News

All Blacks catch up with their caps

December 04 2008

They say you have to be patient before you can win your first All Black cap, but 60 years is perhaps pushing things a bit!

The NZRU has awarded six of its finest players their official first caps, catching up a period of 60 years post-World War II when caps were not awarded.

The players honoured at the Auckland awards ceremony - one from each decade since the war - were Fred Allen (representing the 1940s), Sir Wilson Whineray (1950s), Sir Brian Lochore (1960s), Andy Dalton (1970s), Buck Shelford (1980s) and Olo Brown (1990s).

They were the first half-dozen of 400+ players who will be presented with honorary first caps over the next two years in a series of events.

The first of the events will be staged across the main centres during the All Blacks' test season starting in June 2009. Former players will be capped, beginning with players from the 1940s.

New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs said the families of players who had since died would be invited to receive the caps on their behalf.

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