/ 19 December 1999

COLIN MEADS NAMED GREATEST ALL BLACK

ALL Black great Colin “Pinetree” Meads was named New Zealand’s greatest rugby union player of the century by a rugby magazine. Meads, who played 55 tests for the All Blacks between 1957 and 1971, finished ahead of George Nepia, Wilson Whineray, Sean Fitzpatrick and Michael Jones in a public poll run over the past 12 months by New Zealand Rugby World magazine. “This is a real honour,” Meads said. “But it’s a bit embarrassing getting an individual award like this in a team game,” he told reporters. The top 10 players of the century voted by NZ Rugby World’s readers were: Meads, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Jones, Jeff Wilson, George Nepia, Zinzan Brooke, Wilson Whineray, Brian Lochore, Josh Kronfeld and Don Clarke.