All Black gold in the Naki

Only in rugby-mad Taranaki would oil wells be named after famous local rugby players. Two exploration wells to be drilled in central Taranaki by Swift Energy New Zealand Ltd are named Goss-1 and Trapper-1.

Goss is the nickname of Graham Mourie, the Opunake flanker who played for the All Blacks from 1976 to 1982, mostly as captain. Trapper was Dave Loveridge, the Inglewood halfback, an All Black from 1978 to 1985, including three games as captain.

Honouring the Taranaki rugby greats is the brainchild of New Plymouth-based Swift senior geologist Carey Davis, a top club rugby halfback until 2001. He thought there might be some resistance to a change from the Swift tradition of naming wells after trees. "But the staff at Swift enjoy watching the All Blacks, and everyone's quite happy for wells to be named after some of our famous Taranaki ABs."

Graham Mourie said: "If my well strikes oil, I'll probably expect a bottle of champagne."

- NZPA