Lochore pays tribute to ‘world class’ team-mate
Sir Brian Lochore has reflected on ‘‘the only downer’’ of his time playing alongside Sir Colin Meads for the All Blacks.
Lochore played alongside Meads in the black jersey through the 1960s and in the early 1970s - with the two being captain and vicecaptain for the side’s 1970 tour of South Africa, in which the All Blacks won just one of four test matches.
‘‘I guess we could only call that tour disappointing from his and my point of view. I was captain, he was vice-captain, and it was probably the only downer we had during our career together,’’ Lochore said.
During the tour, Meads famously played on in a match despite suffering an arm injury which was later confirmed as a break.
‘‘He didn’t know how bad it was. Obviously it was sore, but he didn’t know it was broken. He would have had a bit of soreness or pain, but he was strong enough to work through it, I guess.’’
Because of the injury, the tough-as-teak lock was forced to miss the second of four test matches against South Africa on the 24-match tour.
‘‘It was the only time I never played with him in a test match in my life. I played in his position in the second test and, well we missed him, but we actually won that test.
‘‘We missed him of course, you always miss your best players, but we ended up winning that test.’’
Meads died at Te Kuiti hospital on Sunday morning at the age of 81 after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He is survived by wife Verna, their children Karen, Kelvin, Rhonda, Glynn and Shelley, their 14 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Since news of his death broke on Sunday afternoon, tributes to the greatest All Black of the 20th century have flooded in from around the world.
‘‘It’s a sad day for all of us, the Meads family in particular, but obviously New Zealand rugby as a whole.
Lochore paid tribute to his former team mate, and said there were few who could do what Meads did on the rugby pitch.
‘‘He’s endear to all those who understand rugby because of his performances on the field, no doubt about that,’’ Lochore said.
‘‘And the fact that he played over a long period of time - something like 12 years at the national level is a massive amount of time and particularly in those days when it was amateur and you had another career as well.
‘‘That’s the reason he’s revered for what he is - his playing performance and the length of time he played at that level.’’
Lochore, who came into the All Blacks ‘‘in awe’’ of the already established Meads in 1963, said he believed Meads deserved to be inducted into World Rugby’s Hall of Fame much earlier than 2014.
‘‘I think he should have been there years earlier. Clearly he was a world class player when he played.’’