England won the Rugby World Cup for the first time in 2003, but 16 years earlier an Englishman by the name of John Gallagher was hot property as New Zealand won the inaugural competition on home soil.
Gallagher is a rarity in All Black terms. Neither born nor educated in New Zealand, the full back’s commitment to the cause still ensured that he was quickly accepted by the rugby mad population after his rapid rise to the national side.
Total Rugby TV caught up with Gallagher, now Head of PE at Colfe’s School in his native London, to take a stroll down memory lane as part of its countdown to Rugby World Cup 2007 in France later this year.
“The good thing about the New Zealand fraternity, you know the spectators and the coaches and all the other players, is that if they see that you are committed to the country, which by 1986 I was, and you’re prepared to give everything, which I was, and if you are good enough, which I was, then they welcome you with open arms,” Gallagher explained.
Taken to heart
“You know I’ve been in quite a few dressing rooms that haven’t accepted me, but going into the All Black dressing room, where you think they might just discard you, I was actually welcomed with opened arms and it’s something that I will be extremely grateful for.”
Gallagher had initially travelled to New Zealand just to play club rugby in Wellington but his athleticism and pace made such an impact that he quickly won selection for the province’s representative side.
All Blacks selection followed for the tour to France in 1986 and a year later he made his Test debut in the first ever Rugby World Cup match against Italy at Eden Park on 22 May 1987, one the All Blacks won 70-6.
Gallagher didn’t score in that match, but an All Black record equalling four tries against Fiji in the next pool match, followed by another against Scotland in the quarter final, helped New Zealand into the final against France.
“That was a real pressure cooker of a game because conditions weren’t great and it wasn’t a great game, but the important thing was we had to win it,” recalled Gal.lagher of a match the All Blacks won 29-9 back at Eden Park in Auckland.
Huge relief
“I remember my feeling, as for a lot of the players, was that after we had won the World Cup we were just relieved, because we just couldn’t contemplate not winning it.”
With 13 tries in 18 Tests for the All Blacks, Gallagher was named International Player of the Year in 1990 but then stunned everyone in the union code by signing for English rugby league side Leeds.
Reportedly the highest paid rugby player in the world at the time, Gallagher failed to live up to the reputation he brought into the code from his All Black career. However the 43-year-old has no regrets whatsoever about returning home.
“I wanted to come back to England because I wanted to be close to my family, and the way it’s worked out, what I'm doing with my life now, with my own family, my wife, my lifestyle, is where I would like to have been 20 years ago.
“So obviously leaving in 1990, even though my initial experience of rugby league was very tough and I acknowledge that it was obviously something that I needed to do to end up where I was, I'm happy where I am now so I can live with the decisions I made.”