All Blacks player a formidable opponent
‘Most terrifying figure to meet on a rugby field’
Stan “Tiny” Hill, who has died aged 92, was one of the toughest All Blacks of his era, and was once dropped from the team for being “too physical.”
He played 19 times for the All Blacks, as a lock or flanker, 11 of them in Tests, between 1955 and 1959, and captained his country twice.
Hill’s standing was such that, on the day of his death, the current New Zealand team at the Rugby World Cup in Japan wore black armbands in their match against Canada.
A 30-year soldier, Hill was described by a contemporary as “the most terrifying figure to meet on a rugby field” — an accolade at a time when the game was a rugged freefor-all, over which referees had little control and no television replays to help them.
Stanley Frank Hill was born April 9, 1927 into a farming family of Maori stock on New Zealand’s North Island.
His first experience of rugby was fairly primitive: “Most of us were farmers with families, so the only time we could get together was at 11.30 p.m. We trained under lights until 1 a.m. We didn’t take it too seriously.”
He joined the Canterbury club, where he helped take the prized Ranfurly Shield in 1953 and helped the team defend its title 23 times.
In one All Blacks trial, he floored the redoubtable prop Kevin Skinner, a former heavyweight champion. “He punched me on the chin in the line-out,” Hill said later, “so I whacked him one back, and it was a real beauty. He was none too pleased, but we became friends.”
The peak of his career was in 1957, when he was vice-captain of the All Blacks who toured Australia and was captain against Queensland and Western New South Wales.
Even after retiring from international rugby, Hill failed to keep his fists to himself. In a 1960 game, he complained that an opposition player was tugging him in the line-out. “What are you going to do about it, grandad?” the rival asked. He left the pitch on a stretcher.
Hill went on to coach Canterbury, became an All Blacks selector and was patron of the Rolleston club where he lived. He was appointed MBE in 1996.
He was married for 62 years to Marge, who died in 2017, and is survived by a daughter, two sons and a grandson.