KeithQuinnRugby
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You are here: Home » News Comment » A Momentum Shift for New Zealand Rugby?
10 August 2014
Gee I hope not! New Zealand rugby's trophy cabinet used to bulge with silver and gold cups, with other assorted medals and golden glories scattered about randomly, to the point where no one at the NZ Rugby Union offices had the time or inclination to collate or sort out the stuff - there was so much of it!
But here we are in 2014 and the cabinet doors have been thrown open and under our noses (and perhaps while we were all in the dark) other countries are sneaking in to plunder some of our best goodies.
Consider the list; In just a few months gone is the Commonwealth Games sevens glory - snatched was the Under 20s proud record - pinched is the Super 15 title - and now our Black Ferns in France are out of the Women's Rugby World Cup! That's four biggies in a very short space of time.
Check the locks Mr Tew - call Security and check that sure the trophies that remain are locked up tight - or else more might go. Like that cumbersome Bledisloe Cup. Are those Aussies ready next weekend to hatch a plan to go all smash and grab with that one too!
Someone say out loud - it ain't gonna happen!
....
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Wellington's fans saw Daniel Carter at his very best; 2 tries and nine successful goals (33points) as the ABs stun the Lions 48-18
GALLAGHER, JOHN
Wellington and New Zealand
18 internationals for N. Zealand 1987–89
One of the rugby union world's most brilliant attacking fullbacks of the 1980s but who at the peak of his rugby union powers, was lost to rugby league.
John Gallagher was a young fullback living in London who decided to accept an offer of a rugby-playing holiday in Wellington, New Zealand in 1984. By 1986 his life had changed. He had decided to stay in New Zealand, he had embarked on a career with the police force, and late in the year he was included with the New Zealand All Blacks for their tour to France. He was very much a second-stringer on that tour, playing twice at centre.
It was a different matter in 1987. Given the confidence of being chosen as the number one fullback for the first Rugby World Cup, Gallagher’s speed and brilliant intrusions from fullback became a powerful weapon in the All Black armoury.
In his second test match, against Fiji at Christchurch, Gallagher scorched in for four tries (equalling the then New Zealand record for one test match) and helped make many more as the All Blacks raced out to a 74–13 win.
Gallagher played five of the All Blacks’ games at the World Cup, including the final, and was seen as one of the tournament’s most brilliant players. That kind of form followed him through 1988 and 1989, on four other All Black tours.
In May 1990, Gallagher, by then firmly ensconced as one of the country’s most popular sporting heroes, suddenly announced that he was heading for rugby league. The news sent shock waves through New Zealand rugby circles. There was at first disbelief and a little scorn from some, although soon emotions quietened and sensible Kiwis wished him luck in his new career.
The departure of Gallagher to rugby league, along with fellow All Blacks Frano Botica, John Schuster and Matthew Ridge, awakened New Zealanders to the realisation that their national game was not the only one on the sporting horizon. The departure of ‘Kipper’ Gallagher also left an extremely hard-to-fill gap in the All Black backline. No player would be quite like the flying redhead from the Oriental-Rongotai club in Wellington.
Gallagher signed with the Leeds rugby league club after 18 tests for the All Blacks. He scored 13 tries in tests, and in one game, in Japan in 1987, he scored 30 points. His signing fee was reported to be $NZ1.3 million (at the time about £420,000), well in excess of the previous reported world record fee.
Who was the first All Black captain to be red or yellow carded in a test match?
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