A picture from the day when one All Black totally shocked the conservative New Zealand radio audience!

Epic early words in the game uttered by Springbok captain Phillip Nel to the referee at Eden Park as South Africa win the test series by thrashing NZ by 5 tries to 0 (17-6).

KELLEHER, KEVIN

An Irishman and one of rugby’s best performed referees, in charge of 23 internationals from 1960 to 1971. Kelleher had a very successful career as a referee, but he is largely remembered for being the man who sent Colin Meads off at Murrayfield during the Scotland v New Zealand match in 1967.

Kelleher ruled that Meads’s lunging kick at a loose bouncing ball near the Scottish flyhalf, David Chisholm, was dangerous and, having previously issued a warning in the vigorous encounter, he dismissed Meads. As the New Zealander was arguably the world’s most famous player at the time, the sending-off created a storm.

Ironically, Meads and Kelleher became friends and for many years exchanged Christmas cards. Kelleher was flown to New Zealand in 1988 to appear on the TV show ‘This is Your Life – Colin Meads.’

Although New Zealanders poured scorn on Kelleher as a referee, they tended to overlook his exceptional record with the whistle. Kelleher’s first international was Wales v Scotland in 1960, and his last was France v Scotland in 1971.

It was spoken (jocularly it must be said) by the great Aussie League man Laurie Daley at a rugby union v rugby league debate in Sydney in 2005.