The heroes of your youth are the best heroes and this is why I was thrilled that Des Connor will be inducted into the Wallaby Hall of Fame at the weekend of the 2008 Bledisloe Cup Test final between Australia and New Zealand.
Connor is one of that rare and now impossible bred who played for the Wallabies and the All Blacks.
To my mind, he ranks as an equal with the best halfbacks in the history of rugby.
Welsh supporters will claim Gareth Edwards as the greatest. Australians will claim Ken Catchpole and John Hipwell. New Zealanders will advocate Chris Laidlaw and David Loveridge. And South Africans are insistent about Danie Craven, later known as Mr Rugby.
Edwards and Catchpole were brilliant runners, with Catchpole having a fast, snappy pass – all wrists flick, with a minimal wind-up from his arms.
Peter Crittle, former Wallaby and long-serving rugby official and, incidentally, the owner of a wonderful rugby library, always insists that Catchpole was the best ever.
Anyone who has seen clips of his lightning breaks will be impressed.
Laidlaw was a superb passing halfback. He was ambidextrous, so could fire his bullet passes from either side.
He passed from the crouch position – no dive – and he was the first player in rugby union, or rugby league for that matter, to put a spin on the ball as he hurtled it metres away to his halfback. You could almost hear Laidlaw’s passes as they buzzed through the air, like Wally Lewis specials.
He did not have to swizzle on his left-hand side like Loveridge.
Loveridge had a better kicking and sniping game, but Laidlaw, as befitting a Rhodes Scholar, was very smart in the way he read a game with his cover defence and huge passes.
Craven brought the dive pass to Australia and New Zealand with the 1937 Springboks, a side that won its Test series in both countries and was deemed “the best side ever to leave New Zealand.”
Against Australia, Craven played number 8 and first-five. In the era of the tiny, quick-silver halfback, Craven had a sturdy build and lots of speed.
In New Zealand he played at halfback, and his prodigious passing opened up gaps for his backs to race through, which the All Black could not cover.
And Des Connor?
He was built like Craven, and when he broke from a scrum or a ruck, he clumped through gaps running faster than it seemed he was travelling.
His dive pass was as long as Laidlaw’s. His defence was as strong as that of Edwards. His kicking was massive.
Towering high balls from the base of the scrum or the ruck were designed, and intended, to put fear into the heart of the waiting fullback.
Like all the other great halfbacks, Connor had that a special ability to rise to the occasion.
The first time he touched a ball in an All Blacks jersey, against France at Eden Park, he broke away on the blindside from a tight-head win and set up his backs to score a stunning try.
Like Laidlaw, too, Connor was a profound and stimulating thinker about rugby tactics and strategies.
He came back from New Zealand to Brisbane and in 1969 coached the Wallabies to a close but losing series against Fred Allen’s All Blacks, arguably one of the best All Blacks side ever.
At Brisbane, where in a nice touch he will receive his Hall of Fame induction, the 1968 All Blacks were awarded a controversial penalty try (by an Australian referee, Kevin Crowe) to snatch a victory against the run of play.
For the first time in Test rugby, the Wallabies, under Connor’s shrewd coaching, had run short line-outs and the All Blacks were confused over the unusual tactics.
I remember Connor’s debut for the All Blacks because I flew up from Wellington to Auckland, a first flight, to spend a weekend with a new girlfriend and to see Connor play his first Test for New Zealand.
He had thrilled me earlier in the rugby season with his play for Auckland.
Years later I met up with him at Brisbane, with his mate and fellow Wallaby great Terry Curley.
Both of them were as impressive and as manly off the field as they were on the field.
Life doesn’t get much better when your hero matches every aspect of the admiration you had for him when you meet up with him after the days of his playing glory.
Des Connor is truly a rugby immortal.
garth knudsen
Guest
i agree 100% i was at brothers rugby in 1956/57 te best player i ever knew
sheek
Guest
Spiro, The famous Barbarians-ABs match was January 1973. Also, quite often when deciding who was the best in each position is dependent on how the game is playing at that particular time, because it's inclined to influence people's thinking. For example, pre lifting in the lineouts, I would have seriously considered Steve Cutler as an alltime Wallaby 1st XV player. But once lifting was allowed, Cutler's importance wasn't quite as critical. Today's experts(???), when considering Catchpole, might consider him too frail for the alltime scrumhalf position. Although generally, he's stood the test of time.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
Congrats Des, He's a man who still loves his rugby and is no doubt excited about the weekend. Lindsay Knight wrote in Loveridge's New Zealand Rugby Museum bio: "But even without this sublime performance [Trapper's Test] Loveridge had already done enough to be ranked among the greatest New Zealand has had in this position, up with Chris Laidlaw and Sid Going. Many felt he may have been even better than these two for he combined the strengths of each of these masters. His passing and kicking were little inferior to that of Laidlaw and his ability to run was almost as telling as that of Going." Trapper was a bit before my time. The first All Blacks halfback for me was David Kirk and the best Bachop.
Spiro Zavos
Expert
The Barbarians match was in 1978 surely.
