and in his later years his cabaret turn round New Zealand, South Africa and the UK with old sparring partners Frik Du Preez of South Africa and Ireland's own Willie John McBride was a truly fun-filled and joyous celebration of the rugby family – given the way the trio had spent years knocking lumps off each other.

He was a farmer, a man of the soil, raised on the family farm outside Ti Kuiti in the King Country in New Zealand's North Island. From playing at school, he graduated to the small Waitete club and, still a teenager into the King Country representative team. From there it was a small step to representing the North Island in the then annual North v South games.

The Greatest All Black

These matches were de facto All Blacks trials and having already played for the Junior All Blacks on a tour to Ceylon, as Sri Lanka then was, in 1957, Meads made the first of an eventual 133 appearances in the legendary All Black jersey with the silver fern. Fifty-five of these appearances, a then record, were in full Tests, following the first, against Australia in 1957.

He faced the British Lions in 1959, again in 1966 and for a third time, as captain, in the legendary 1971 series, which the Lions won. He also played regularly against the South African Springboks in some of the most-violent series in rugby history, as well as regularly taking on: “The neighbours across the ditch”, in Bledisloe Cup clashes with the Australians.

His younger brother Stan was a regular lock partner for the Waitete, King Country and the All Blacks, while his regular forward partners with the All Blacks, Sir Wilson Whineray and Sir Brian Lohore were life-long friends.

He famously broke an arm, but played on, during one game in the bitterly-contested 1970 Tour of South Africa, while he left his mark on UK rugby with the 1964 and 1967 All Blacks. On that second tour he was controversily sent-off against Scotland at Murrayfield.

He swung his foot at a loose ball, just as Scotland stand-off Davie Chisholm bent to pick it up. There was no contact, but, Meads had already been spoken-to for over-aggressive ruckng, so he was dismissed for dangerous play. He went to his grave regretting that he had let-down the All Blacks, but, he never criticised Irish referee Kevin Kelleher, the man who sent him off.

He inspired awe in friend and foe. Erle Mitchell, the young Edinburgh University lock who marked him that day at Murrayfield admitted: “At one point I told him to: 'Fuck Off, but,' I said it quietly.”

By then, he was seen as the embodiment of the dour, unsmiling giants in black, but, as a young tyro, he had been criticised as: “Not hard enough for the second row”, and played as a “loosie”, at flanker and number eight. Given how his career unfolded, that early criticism seems crazy.

He was always a farmer first

Meads and his brother, were, of course, farmers first – rugby players second. Their daily toil gave them natural strength, but, when it was suggested that they might benefit from the new sports science of weight-training, Meads decided to: “give it a go”.

He reported how, at his first weight-training session, he was asked if he wanted to get strong or look good.

“Don't be stupid, I've always been an ugly bugger, so make me stronger” was the response, as he got to work. Later, forced to clear scrub land to qualify for New Zealand government framing grants, he and Stan each lost a stone in weight as they worked with scythe and sickle to clear the necessary land.

This exposure to the realities of running a small hill farm enabled him, on a night in Skipton during the 1967 Tour, when drink was taken, to explain the facts of farming life in New Zealand to some North Yorkshire farmers, who he thought were feather-bedded by their subsidies.

Being the losing captain in the legendary 1971 series against the Lions was a blow to Meads, but, he accepted the defeat with dignity. However, he realised his time was coming to an end and after leading a side in an internal farewell tour of New Zealand, he hung-up his boots. Too-early said some, convinced the unhappy and controversial 1972-73 All Blacks Tour of the British Isles might have been a lot-happier, had Meads been there to police the hotter heads in the party.

He went back to farming,but, rugby would not let him go. He became Chairman of King Country, did a a bit of coaching and was elected to the three-man All Blacks selection committee, before being controversially sacked after agreeing to manage the rebel New Zealand Cavaliers.tour to the then outcast South Africa in 1987.

He tholed his assizes and, in 1994 he was back on the New Zealand Rugby Council, before managing the All Blacks to the final of the 1995 World Cup back in South Africa, a country he loved touring, in spite of a lack of success there.

He stepped down from rugby in 1996, spending the remainder of his life on charitable causes, and as a hugely-popular talking head about the game he loved.

Arise Sir Colin

Made MBE in 1971, he later collected the New Zealand decoration: Companion of the New Zealand order of Merit, and, in 2009, when New Zealand restored titular honours, he became Sir Colin Meads.

McCaw and Meads - the two greatest All Blacks

Richie McCaw is today, widely held to be: “The Greatest-Ever All Black”. That's not an opinion with which McCaw agrees, he believes Meads, officially New Zealand's Rugby Player of the 20^th Century, will always be The Greatest. Needless to say, Meads is in both World Rugby's International Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Lady Verna Meads, his wife of over 57-years, and Colin have five children, Karen, Kelvin, Rhonda – who followed her father by becoming an internationalist, with the New Zealand Silver Ferns, the national netball team; Glynn - dubbed "Pinecone", when he followed his father into playing for an managing the King Country XV; and Shelly, who also played international sport, for the New Zealand women's basketball team. He is survived by Lady Verna, his children, 14 grand-children and great-grandchildren.

Meads and Lady Verna at the unveiling of his statue

Sir Colin and Lady Meads sold the family farm in Te Kuiti, to relocate to a beach-front “bach” in the Bay of Plenty, but, he subsequently returned to spend his final days in a house in Te Kiuti where he died, and where, earlier this year he opened a museum and unveiled a statue in his honour.

Of all the many honours he won, however, perhaps the one he most-cherished was bestowed by the general public in New Zealand. They saw Colin Meads as: "A Good bloke" - there is no higher honour in the Land of the Long White Cloud.