Sir Colin will be sent on way to the march of a Dambuster

THE funeral of the ‘Pinetree’ takes place tomorrow at a venue named in memory of Les Munro, a New Zealander whose bravery in the heat of battle surpassed anything in any theatre of sport. Sir Colin Meads would have liked that.

Squadron Leader Munro flew on the Dambusters’ Raid in May 1943, considered by many the most dangerously heroic single mission of the Second World War. Upon his death two years ago at 96, the Waitomo Cultural and Arts building in Te Kuiti became the Les Munro Centre in honour of the last of the Dambusters.

It just happens to be the only place anywhere near big enough in that corner of King Country to mark the passing of another Kiwi icon. Even so its capacity of 750 means there will be standing room only with thousands expected to converge on the little town also known as ‘Meadsville’.

His death from pancreatic cancer last weekend at 81 prompted a flood of tributes, justifiably so for a player widely acknowledged as having given more to the All Black cause than any other.

New Zealanders voted him their player of the 20th century, a feat made all the greater considering the ferocity of competition from Dave Gallaher to Sean Fitzpatrick, George Nepia to Christian Cullen, Waka Nathan to Michael Jones.

A Colossus like Meads demands to be measured in more than mere feet and inches or stones and pounds which is just as well.

At 6ft 3ins and 14 stone, he would have been dismissed today as too small for the second row, too light for the front row and the back row.

Meads was far more than the prototype enforcer who never forgot the most basic three-word introduction to the game – get stuck in.

He got stuck in like no other, a running lock as effective in the loose as in the tight who underpinned it all with a heavy hint of menace.