WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Famously tough All Blacks loose forward Alex (Grizz) Wyllie who went on to coach New Zealand to 25 wins in 29 tests has died. He was 80.
Wyllie’s death on Saturday as a result of cancer was confirmed by Canterbury Rugby Union which said “it is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Alex ‘Grizz’ Wyllie who left us peacefully overnight.”
Rugged and lavishly mustachioed, Wyllie came to personify the ideal of the rugby hard man. He played 11 tests among 40 games for the All Blacks and 210 matches for Canterbury province.
During that period he was part of Canterbury team which won the Ranfurly Shield challenge trophy twice and beat England, Scotland and Ireland.
He played for Canterbury in the 1971 match against the British and Irish Lions which the touring media portrayed as particularly bloody. The Lions prop Sandy Carmichael suffered a broken cheekbone in the match but Wyllie dismissed the notion the match was especially violent.
“Ray McLoughlin and one of our players were having a bit of a scuffle, I went in to step in and McLoughlin swung around and collected me (and broke his thumb),” Wyllie said in his final interview. “Ivan Vodanovich (the All Blacks coach at the time) carried it a bit too far when he mentioned it was like the Battle of Passchendaele.”
Wyllie was first an assistant to head coach Brian Lochore in the All Blacks team which won the 1987 World Cup.
He then coached the team from 1988 until 1991, to wins in 58 of 64 matches for a 91 percent success rate.
At the 1991 World Cup he was joined in the coaching box by John Hart in an odd couple combination which was unsuccessful. Hart was a corporate executive, Wyllie a man of the land and their methods and attitudes proved incompatible.
In 1990 Wyllie sacked then All Blacks captain Wayne “Buck” Shelford in what became a contentious and iconic incident in New Zealand rugby. “Bring Back Buck” signs still appear regularly at All Black matches.
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The Associated Press
