Rugby: Former All Blacks midfielder Terry Lineen dies aged 84

Terry Lineen in action for Auckland. Photo / Photosport

Former All Black Terry Lineen has died.

Newshub reports the Auckland midfielder, who played 35 matches for New Zealand between 1957 and 1960, has died aged 84.

Lineen was forced to retire from rugby at just 24 because of a shoulder injury, but made his mark for the All Blacks during the 1959 British Lions series. He was also a part of tours to the countries such as Australia and Japan.

The midfielder made his debut for the national side in 1957 of a tour of Australia, playing 10 times including two tests, and found plenty of success, scoring six tries on the tour.

He toured Japan in 1958 where he was the team's leading try scorer, and later started three tests against the Wallabies on home soil.

Lineen injured his shoulder in 1960 on a tour to South Africa, forcing him into retirement having played just over 100 first-class games.

Members of the 1959 All Black team: Terry Lineen, Frank McMullen, Wilson Whineray , Adrian Clarke, and Des Webb. Photo / NZ Herald archive

After his playing days he remained involved in rugby, coaching lower grade teams at club level.

In 2015, Lineen made headlines over how a strange coincidence "saved" him when he vanished from Heathrow Airport.

Lineen went missing between his connecting flights from Auckland to Edinburgh while en route to visit his son - former Scotland player Sean Lineen - and take a seven-week Rugby World Cup holiday. He was found injured 19 hours later by a local cyclist, Sean Eckett.

"I can remember that I was so tired through walking that I'd come to this little road and there were a lot of trees and shrubs around and I made myself a little bed in the shrubs," Lineen told the Herald Scotland at the time.

"I only had shorts and a T-shirt on and I woke up and I had scratches all over me and blood all over me. I reckon that guy who found me saved my life," he said.

In his later years, he battled through bowel, prostate and blood cancer.