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A beer with an All Black: Graham Mourie

Roar Guru
5th March, 2015
11

Graham Mourie can remember his first tackle. It happened when he was six years old on a frosty field in Opunake. The flattened victim congratulated Mourie, who became hooked on the game of rugby from that point.

“I guess I put in my 10,000 hours,” Mourie says. “I spent some time at lock in my first year at New Plymouth Boys’ High School, but I figured out quickly that I wanted to be a loose forward and aspired to be an All Black.”

Mourie developed an early habit of standing out in big games. He scored two tries on debut for the New Zealand Universities in 1972 and then returned to Taranaki as a member of the New Zealand Colts, beating his home province.

In 1973, Mourie scored a try when the Junior All Blacks upset the All Blacks 14-10 in Dunedin.

Mourie laughs: “That wasn’t an upset. The All Blacks were terrible in ‘73. They got beaten by England who Wellington and Taranaki had beaten earlier in the English tour. I scored a try for Wellington in that game as well.”

Mourie recalls one All Black was so furious that when Mourie extended a handshake at the after-match function he was told in no uncertain terms where to stick it.

In 1975, Mourie captained the Junior All Blacks to a 10-all draw against a sturdy Romania. Despite suffering a serious bout of influenza, Mourie scored two tries in a courageous performance that caught the eye of the national selectors.

In 1976, Mourie was appointed captain of the All Blacks for the non-Test tour of Argentina. Mourie recalls: “I saw a capital C beside my name and thought it meant something derogatory.”

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Mourie admits that he never felt like a natural captain in the early days and hated giving team talks. Mourie recalls his great Taranaki mate Ian Eliason gave him some good advice when he was appointed to captain the team to Latin America.

“Ian was somebody that I really looked up to. ‘Legs’ as he was known told me that he hated the culture on his ‘72-73 tour which was a surprise. I remember him saying when he walked into the dining one of the senior players would throw knives at him. Why would you want to throw a knife at anybody? He certainly told me that if I was in charge to make sure that everybody enjoyed their experience.”

Eliason played a record 223 games for Taranaki and despite appearing 19 times for the All Blacks was never capped, but ironically, at his request, presented Mourie with his Test cap at a formal retrospective capping ceremony in 2010.

The All Blacks achieved eight routine victories in Argentina, but struggled to handle the military junta off the field.

“Everybody was held at gun point at some stage during that tour,” Mourie explains. “The Argies were paranoid about everything. One night one of the boys had a birthday and invited a couple of friends who turned up with a cake back to the hotel. The security guards arrived and cut the cake in half searching for bombs.”

Mourie made his Test debut in the third match against the British Lions in 1977. Mourie recalls: “Fran Cotton was getting stuck into Brad Johnstone big time after a five metre scrum on their line. He was taunting Brad about his scrimmaging and anything else he could think about. Brad quietly replied ‘you’re right mate, but look we just scored.”

The All Blacks won 19-7 and went onto to claim the series in the fourth Test.

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France is a country that Mourie has had a long association with and fondness for. Mourie played six of his 21 Tests against the tricolours and in 1978 spent a season playing for Paris University.

“I guess I was one of the first Kiwi rugby players to embrace France. I loved the people and the culture, though the rugby was extremely tough. You basically avoided the ground at all costs otherwise you would take one in the head,” he says.

Mourie’s captaincy debut in Toulouse in 1977 resulted in a defeat. In the second Test the All Blacks scored a resounding 15-3 win in Paris after radically altering their tactics.

“The press said we changed the game in that Test,” Mourie says. “We played at a breakneck speed and avoided confrontation. Ironically we had been playing that way for Opunake for three years.”

In 1977, France had won the Six Nations without conceding a try and by starting the same starting XV in every game. Mourie says it’s hard to explain the French’s inconsistency.

“The French are emotionally intense; they seem to have extremes in highs and lows. France is also very regionally focused. Players often have a stronger connection to their own clubs and area than the country as a whole.”

In 1979, France toured New Zealand and lost 23-9 in the first Test. The second Test on Armistice Day in Auckland saw a spectacular reversal, despite Mourie scoring his first Test try.

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“We got hammered that day. The French had a beast pack and some superb backs Jean-LucAverous, Jean-Michel Aguire and Alain Caussade. We were a bit complacent after the first Test and attitude is everything.”

The crowning achievement of Mourie’s career was leading the All Blacks to their maiden Grand Slam success in 1978.

“The ’78 team wasn’t a great team in the sense that we had great individuals, but the group was tight and their commitment was unquestionable.”

The tour started in ominous fashion when the All Blacks were embarrassed 12-0 by Munster. It was the first time in 212 matches the All Blacks had been held scoreless and Munster’s victory has been immortalised by a book and a play.

However after Christy Cantillon’s famous try, the All Blacks didn’t concede another one on tour for 14 hours and 38 minutes. Bruce Hay scored for Scotland in the final Test. The All Blacks won 17 out of 18 games.

“We made a decision after the Munster game to really concentrate on defence,” Mourie says. “We had a good backline but Munster exposed a one-dimensional attack-focused approach, we decided to stick to our strengths and that was a more possession and territorial orientated rugby.”

The Irish Test was the first victory in the Grand Slam sequence and Mourie says it was easy.

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“Andy Dalton scored a try in extra time and we won 10-6.”

