Lee Stensness: Farewell to a player respected by all

In a season of reminiscing and saying goodbye (Super 12, Carlos, Justin) there departs another significant figure in New Zealand's rugby history, Andrew Mehrtens. Current Canterbury NPC coach Aussie McLean called him Canterbury's greatest ever player, while Colin Meads rates him as the All Blacks' best first-five ever.

I certainly rate him as a player, and wonder if perhaps he should be in the test 22 as first-five and goal-kicking cover. But, more importantly, I rate him as a person.

I don't believe there has been a more universally popular and liked rugby player in New Zealand in the last 15 years, both with the public and fellow players.

His popularity with the public is well documented but was highlighted at Eden Park of all places, both at last year's All Black trial and this year's Blues vs Crusaders match. In both matches he was substituted on to the field in the second half and on each occasion received the biggest cheer of the night. The Blues/Crusaders example is especially relevant. Even though the Blues were getting a good old fashioned (insert your own description here) and Mehrtens had been the architect of other, sometimes significant Canterbury victories over Auckland down the years, the crowd - myself included - still rose to him, which speaks volumes.

In terms of his popularity with fellow players, I cannot remember anyone saying a bad word about him, quite the opposite in fact.

At after-match functions, when they existed, Auckland players such as the Brooke brothers and others would seek him out for a yarn because you'd always end up having a laugh. It is his humour, intelligence and lack of ego that make him such great company.

As a player Mehrtens has many wonderful attributes, both tangible and intangible. The tangibles such as excellent goal-kicking, a lengthy punt and pace mark him as a player of quality but it's the intangibles, such as vision and flair, that put him into the very top drawer.

The ability to put other players in space with his long, cut-out passes has always been a feature of his play, as is his ability to make average players outside him look better than they are.

Mehrtens would more often than not call the right move at the right time and a team-mate would find himself through the gap or in space. That type of vision and skill is increasingly rare in the professional era and is another reason why Mehrtens has achieved almost cult status in a game dominated by muscle-bound power runners.

Those lamb-chop sideburns that he sported for a season or two may also have contributed to that status.

Mehrtens also had his weaknesses, well one key one really, his tackling. He was schooled in an era where it was generally accepted that first-fives didn't have to tackle - that's what flankers were for.

But since the advent of professionalism that is no longer the case and is perhaps where he didn't evolve quickly enough along with the game.

The problems he had with Robbie Deans a couple of years ago, essentially boiled down to the fact Deans viewed him as a defensive liability and, as such, too much of a target for opposition teams to exploit. Defence is half the game after all.

That frailty aside, Andrew Mehrtens was and is a great player - his team's achievements and his individual statistics make that irrefutable. But it is his vision, skills and personality that make his play enjoyable to watch and, with his joie d'vivre, Mehrts reminds us that, after all, it's only a game.