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Dennis Lillee and John Newcombe. I dreamed of opening the bowling for Australia, and winning Wimbledon. True, I achieved neither, but I did once get a very useful 2 wickets for 8 for the Knox Grammar School's Under14 C team, and I also once took a set off Julian Lovell in Fifth Form. And he went on to be AT LEAST one of the top ten tennis players of the Sixth Form at Knox Grammar.
All Black TERRY LINEEN, test cricketer BERT SUTCLIFFE and the world champion middle-distance runner PETER SNELL
From soccer it was Leeds and Juventus' 'Il Gigante Buono', Swansea born John Charles. From rugby, it was former Swansea, Wales and British Lion wing threequarter Dewi Bebb. By chance, we became work colleagues at HTV Wales in years to come. When I commentated on the final of the Rugby World Cup in South Africa in 1995, Dewi was directing back in Cardiff. At the end of transmission, he opened all the microphones and declared that was his finest hour in broadcasting. Thousands of miles away in Jo'burg I shed a tear. Nine months later he passed away. I cried.
Television New Zealand announced that all four tests of the 1976 All Blacks tour of South Africa would be telecast live. This was the first time all tests of an All Blacks event in South Africa were to be shown on TV.
DARROUY, CHRISTIAN
Mont-de-Marsan and France
40 internationals for France 1957–67
A Mont-de-Marsan wing who scored 23 tries in internationals for his country and who stayed in the French team for 10 years. Captain of his country in 1967, taking over from fellow club man Michel Crauste, Darrouy led the team to a Five Nations championship win and was so pleased he sent a famous telegram to President de Gaulle containing just two words – ‘Mission accomplished.’
He was once described as a ‘greyhound’ wing in the style of Adolphe Jaureguy, a star French player in the 1920s.
Darrouy was captain on his last tour, to South Africa in 1967, one of the few wingers to lead any international team on a tour. This was France’s only four-test series: his team lost the first two games but surprised with a win in the third and a draw in the fourth.
At the time of his retirement he was France’s highest try-scorer in internationals and had also beaten Jean Dupuy’s record as France’s most-capped wing.
His best performance in an international came when he scored three tries against Ireland at Lansdowne Road in 1964. He also had the satisfaction of sprinting nearly 50 metres to score the winning try against South Africa in Springs in the only test of France’s 1964 tour.
Which prominent All Black back didn't play a test till after his 30th birthday?
What do you think?
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