The Welsh Test will be forever remembered for Andy Hayden diving out of the lineout to earn a penalty that Brian McKechnie slotted in the last-minute to give the All Blacks a 13-12 victory.

In his autobiography ‘Captain’ Mourie says that diving in the lineouts had its genesis in 1966. Ian Eliason had pulled the stunt twice for Taranaki while marking King Country’s Colin Meads. Tarankai won the game and Pinetree ended the career of referee Bob Forsyth.

In 2014, Mourie presented a new theory on Hayden’s dive.

“Andy had an ear infection that day, he was suffering from vertigo. Frank Oliver may have had the same but Geoff Wheel held him up – it was lucky referee Quittenden was looking that way and actually penalised Wheel.”

Jack Gleeson and Eric Watson were the successful coaches on the European tours from 1977 to the 1980 Slam tour. Mourie says their coaching styles were quite different from each other.

“Jack was a very astute coach. He looked at the game strategically and was a great man-manager. Eric was very honest; a very good coach of forwards, his style of play was simple and effective.”

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Mourie says the best All Black team he played in was the 1980 side that trounced Wales 23-3 in the centenary Test in Cardiff. Mourie scored a try in that Test and recalls the brutal honesty of Watson when discussing team selections.

“At our first assembly Eric commented on the strengths of each player one through to 25. He missed fullback Doug Rollerson. Perplexed, Doug raised his hand and asked: ‘What about me coach?’ Eric replied: ‘Dougie you have been telling me you’re the best fullback in New Zealand for so long, I thought I’d give you a go’!”

In 1979, the All Blacks were hardly a great team. The Bledisloe Cup was lost for the first time since 1934.

“We’d had the Bledisloe for so long we had forgotten what it was,” Mourie laughs. “We dropped the ball with the line open and that was it.”

However the All Blacks did achieve what Mourie rated as one of the finest victories of his career that season.

“We played England at Twickenham and won 10-9. That was bloody tough. We had four wingers, Gary Cunningham, Bernie Fraser, Brian Ford and Stu Wilson in the backline. We used to joke that fullback Richard Wilson was the only one who could tackle.”

Mourie famously withdrew from the Springboks tour in 1981 a stance that made the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald.

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In 1982, he retired from the game after helping the All Blacks regain the Bledisloe Cup in a three-Test series. Mourie scored a try in the Christchurch Test.

Ironically, given that he chaired the IRB Committee for several years until standing down from the New Zealand Rugby Union board in 2013, Mourie was officially banned from the game between 1983 and 1995 for violating the rules of amateurism.

Mourie accepted royalties from sales of his autobiography.

“We all did, but that’s the way things were in those days. I remained involved in the game anyway. I was involved in Auckland with John Hart in 1985 and 1986. In 1985 Auckland won the NPC and the Ranfurly Shield and guys like Michael Jones, Sean Fitzpatrick and Zinzan Brooke began to emerge.”

In 1999, Mourie coached Wellington to their first National Provincial championship final and then, while Hurricanes coach, was a technical advisor to Dave Rennie in 2000 when Wellington won the title. Rennie is a coach that Mourie rates highly.

“Dave is very intelligent and thorough person. He’s very good with people and I think he will eventually make a very good All Black coach.”

What makes a great All Black captain?

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“I wasn’t a big talker, but I had a good understanding of the game,” Mourie says. “I could change tactics quickly according to the conditions. The great All Black captains set the tone both on and off the field. They lead by example and command the ultimate respect of the players. I have a huge respect for Richie McCaw. Everything he does is so professional and is ability to push his body to extremes is extraordinary.”

Today, Mourie is back to his roots involved with dairy farming.

In 2014, Mourie coached his son Tai (also a flanker) in the Hutt International Boys’ Schools First XV in Wellington. Mourie rates coaching schoolboys as one of the most satisfying experiences of his career.

He says the “boys were outstanding”. Mourie shares an amusing story about a famous win over one of New Zealand’s elite rugby schools, Wellington College.

“Our school had never beaten Wellington College and we had no right to because they have 1500 boys and we have 450. We beat them 6-5 in awful weather in Petone. The goal posts were shaking throughout the game. We didn’t have much ball, but thoroughly deserved to win because attitude is everything. The next time we played them the referee approached me beforehand and said I understand you play boring rugby. I said we don’t pass the ball beyond second-five much otherwise we get in trouble. At halftime we were down by three and then had two players yellow carded. They scored three tries and it was all over. I am still trying to figure out how they gave away 22 penalties to eight and we ended up with two boys in the sin bin.”

Did you know?
Graham Mourie captained the All Blacks 58 times in 61 games. He won on 52 occasions and only suffered defeat six times. In Test matches he won 15 out of 19 internationals.

Mourie captained the following teams in his first class career: New Zealand, New Zealand Trials, New Zealand Juniors, North Island, Taranaki, Barbarians, New Zealand Invitation XV, and World XV. He won 115 out of 166 matches as a skipper.

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Mourie rates Jean-Pierre Rives (France), Fergus Slattery (Ireland) and Simon Poidevin (Australia) as the best players he marked in international rugby.

Mourie weighed 84kg when he was first selected for the All Blacks in 1976. When he returned from Argentina he was 93kg. Mourie says: “Conditioning has changed the game.”

Bob Forsyth was a one-armed referee. He lost an arm during World War II and refereed a Test match between Australia and New Zealand in 1958.

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