Pinetree’s Taranaki connection
A tall man walking down a New Plymouth street nearly 80 years ago is the inspiration behind the nickname of one of New Zealand’s greatest All Blacks.
Sir Colin Meads, 81, died on Sunday morning and while much is known of his All Black exploits, the origins of his famous nickname Pinetree are not so well known.
Ex-Taranaki rugby player and fellow All Black Roger Boon, 82, believes he was the first to give Meads the nickname Pinetree.
The pair were part of the New Zealand Colts team that toured Australia and Ceylon in 1955 and it was in that year when Boon claims to have first used the woody moniker for Meads.
‘‘In the 1940s I lived on Cameron St near New Plymouth Boys’ High School and there was a very straight and very tall man who used to walk down our street a lot.
‘‘I’m not sure what his real name was even, but you’d never want to sit behind him in a theatre,’’ Boon said.
Boon said he and fellow Taranaki rugby player Ross Brown used to call the tall man Whistling Pinetree.
‘‘And it just came out one day when we were looking at Meads,’’ he said.
‘‘I think I might have been talking to Ross Brown and said how much that kind of name would suit Colin.
‘‘The fact he was from the King Country, which had loads of timber back then was also ironic.’’
Boon, who had the nickname Rouge because his face always went red when he did anything physical, said not only was Meads built like a tree at 102 kilograms and 1.92 metres tall, but he was also very competitive and always played hard.
‘‘He had the strength and the speed as well as the size to go with it,’’ he said.
He remembered a Ranfurly Shield game in 1958 that Taranaki played against King Country in which he and both Meads brothers played. Taranaki just scrapped home 15 -11.
‘‘It was a ding-dong battle, a real rugged game and they had us on the ropes.
‘‘King Country were disappointed they didn’t win it.
‘‘Colin was a big threat that day,’’ Boon said.
Boon said Meads joked in the after match speeches that if the Taranaki team wanted to keep the Shield longer they’d need to toughen up.
‘‘Although he came off second best that day, he always had to have the last laugh,’’ Boon said.