Rugby: Uncapped All Blacks to be honoured

Ceremonies will be held in six venues across New Zealand this year as a programme to honour uncapped former All Blacks with the presentation of their test rugby caps starts in Dunedin next Friday.

The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) will present more than 400 former players with their first test cap during this year and next.

The tradition of capping lapsed after the World War 2 and was not reintroduced until 1997.

NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs today said the response from former players has been extremely enthusiastic.

"We are eagerly looking forward to these events as an opportunity to close this gap in our history and give our players, who have laid the foundations for the game we enjoy today, the test caps that they had worked so hard to attain."

Aside from Dunedin, capping ceremonies will take place in Wellington on June 19, Christchurch on June 26, Auckland on July 17 Gisborne on September 4 and Hamilton on September 11.

Of the 414 caps to be awarded, the NZRU said there were thought to be 325 living former All Blacks, with 89 having passed away in the years since their test debuts.

The families of those former players who have passed on will also be invited to attend to receive the test caps.

Players will be invited to attend one of the capping ceremonies with the oldest players or their families given priority, which will likely see those players from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to be the first to be capped.

- NZPA