Rugby: Keith Murdoch drunken rampage allegations emerge in All Blacks manager Ernie Todd's deathbed confession

Keith Murdoch. Photo / Photosport

New allegations of a drunken rampage have emerged about late All Black Keith Murdoch who was infamously dismissed from the 1972 tour.

David Lawrence, who shared a Hutt Hospital ward with former All Blacks manager Ernie Todd, has revealed that Todd confided that Murdoch was a "gin addict" who smashed up furniture in a "stately home" at a function one night, Stuff reported.

This follows last week's allegations about the 'real' reason Murdoch was sent home from the tour, in which Todd's daughter Moyra Pearce said the late All Black threatened and pursued a woman in the Angel Hotel, and her father's actions saved him from police prosecution.

Lawrence, 80, said the revelations from last week had helped him recall what a cancer-stricken Todd had told him.

"One night Ernie opened up about Murdoch. His first words were that Murdoch was a gin addict. He told us that Murdoch would go to functions, get full of gin and then misbehave," Lawrence told Stuff.

"One evening the squad were being hosted at 'a stately home'. It was a formal occasion. People were in dinner suits. Murdoch got full of gin again and then began smashing up the antique chairs.

"Ernie told us that he had an air ticket in the inside pocket of his suit pocket. They took Murdoch aside.

"Ernie opened his suit jacket, took out the envelope and said to Murdoch; 'In here is your return ticket to New Zealand. If you misbehave again you are on your way.'"

Lawrence, who was 34 when he shared a hospital room with Todd, said the All Blacks manager's stories about Murdoch felt like a "deathbed confession", reports Stuff.

"They were draining Ernie's stomach. It was obvious it was cancer," he said.

"There were six beds in the room and Ernie was in quite a lot of pain and would have to ring the bell for the nurse. He would be given morphine.

"He was unable to move freely and had to be pushed in a wheelchair by his wife. I'm sure the stresses of the tour must have made his cancer worse."

Former All Black captain Tane Norton told Stuff he roomed with Murdoch a lot and said he didn't know about the incident.

"He was never drunk or caused me any problems," Norton said.

Norton said he remembered one particular visit to Buckingham Palace when asked if he recalled the visit to a stately home.

"We all went to Buckingham Palace. Keith was there. I could honestly say he was a real gentleman, you couldn't fault his behaviour."

Murdoch was sent home by Todd from the 1972 tour to the UK for punching a security guard at the Angel Hotel the night New Zealand beat Wales 19-16.

The former All Black never returned home after the incident, and lived in the Australian outback until his death in March 2018.