Taylor-made
New Zealand’s greatest sporting moments
In the wake of Ross Taylor’s stunning match-winning century for New Zealand against England at Dunedin, it got us thinking: what are New Zealand’s all-time best sporting performances?
It’s a highly subjective topic, and rating a rugby player against a golfer, against a swimmer, against a jockey is all but impossible. That said, here are some serious contenders, albeit by no means a complete list of New Zealand’s finest moments.
Greatest performances by an individual in a team include:
Daniel Carter for the All Blacks against the Lions at Wellington in 2005. A sensational display, which included 33 points in a 38-18 win: five penalties, two conversions and two tries, one a sideline sprint capped by a kick ahead for himself into the in-goal area.
Jonah Lomu for his sensational World Cup in 1995 but most notably his four-try haul in the semifinal against England in Cape Town. Life, and All Blacks rugby, was never quite the same after that.
Brendon McCullum’s fabulous triple century against India at the Basin Reserve in 2014, New Zealand’s first time past 300. And it also saved the test and won the series.
Richard Hadlee’s nine for 52 against Australia at Brisbane in 1985, the sixth best figures in test cricket history. He took 15-123 in the match, which helped set up an innings victory and led to back-to-back series wins over the Aussies, home and away, that summer.
Ross Taylor’s 181 not out off 145 balls at University Oval on Wednesday to carry New Zealand to a five-wicket win over England and keep the series alive for today’s decider in Christchurch. His 19th ODI ton and his best for the significance of the occasion — plus carrying a painful quad injury.
Okay, these are pairs, but we’ll let them in. Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who in their final race together won a second consecutive Olympic coxless pair title in Rio. They went unbeaten for eight years in the discipline, a staggering achievement.
Wynton Rufer is the best footballer New Zealand has produced. During his career in Europe he played in a European Cup Winners’ Cup final, in which he scored the second goal in Werder Bremen’s 2-0 win over Monaco. A prolific scorer, he was named Oceania Footballer of the Century.
Nathan Astle’s once-in-a-lifetime 222 against England at Lancaster Park in
2002. He simply kept hitting England’s best into the stands. There were 28 fours and 11 sixes in his
168-ball blitz. Still the fastest test double century, 153 balls. England won by 98 runs but Astle’s world record innings remains indelible.
Benji Marshall’s influential performance in the 2009 Rugby League World Cup final, when New Zealand pulled off one of the greatest upsets in history beating Australia 34-20.
Russell Coutts etched his name in the history of sailing, playing a major part in Team New Zealand’s first America’s Cup win in 1995 in San Diego with Black Magic.
Performances by an individual:
Peter Snell winning the third of his three Olympic gold medals, at Tokyo in 1964, when he decimated the 1500m field, striding away like a colossus to win by a distance. Three finals, three golds. Tough to beat.
John Walker won 1500m gold at Montreal in 1976, but a year earlier became the first athlete to run the mile in under 3m 50s. It was at Gothenburg on August 12, 1975, when Walker ran 3m 49.4s, fully 10s faster than Roger Bannister did in doing the unthinkable, a sub-four-minute mile 21 years earlier. “This was a far better run,” Snell said of Walker’s effort compared with Bannister’s.
Danyon Loader winning two gold medals in the 200m and 400m freestyle finals at the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. Simply too good in blue riband events.
Sarah Ulmer lit up the velodrome in Athens in 2004 when she whizzed around the circuit in 3m 24.5s to win the 3000m individual pursuit gold, and enhance a world mark she had already set in qualifying, 3m 26.4s.
Jack Lovelock, whose 1936 Olympic 1500m final in Berlin set the tone for New Zealand’s fabulous middle distance record. He won in a world record time of 3m 47.8s.
Mark Todd’s first eventing gold medal in Los Angeles in 1984. There he was, having a nervous puff as the final challenger knocked a rail, confirming his gold. Repeated it also on Charisma, the horse he called Podge, at Seoul four years later.
Bob Charles was New Zealand’s first great golfer and his stellar moment came at the 1963 Open championship when he won a playoff against American Phil Rogers to win at Royal Lytham.
Michael Campbell followed in Charles’ footsteps 42 years later when he held off Tiger Woods in a tense final round to win the US Open at Pinehurst, North Carolina, by two shots.
Lydia Ko announced herself on the world stage by winning the Evian Championship in France in 2015, becoming the youngest woman at 18 years, 4 months and 20 days to win a major championship.
Valerie Adams won the first of her two Olympic gold shotput medals at Beijing in 2008 and has a host of World Championship and Commonwealth Games titles to her credit.
And then there’s the in-betweens like. . .
The rowing eight gold medal at the Munich Olympics in 1972. The amateurs of New Zealand had bettered the full-timers of the Eastern bloc — and it was the first time God Defend New Zealand was played at an Olympics.
Big, hulking men on the top of the dais cried as did folks at home in New Zealand.
Triathletes Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty on a sweltering Athens day in 2004, when they gave New Zealand a rare one-two finish at the Olympics. The day you knew 600m out, New Zealand would win gold and silver.
The men’s K4 1000m kayak final at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Why that final? Because it involved all of Ian Ferguson, Alan Thompson, Paul MacDonald and Grant Bramwell, who dominated the regatta. Ferguson and Thompson also won individual golds but the team collective makes it one of New Zealand’s greatest Olympic achievements. The finest man and horse moment for New Zealand — Kiwi and jockey Jim Cassidy come from the back of the field to win the 1983 Melbourne Cup. The commentator had ignored the horse until the final strides other than “and last of all Kiwi”.
And just so you don’t think we’ve forgotten a lot of others, remember. . .
Chris Lewis’ Wimbledon semifinal win over Kevin Curren in 1983.
Richie McCaw’s memorable display against South Africa at Cape Town in 2008.
Bert Sutcliffe and Bob Blair’s emotional last-wicket stand at Johannesburg in 1953, the day after the Tangiwai train disaster which killed 151 including Blair’s fiancee.
Ryan Nelsen’s outstanding defensive play to get the All Whites a 1-1 draw against world champions Italy at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Anthony Wilding’s never-to-berepeated four Wimbledon singles title in the early 1900s.
Lisa Carrington’s two Olympic canoeing medals in Rio in 2016.
Single sculler Mahe Drysdale winning his second Olympic gold by a blink at Rio.
And can we count Edmund Hillary climbing a certain mountain in 1953? Of course we can.