Spiro Zavos
Expert
Sheek Chris Laidlaw told me that he never had any problems with Gareth Edwards as he used to knock his arm as he wound up to pass. Edwards did have a brilliant Lions tour of NZ in 1971 with Barry John and a splendid Barbarians match against them in 1971. But playing for Wales against the All Blacks he was not very successful. Ken Catchpole was brilliant as the film clips reveal. But he was dropped on a tour of NZ because he was being belted around behind a typically over-powered Wallaby pack. Des Connor for me had everything a halfback had to have: a magnificent pass, strong defence, a good clumping break, a huge kick and tactical nous. And he was a faultt-free player. He never fluctuated in his form. He was always great. Perhaps it is part of the joy of being young but the heroes of your youth - and Connor was one of them, along with Keith Miller, along with the rest of thew world - are like your first love, to be cherished for ever and never forgotten.
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
Even getting on at age 44, I am far too young to have any memory - or even any knowledge - of Des Connor. However Spiro's words remind me very much of another magnificent New Zealand export to Australian rugby, Greg Davis. I never saw him play, but I do remember his death, and I have never seen any of Australia's elder rugby writers (Phil Wilkins, Norm Tasker, etc.) write of him with anything but utmost respect, even reverence. So it strikes me that Connor and Davis are two men cut very much from the same cloth.
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
You know I never noticed that sheek. A little embarrassing that...
sheek
Guest
Frank, Another problem with comparing players, is the qaulity of other players around them. If one scrumhalf is behind a powerful pack, & another equally good scrumhalf is behind a weaker pack, then you generally know who's going to come out smelling roses! It's Connor, BTW, but I'll forgive you the 'O'.
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
Yeah very nice read Spiro. And I have to say he's a very deserving member of the HOF. Earlier this year I suggested that Farr-Jones, Johnny Wallace and Peter Johnson be the ones inducted into the HOF. But nobody's going to argue with Dunlop and O'Connor. I was facinated when I first heard of O'Connor. He sounded like Australia's best player, yet the press raved about Catchpole when NSW beat the Lions in 1959. I thought it sounded sad that Australians seemed to overlook him. That said, you're not alone in acclaiming O'Connor one of the best. New Zealand's Morrie McKenzie once sid of O'Connor: "The best halfback in the world from 1958-61 and also the best I ever saw with the exception of Danie Craven." I also enjoyed the story about the 1968 game against New Zealand where, a week after Ken Catchpole was crippled, a furious Wallabies side sought to beat a Fred Allen coached All Blacks. O'Connor came up witht he tactic of short line-outs and infuriated Allen. History (and the footage that still exists) shows that Australia were robbed of that game and that a penalty try shouldn't have been given. That game is my pick for the most heartbreaking loss in Wallaby history. When you think of how success Allen's All Blacks were, I think had Australia won that game it would have gone down in the same way as John Soloman's Wallabies win over South Africa in 1953 (?). It's interesting that you mentioned Gareth Edwards Spiro. Edwards is a great and his place in rugby history is undisputed, but Martin Johnson did say once that the Welsh have put a mythical status on him. If you ask anybody in the Northern Hemisphere who the best ever was, they'll tell you Edwards. But I can't tell if it's just hype, if it's just accepted as truth or if he really was that great. From the little I've seen of him (and it's VERY LITTLE) I don't know if he has a legitimate claim to be the best ever. Edwards has said time and time against that Sid Going probably got the better of him each time they played. Although history says the British Lions shut Going down in the 3rd game of the 1971 series. Who knows?
Harry
Guest
Nice piece Spiro. Connor was before my time but my Dad rated him extremely highly - though I don't think ahead of Catchpole.
sheek
Guest
Spiro, I've always been fascinated by your support for Des Connor over Ken Catchpole as Australia's greatest ever scrumhalf. At least as a NZ born rugby fan, you aren't caught up in the NSW-Qld rivalry! Those of us who come after rely on those who went before to be accurate in their assessment of players from their time. I only saw Catchpole play in his twilight with Randwick in 1971, on TV. I've also seen old clips of him, but Hipwell was the first Wallaby scrumhalf I saw live. Almost every publication I read has Catchpole as our best ever scrumhalf. You are the first to challenge that position. Could you be right? It's great to hear an alternate view. I find the more often you read different versions, slowly the truth emerges on different players, & where they stand in the pantheon of the Gods. Then there's Edwards as the best ever scrumhalf from any country, any era. I saw Edwards in his pomp (via TV), & he was damn good. I've always accepted the assessment on Edwards. But again, is this truly right? It's interesting that arguments on NZ's best ever scrumhalf are more numerous. Even up to the 80s, I read some publications claiming Connor as their best ever scrumhalf. Usually Laidlaw gets the most votes, followed by Loveridge, or Laidlaw's sparring partner - Sid Going. Laidlaw's career was just winding down as I started following rugby in the early 1970s. I remember seeing Going via TV, although Loveridge is the best ABs scrumhalf I have seen live in my time. The arguments over Laidlaw & Going are a bit like Lynagh & Ella - the allround technician versus the genius maverick. Spiro, I might cross swords with you on the relevance of Sydney University to Australian rugby, but I love reading your thoughts on bygone players!