Former All Black dies surfing in Aussie

Flying wing remembered as match-winning speedster despite playing just four games in national rugby side

He was a New Zealand athletics champion and an All Black — that is pretty special.

Sir Bryan Williams

Former All Black and national sprint champion Terry Morrison has died while surfing on Christmas Eve.

Morrison, 70, died on the Sunshine Coast, where he has lived for several years.

Dubbed the “flying wing”, he played four matches for the All Blacks in 1973, including the side’s 16-10 loss to England at Eden Park.

New Zealand rugby legend and former All Blacks and Ponsonby teammate Sir Bryan Williams said he was hugely upset when he learned about his friend’s death.

“It’s really sad news,” Sir Bryan said.

“We played quite a bit of rugby and socialised together.”

As well as representing the All Blacks, Morrison was also a New Zealand sprint champion. His speed put him in the record books as one of the quickest players to play for the ABs.

He debuted on the All Blacks’ 1973 tour of New Zealand, playing three matches, before making his sole test appearance in that year’s loss to England.

“Apparently he had a heart attack while surfing, and they couldn’t revive him,” Williams said.

Morrison’s wife Jacqueline confirmed the news on Facebook.

“My beautiful friend, husband and Alex’s dad. He was doing what he loved the most, surfing with his mates,” she wrote.

“After catching ‘the last wave in’ for coffee, he had a heart attack and fell into the ocean.

“I am eternally grateful to Mark, Rick, Paul, Phil and Brenden for their efforts to save their friend’s [life].”

She also thanked the other surfers, surf patrol, paramedics, hospital staff, and a doctor who happened to be on the beach.

“It’s devastating and surreal, but he was a happy man in his happy place, living life in the moment.”

Morrison has lived across the

Tasman for more than two decades, including in Sydney while running rugby products company Silver

Fern Australia.

A biography by the Ponsonby

Rugby Football Club on the allblacks. com website said he paid the price for the All Blacks’ failure to control a high ball kicked by England, with the tourists recovering the ball to score the winning points.

“That was a time when mistakes were remembered for years,” the biography reads.

“Morrison would have been extremely valuable in South Africa in 1976. A wing with express pace is always an asset on the hard grounds and he had shown just that during the club’s [Ponsonby’s] 1975 tour.

“Scoring several tries simply through speed, including a 75-yard match-winner against Pretoria Police, Morrison impressed local critics who thought him an essential part of the next All Blacks side.”

Williams said although his mate did not have the longest All Black career, his achievements in rugby and athletics were something to cherish.

“As well as being an All Black he was a New Zealand 200m champion,” he said.

“He was a New Zealand athletics champion and an All Black — that is pretty special.”

Of Morrison’s incredible speed Williams said: “It was literally just a case of giving him the ball and then chasing after him to see if you could stay [with him].

“He would run around everyone and score at the other end.

“This one game we [Ponsonby] played the Pretoria Police in Pretoria in 1975; it was a really tough match, a really rugged match with lots of fisticuffs and that sort of thing. I remember giving him the ball on our 22m and he just blitzed everyone and scored at the other end under the bar.”

The try helped seal the low-scoring game for Ponsonby.

As well as being a top sportsman, Sir Bryan said Morrison was also a great person.

“He was quiet and considered. But there was always a smile on his face and he was always good company,” Sir Bryan said.

“We played quite a bit together for about four years and he then went into business and ended up in Australia.

“I still bumped in to him from time to time as he was coming back and forth from Australia to New Zealand. We would catch up.

“I am losing a few of my mates at the moment.”

Morrison completed his schooling at Matamata College, where he was head boy in 1969.

A biography on him on the school’s website states: “Terry has had a varied and exciting career.

“Firstly, he was marketing manager for AHI in NZ and in France and UK. He became a partner in Marketing Consultancy in Australia with NZ Kiwifruit, Dairywhip and other NZ products as major clients.

“His rugby products company, Silver Fern Australia, supplied all the training and field equipment for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Terry is semiretired living on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He has lived and worked as well as played rugby in Paris and the UK. Sydney was his home for 22 years though Terry is firmly a ‘Proud Kiwi’.”