All Blacks: Myths and Legends
By Ron Palenski
Hachette Livre ($39.99)
KEY POINTS:
More than any other team, the All Blacks have been the stuff of legends. Generations of young Kiwi boys have enjoyed tales of the tough guys of world rugby.
Who doesn't know about the 1905 Originals or the glory days of coach Fred "The Needle" Allen and the great Pinetree, Colin Meads.
Well, what might be less familiar is that Graham Henry was not the first All Black coach to think up the rotation policy and that Richie McCaw was not the first All Black openside flanker to be accused of cheating.
You can trace the "devaluing" of the All Black jersey back to the 1905 Originals. It is little known that while this great team was touring Britain, France and North America, another All Black team "not deemed good enough for Britain" was thrashing the Wallabies 14-3 in Dunedin.
Soon it became the norm to have an All Black team playing at home while another was on tour. There was even the bizarre situation in 1949 of the All Blacks losing two tests on the one day - one in South Africa and the other in Wellington.
But this changed between 1987 and 1990 with the All Blacks using just 32 players in an unbeaten run of 23 matches. This was even more remarkable because four of them played just one match each and another seven played five or fewer.
Gary Whetton, Grant Fox and Sean Fitzpatrick played in all games.
It seems that all great All Black teams have one thing in common - they have a great number seven. Before McCaw and even Michael Jones, there was the Originals' captain Dave Gallagher, who was known as a wing forward. And, yes, he was also accused of cheating.
These are just some of the fascinating tales in this absorbing read. Palenski has certainly done his homework and produced an interesting insight into All Black history.
