Great All Black captain dies

Wilson Whineray, great man and great All Black captain, died in Auckland on  Monday at the age of 77. 

A prop, he was not yet 22 when picked for the All Blacks against Australia in 1957 and the next year he was made captain of the All Blacks.

His All Black career lasted from 1957 to 1965. He played in 32 Tests, 30 as captain.

To many he was a better captain than player but in his last year he was voted New Zealand's Sportsman of the Year. In 2003 he was named Patron of the New Zealand Rugby Union. In 2007 became just the fourth person to be inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.

He was not a big prop - 1,83m and 94 kg - but he was a skilful player, making the most of the peel-off from the line-out, the Willy Away - then a recent French invention. On the 1960 tour to South Africa, he suffered greatly at the hands of Piet du Toit in the scrums.

His playing days over, Whineray  achieved great things. He won a Harkness Scholarship to Harvard University for an MBA, was for 10 years the chairman of Carter Holt Harvey and served on the boards of several other companies. In 1962 he was made OBE and in 1998 he was knighted for his services to sport and business management.

He was one of the most admired New Zealanders of his time. Bob Howitt, the celebrated New Zealand rugby writer, did Whineray's biography, entitled A Perfect Gentleman.

The chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union, Mike Eagle said: "We have lost one of New Zealand's great heroes and for the rugby community we have lost a much-loved patron and champion of rugby.

"We extend our condolences to Lady Elisabeth and to their family as they remember a much-loved husband, a father and a grandfather."

Wilson James Whineray was born in Auckland on 10 July 1935. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School and the University of Auckland. He is survived by his wife Elisabeth, a son, two daughters and five grandchildren.