Meadsville’s larger-than-life statue
As a dominant All Black locking pairing in the 1960s, Colin and Stan Meads were great at hauling down lineout ball, yet yesterday a dinky piece of rope and a stubborn shroud caused them angst.
Their struggles raised the tension for several hundred scrumsworth of spectators crammed into the main street of Te Kuiti (Meadsville, if you prefer), all craning necks or peeking through a barrage of TV cameras, a first glimpse of the statue of the great All Black their aim.
Meant to fall away like an English fullback tackling the great Jonah Lomu, the shroud instead clung on in what a referee would have deemed a blatant head high.
‘‘Wardrobe malfunction,’’ one of the gathered masses said.
Anticipation soared as Stan and Colin applied their muscle, only for their cleanout of the ruck to fail – the shroud remained in full shroud mode.
Then a bronzed boot emerged, a left leg, and finally there was Colin Meads in all the rampaging glory of his youth – in full stride, a rugby ball glued in one enormous mitt.
‘‘Wow, it’s bloody good,’’ said a British scribe who knows his rugby.
Gasps and ‘‘awesomes’’ filled the air above old people and rastas; locals and Lions fans; Team New Zealand caps; All Blacks caps; dignitaries in suits and those who’d wandered in from work, no doubt reaching two workers in fluoro vests perched on the roof of a shop.
Often statues fail to capture their subject. Not this one. For those who remember Meads in his rugby prime, this is what they recall, not the frail 81-year-old who limped to the event in his honour, spoke in a near whisper and limped away.
It could only have been more realistic had he been playing with one arm broken, as he did in South Africa in 1970, or had his boots been trampling would-be tacklers into the turf. A tanalised fencepost or two might have been a nice touch.
Between limps, the cancerstricken Meads cracked a few jokes, a string of modest thank yous, and told rugby yarns, all the time looking a bit bemused – as a lock, perhaps he was uncomfortable being in the front row.
‘‘I’m sorry, I’m not as fit as I used to be,’’ he said after reaching the podium to say a few words. He had been too ill to attend a book launch in Rotorua on Friday.
Meads fondly recalled old rugby friends such as the late Kel Tremain, who once referred to him as a ‘‘broke cockie’’.
He warmly greeted former All Black team-mates such as All Black captain Brian Lochore, Earle Kirton, Tane Norton and Bryan Williams
He spoke of his love for Te Kuiti, bemoaning the fact that the days of an All Black playing club rugby there were over. He played 55 tests from 1957-1971, yet his provincial rugby was only for King Country.
‘‘You wouldn’t be able to do that now,’’ he told an audience containing New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew, president Maurice Trapp and Lions manager John Spencer, who played against Meads for the 1971 Lions.
Such is the nature of professional rugby, now players are whipped off to be ‘‘city slickers’’, he said. Celebrations of his big day were to carry on at Waitete rugby club.
‘‘I won’t be able to have many beers afterwards, but I’ll try to have a few,’’ he chuckled, later adding the catch line ‘‘wherever the beer is free, that’s where you’ll find me’’.
Speaking after his more famous brother, 1961-1966 All Black Stan Meads said he felt like ‘‘the dog following behind the car’’, saying he didn’t mind living in the shadow of big brother.
‘‘He’s a bloody good bugger, that’s all I’ll say,’’ he told the crowd.
While the statue showed Meads in full All Black action, locals recall a different, charitable man.
Such is his mana in Te Kuiti, schools closed for the day.
Maybe there was some skiving of but it didn’t seem so; school uniforms were scattered among the masses, and a kapa haka group made up of all schools paid tribute to him.
‘‘I’m here because Colin and Verna Meads supported schoolboy rugby when my boys were playing,’’ Laraine King said. None of this world rugby legend stuff for her.
But if you do want world rugby legends, then Spencer relayed best wishes from across the world – from the great Gareth Edwards, Barry John, from JPR Williams, John Dawes, Bill Beaumont and legendary Irish locking rival Willie John McBride.
If the locals loved Meads, they got love back.
‘‘Thanks for coming out,’’ he told them.
Murder charge
A Waikato man has been charged with the murder of Kim Richmond, whose body was found last week a year after she went missing. The 45-year-old man will appear in court today. Richmond’s body was found in a ute which was recovered from Lake Arapuni in the Waikato on Thursday. The 42-year-old mum-of-three was last seen at her home in Arohena, near Te Awamutu, on July 31, 2016. Tyre marks on her driveway indicated she had headed south. Her bank cards were found on a roadside in the central North Island a few months later. Her bank accounts and phone went untouched. Police scoured Lake Arapuni last year and last week, the police national dive squad returned. Police said they would cover areas they had not been able to access in their first search. The Arapuni power station was shut down to allow the divers to probe safely in the dark, still waters of the South Waikato hydro lake. The ute was found 6 metres beneath the surface within a crane’s reach of a ramp commonly used by boaties.
Gas torch abuse alleged
Two charges of using a gas torch to assault a woman have been laid against a 44-year-old man who was allegedly on the run from police for seven months. The assault with a weapon charges were among seven charges laid against Anaru Turei Tamati Rangihuna on Monday at the Christchurch District Court when he made a remand appearance by video link. The charges allege that twice on October 18, at Christchurch, he assaulted a woman using a portable butane gas torch as a weapon. He faces new charges of assault on a woman, indecent assault, kidnapping the woman, assaulting her with intent to injure and unlawful possession of a Glock pistol. He indicated he would ‘‘strongly deny’’ all charges. Rangihuna was found in rural Canterbury in May and has been remanded in custody without plea since then.
Speed factor
Police believe speed was a factor in a crash that claimed the life of a man near Taupo on Monday. The crash happened at 7.34am at Kinloch, on a small straight just after a bend. The driver of the ute, and sole occupant, was trapped after hitting a tree and died at the scene. ‘‘Evidence indicates that speed was a factor in the crash,’’ said Senior Sergeant Fane Troy. Since January there have been 10 deaths on the roads in the Taupo and South Waikato region.
Window washer injured
A window washer has been seriously injured in south Auckland after being hit by a car. The crash happened at 10.45am on Monday at the intersection of Great South Rd and Te Irirangi Drive in Manukau. The police, local politicians and the Manukau Central Business Association have been vocal in their opposition to window washers. They say the washers put themselves and motorists in danger, and encourage drivers not to pay them.