Blues win Haden’s dying wish
WELLINGTON: All Black great Andy Haden told Crusaders coach Scott Robertson his dying wish was for the Blues to beat the Crusaders at Eden Park on Sunday week.
Robertson was at Haden's funeral yesterday and visited him in hospital in the days before he died.
Former All Black and Auckland coach John Hart told mourners about Haden’s wish at a service at Eden Park yesterday.
‘‘Razor [Robertson] smiled and said ‘Andy that sounds like match fixing' to me, to which Andy smiled back and said ‘I'm prepared to take the heat on that. Don't you worry',’’ Hart said.
It was perhaps fitting that Haden was thinking of the Blues and Crusaders in his final days. It was revealed at the funeral that his fondest memory in his long career was the
1985 Ranfurly
Shield win over Canterbury, dubbed the Match of the Century.
Hart said Haden told him a few weeks before he died that the 1985 challenge had a special place for him.
Haden lifted the Shield after a pulsating match in which Auckland led 240 at halftime then held on to win 2823.
‘‘Andy and I spent hours and hours together on how we might beat Canterbury and learn much from the 30point thrashing they had given us two years before.’’
Born in Whanganui, Haden played a total of 117 matches, including 41 tests, for the All Blacks over 13 years from 1972.
He played for Auckland, a team growing towards its heyday, and Ponsonby.
He was known also for his infamous dive out of the lineout against Wales in Cardiff in 1978.
All Black and Auckland teammate and friend, Bryan Williams, told the service Haden claimed the dive was revenge for the equally infamous disallowed Deans try of 1905.
Williams said by the time of that grand slam tour, Haden was the best lock in the world. — RNZ