In 1965, while attempting to retrieve a tennis ball, 11-year-old Alan Hewson fell through the roof of his neighbours glasshouse and cut his left leg three-quarters of the way through to the ankle. Hewson survived that bloody ordeal but was lucky to play sport again.

In 1979, if All Blacks coach Eric Watson had his way, Hewson might have been lucky to play for the All Blacks longer than that year’s Northern Hemisphere tour.

Watson infamously barked at Hewson, “You’d be the worst fullback who’s ever played for New Zealand. You might as well go home right now”.

Hewson made his debut against the South of Scotland in Hawick and missed seven kicks in a 19-3 win.

Hewson scored a try, but missed another seven kicks in a 12-6 victory against Glasgow – a performance described at the time as “the worst display ever by a New Zealand team”.

Hewson says despite struggling with the goal-kicking he felt that he played “reasonably well” in those first two outings and didn’t understand the hostile attitude of Watson.

“I wouldn’t have a clue why he picked me or what his problem was. He didn’t like any of the Wellington guys, Stu Wilson and Murray Mexted. He was difficult to know, a quiet, staunch Otago guy,” Hewson recalls.

He ruefully laughs that the highlight of the tour was when Watson was absent for a fortnight. Watson had surgery to remove haemorrhoids.

Hewson did score all 18 points against the Anglo Scots, made the bench for the English Test – he still has the jersey that Clive Woodward swapped with him – and survived the wrath of the fiery Italians. All Hewson recalls of the non-Test match in Rovigo was leaving in an ambulance with his feet poking out the door.

He made his Test debut against Scotland at Carisbrook in Dunedin, but only as a last-minute replacement. David Halligan (brother of Kiwis league international Daryl Halligan) withdrew injured at the last minute. Hewson recalls the clamour to get from Wellington to Dunedin.

“I was phoned on Friday afternoon and didn’t arrive in Dunedin until 8pm that night,” he says.

“The game itself went by in a flash. I remember I didn’t have a return ticket so I stayed the night with an Otago rugby union official.”

Halligan, himself in line for a Test debut, was never selected for the All Blacks again. Hewson says he would have been “tempted” to have played at any cost had it been him in the same position. Hewson concedes that he has never talked to Halligan about his misfortune.

Hewson’s fortune was huge in the second Test at Eden Park. He scored 20 points in a then record 40-15 triumph. The great Bruce Robertson played a “blinder” in his last Test. Hewson acknowledges that Robertson was a “superb footballer”, but when he thinks about Robertson he often thinks about the misfortune of his late Petone club mate Jim Brown.

Jim Brown was a midfield back who had a suit fitted for the 1972-73 tour of the UK. In a club match before the tour Brown broke his leg and was never in the All Black frame again.

“I was on the bench that day and heard the crack from the sideline. I think Graham Mourie made the tackle. Jim was as good as Bruce, an outstanding footballer who was never the same after that broken leg,” he says.

On the subject of injuries Hewson remembers very little of the first Test against the 1981 Springboks. The All Blacks won the game comfortably by 14-9, but Hewson left the field injured.

“I was kicked in the head at the bottom of a ruck, or at least I think I was.”

Hewson has vivid memories of the second Test in Wellington. Hewson concedes it was “hard to get to know” the Springboks because of the political controversy surrounding the tour, but the two teams had a particularly enjoyable function in Trentham.

“We had a dinner and Mex (Murray Mexted) took a few of their guys out on the town. They missed their curfew and were dropped. Rob Louw, a great mate of Murray’s, missed that game,” Hewson says.

The All Blacks travelled to Athletic Park at 9am, six hours before kick-off to avoid the protesting crowds. The Springboks had slept under the grandstand that night.

Hewson says, “the Springboks were in a warm room with a TV and a snooker table. We were in a cold dungeon. It was an awful build up. They had to win and fronted.”

Hewson kicked four penalties, but 20 points by Naas Botha gave the tourists a 24-12 victory.

The All Blacks strategy for the deciding Test at Eden Park was to move the ball wide at every opportunity. Hewson concedes they were “beaten up” in the capital. Playing at a breakneck pace the All Blacks surged ahead 16-3. Hewson joined the line to set up Stu Wilson for a try.

The match was temporarily halted, however, when flour bombs were dropped on the field by a plane buzzing overhead.

“The backs got a good view of the plane so we were able to take cover. Gary Knight got hit and it was properly lucky he was the one hit because he was the hardest guy in the team. At no stage was there an attempt to call the match off.”

South Africa benefited from the distraction and rallied to draw level at 22-all. Winger Ray Mordt became the first player to score a hat-trick in a Test against the All Blacks, Marius Joubert is the only player since. Hewson described Mordt as a “beast with a giant swerve”.

With time almost up, Mark Donaldson took a quick tap and caught the Springboks offside, winning a penalty. Hewson and Doug Rollerson had shared goal-kicking duties that day.

“Doug took the kicks from the left side, I took the kicks from the right side,” Hewson explains.

“The penalty happened on the right-side about 10 metres outside the 22. I had missed a couple beforehand, but when I struck it I knew it was over.”

Hewson won the series for New Zealand and admits that the kick is something that he is asked about all of the time.

