NZRU boss working through cancer

Jock Hobbs at an All Blacks training session in Wellington this week. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand Rugby Union chairman and former All Black Jock Hobbs is battling cancer.

Hobbs, who was instrumental in securing the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament for New Zealand, confirmed yesterday that he was suffering from leukaemia.

"Yes, I have been diagnosed with leukaemia but it's in a chronic form, not acute," he told a newspaper. "It's being monitored and I feel fine."

Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow.

Professor Peter Browett, medical director for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, said around 250 New Zealanders were diagnosed with chronic leukaemia every year.

Medical advances in the past decade had dramatically improved the prognosis for the illness, he said. "Most people could continue to work."

An NZRU spokeswoman said Hobbs did not require treatment at present. "It's a non-issue and doesn't affect his job."

Hobbs was diagnosed about four years ago.

He was an All Black flanker from 1983 to 1986, played 21 tests, and became captain at age 24.

Tipped to become captain of the 1987 World Cup winning team, he was ruled out because he'd had too many concussions.

He became a member of the NZRU council in 1995, was removed in 1996 and reinstated as chairman in 2002.

In 2006 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY STAFF, NZPA