By Wynne Gray
Up and under
When the All Blacks trot out for their first World Cup game later this year in Bristol, they will be tangling with a New Zealander who was their nemesis at the last global tournament.
The All Blacks will meet Tonga, who this week beat South Korea in the second leg of their qualifying games. Behind the Tongan team are two new coaches from South Africa and a technical advisor who also calls the republic home but who grew up in Dunedin.
He is David Waterston, who travelled to South Africa in the early 1970s, made his fortune as an insurance broker based in Johannesburg and also worked his way into the Transvaal rugby set-up.
His specialty was statistics and Waterston used that interest and video technology to work up a huge stack of information for that rugby union.
During that time he also became good friends with Kitch Christie, and when Christie was appointed Springbok coach, Waterston slotted in as his technical adviser, the man whose statistical information was used to formulate many Springbok tactics. His analysis was used to negate opposition strategies and promote the Springbok strengths.