“I wouldn’t say I am asked about it every day, but the ’81 Springboks tour is now being taught as a part of history in schools. I often get rung up by kids who want to talk about it,” he says.

Hewson’s wife Pauline (whom he celebrates a 40th anniversary with in February) didn’t want to know about the kick. Part Maori, Pauline objected to the tour and didn’t attend any of the matches.

Something that Hewson doesn’t necessarily enjoy talking about is the All Blacks’ only Test in Bucharest against Romania in 1981. Hewson says Romania is the worst place he has ever visited.

“I don’t know why we went there. The plane had no air hostess and literally wobbled onto the tarmac. The food was diabolical, Stu Wilson’s diet was fruit and wine that week,” he says.

“It was at the height of the cold war and we had a KGB agent with us. You couldn’t joke with anybody; Stu Wilson nearly got shot after making a joke about a guard.

“We had people coming up to us on the streets begging for money to get out of there. Even one of their players defected to America after we collected some money for him to perform an operation on his son’s sick leg.”

The All Blacks beat the “Romanian army” 14-6 and then had a much happier time in France where they defeated the Grand Slam champions in two Tests.

If 1981 was meteoric year for Hewson, he established himself as the best fullback in the world in 1982. In the third and deciding Test against Australia at Eden Park he scored a world-record 26 points as New Zealand finally subdued a strong Australian team.

“Our forwards were outstanding that day; everything I achieved was off the back of them. Australia had a really strong team and a toxic backline. The Ella brothers, David Campese and Roger Gould, the best fullback I played against, were outstanding,” he recalls.

Hewson scored a full-house of points, one try, two conversions, five penalties and a drop goal. Hewson and Don Clarke – against England in 1963 – are the only All Blacks to achieve a full-house of scoring in a Test match.

Hewson was named player of the series and was awarded a Subaru car worth $22,000, but he wasn’t allowed to keep it.

“I never even saw the car! Because the game was amateur the car was given to the club (Petone) and they were supposed to sell it off and distribute the money equally among the All Blacks. The All Blacks never saw any money,” he laments.

Despite the acknowledgement of class, Hewson polarised many fans with his ambitious style of play and perceived defensive frailties. Hewson says Wellington played Bay of Plenty before the third Test against the Springboks and Murray Mexted nearly got into a fight with a spectator who was “abusing me something chronic”.

Cantabrians never warmed to Hewson either as they thought Robbie Deans should have been the Test fullback. Hewson concedes he received phone calls in the middle of the night and “nasty letters of complaint” from some supporters, but never had any personal problems with Deans.

“Robbie is a nice guy. He played centre and I played fullback against Western Australia in 1984. Thankfully some of that real parochial stuff isn’t a part of the game anymore,” Hewson says.

1983 was the last year that Hewson was a regular All Black. He played all four Tests in the sweep of the Lions. Hewson scored 18 points in the fourth Test, but his most dramatic moment occurred in the dying moments of the first Test at Lancaster Park.

“The only time I was cheered in Christchurch was when I kicked a 45-metre drop goal to seal victory against the Lions. Ollie Campbell, who was a brilliant player, tried to launch a counter-attack by kicking the ball into vacant centre field. Trapper (Dave Loveridge) got to it first and passed it to me and I had a snap,” he says.

Hewson suffered glandular fever in the build up and weighed “barley 10 stone” for the match.

Today, Hewson runs an office products company in Lower Hutt and remains heavily involved with the Petone Rugby Club. Hewson says the All Blacks are in great shape because each of the coaches have specific roles which they perform very well.

Hewson believes that players must remain committed to New Zealand if they want to be an All Black. He believes the lure of the black jersey is what keeps the culture strong.

Did you know?
Hewson was selected for the first New Zealand Schools’ cricket team and his roommate was future All Black Brian McKechnie, who faced the ‘underarm’ in 1981.

Allan played eight matches for Wellington in 1978-79 as a wicketkeeper. Allan’s son Mark played 17 years of senior cricket for Petone and his brother Kevin also played rugby for Wellington.

Petone toured South Africa in 1974. After a game against the Diggers club, Hewson was helped out by Louis Luyt, an often much maligned figure in New Zealand rugby.

“I was a young guy on tour and got a bit carried away on the booze,” Hewson explains.

“I woke up the next morning at his house and he took me down to the garage where he had 10 cars and asked me ‘which one do you want to go home in?'”

Luyt made his money in fertiliser and alcohol or as Hewson laughed “shit and piss”.

After the third Test against the Springboks in 1981, Wellington played Manawatu in the deciding game of the National Provincial Championship the next day. Hewson played in the game and recalls the pre-match speech.

“We had a big night after beating the Springboks and we were all laughing when we walked into the dressing room,” he says.

“Our coach had started his team talk when Stu (Wilson) put down his bag and out rolled a bottle of beer. Everyone started pissing themselves, and our coach just walked out.”

Wellington won the game easily. Hewson won two National Provincial titles.

Hewson still holds the record for most points for Wellington with 909. In 154 first class games he scored 1308 points, but he wasn’t a regular goal-kicker in any form of rugby until 1979.

Richard Cleland was the goal-kicker for Petone and Brian Cederwall for Wellington. Hewson made his senior club debut for Petone in 1972 and his Wellington debut in 1977.