RIP

TV commentator John McBeth was touched to be asked to go to a New Zealand-Springbok test with Peter Henderson in 2009.

RIP Peter Henderson 1949-50 All Black

28 November 2014

It is always very sad when a man who once thrilled New Zealand with his youthful rugby zeal and became an All Black, then reaches his senior years - and then passes away. This week we say RIP to Peter 'Sammy' Henderson. Read more »

Comments 0

RIP Kevin Skinner 1927-2014

Let's face it; Kevin Skinner was a very vital All Black

22 July 2014

I felt really sad when I heard of the death of Kevin Skinner. He was such a genial man in his later years until his health started to fade. At the Barbarians Club at Eden Park in Auckland he was always a friendly face, chatting away. And invariably gently chiding anyone who tried to push onto him the reputation many New Zealand rugby followers had that he was forever and only a rugby thug. He was not that at all. I prefer to call him a vital man who was very much needed by his country in some most critical rugby years. Read more »

Comments 0

Every day there is Rugby History 26 November 2005

Click to show Tana Umaga's All Blacks clinch NZ's second Grand Slam

The four 'Home' Unions were beaten on consecutive Saturdays by the rampant ABs! On this day NZ beat Scotland by 29-10

A-Z of Rugby

Click to show GACHASSIN,JEAN

GACHASSIN, JEAN
Lourdes and France
32 internationals for France 1961–69

Physically one of the smallest players to ever appear regularly in international rugby, Gachassin was also a brilliant exponent of the best running skills of back play. He appeared for his country in four backline positions: first as a wing in 1961 and later as a fullback, centre and flyhalf.

Gachassin was only 1.62 metres tall (5 ft 4 ins), and weighed 63 kilograms (9 stone 12lbs). One journalist listed the following nicknames for Gachassin at one or another time in his career: the ‘Pocket Wing’, ‘Peter Pan’, the ‘Mighty Atom’, or the ‘Bagnères Flea’. Nevertheless, he was one of the most popular figures in French rugby in the 1960s.

His popularity has continued in the sport of tennis where he has been the President of French Tennis Federation for a number of years and is regularly seen sitting courtside at Roland Garros when the famous French Open tournament in played.