Price leads tributes to controversial Haden

GRAHAM Price has led the tributes to Andy Haden, the All Blacks legend at the centre of the controversial diving incident which robbed Wales of victory against New Zealand.

The funeral of 69-year-old Haden, who passed away in Auckland, will be held next Monday at the Eden Park stadium which hosted the 2011 World Cup final.

The former New Zealand captain and lock partner Frank Oliver were involved in the dive out of a lineout which saw Wales wrongly penalised and beaten 13-12 by a last-minute penalty at Cardiff Arms Park in 1978.

Haden, pictured, who played 117 matches and 41 Tests for the All Blacks between 1972 and 1985, had admitted: “Frank and I practised it the day before.”

English referee Roger Quittenton

fell for their gamesmanship, awarding a kick at goal which replacement full-back Brian McKechnie nailed to deny Wales’ stars of the 1970s of an historic win.

Lions and Wales great Price puts the blame firmly and squarely on referee Quittenton.

“He was the problem, he was naive. Nothing different happened at that lineout to what had gone on in the previous ones in the game except for one thing, Haden blatantly dived out of it,” said Price.

“Everyone talks of it robbing us of victory, but Oliver was actually the main culprit.

“He’d been barging Geoff Wheel in the lineout the whole game. Geoff held out his arm to hold him off and Oliver was clever and fell over.

“Haden was theatrical behind him and Quittenton fell for it hook. line and sinker, giving them the winning penalty.”

In 1979, Haden and Price were teammates in a star-studded invitation team captained by Oliver and which played in South Africa.

“It was effectively the All Blacks with me packing down at tighthead prop. Brian Lochore, another All Blacks legend, was our coach,” recalled Price.

“Haden wasn’t just a character, going on to become an agent and successful businessman, but also a great player.

“The lineout incident against Wales will always be brought up when his name is mentioned but he also deserves to be remembered for more than that because he was a wonderful lock.

“Andy was so athletic and certainly wasn’t a second row who plodded around the pitch.

“He could run, was an outstanding lineout forward and a ball-handler. He was a typical All Black, what you would call a modern forward who maybe was ahead of his time.

“Off the field he was terrific fun. I liked him a lot, a good team-mate and a respected opponent.”