Otago man coached Juniors to beat ABs
Otago stalwart Eric Watson, who coached the All Blacks in 1980, has died in Dunedin. He was 91.
Watson coached the All Blacks to Australia in 1980, then later in the year to Wales.
He coached Otago, then the New Zealand under-23 side, which upset the All Blacks in 1973.
Watson was added to the Otago Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014 after coaching and selecting the All Blacks, the New Zealand Juniors to victory over the All Blacks, Otago and having a long cricket career for the province.
Watson coached Otago for nine years, the Juniors for seven winters, and the All Blacks for two years. He quit the job after the unbeaten seven-match tour to North America and Wales in 1980.
Wales were beaten 23-3 at Cardiff Arms Park, in what was the last game of his tenure, with long absences from home on pay of $11 a day hurting his Dunedin signwriting business.
His Otago teams were know for their furious rucking and propensity to run the ball. He played two games for the province as a midfield back.
His All Blacks coaching career hit a road bump when his side were beaten 2-1 in Australia in 1980. As in the 1995 World Cup, the All Blacks were struck down with food poisoning before the Sydney decider.
‘‘About eight of the players were affected fairly badly but we all agreed there would be no moaning. We never used it as an excuse. Ray Harper [manager] came to me on the morning of the test and told me how sick some of the boys were,’’ Watson told the Otago Daily Times.
‘‘I gave the team talk as usual but it was the deadest team talk I ever gave. If it had been a boxing match it would have been postponed.’’
Graham Mourie was among Watson’s juniors in the victory over the All Blacks in 1973, and later captained his All Black sides.
He played cricket for Otago from the 1947-48 season until 1960, often opening the batting with New Zealand great Bert Sutcliffe.
His highest first class score was 103, in a career in which he scored 1779 runs at 21.43 and took 41 wickets with his right-armed medium paces bowling, at a cost of 30.46 runs each.
Watson also represented Otago at bowls.