Graham Mourie

Graham Mourie

Player information
Full name	Graham Neil Kenneth Mourie
birthday	September 8, 1952
place of birth	Opunake , New Zealand
Nickname	Goss
society
society	Career ended
position	Winger
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
	Opunake RFC (Association) Taranaki RFU (Province)
Teams in youth
Years	team
	Taranaki Secondary Schools rep Opunake High School 1st XV New Plymouth Boys' High School 1st XV
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1976-1982	New Zealand	21 (16)
Coaching stations
Years	Association / Province / Franchise
1997-1999 2000-2002	Opunake / Coastal RFC Wellington RFU Hurricanes
Status: December 15, 2009 National team: September 11, 1982

Graham Neil Kenneth Mourie (born September 8, 1952 in Opunake , New Zealand ) is a former New Zealand national rugby union player on the position of winger and was a rugby coach after his playing career.

Mourie first went to Opunake High School as a boy and played in the 1st rugby team. When he moved to the New Plymouth Boys' High School , he also ran there for their 1st rugby team.

He continued his active rugby career after school with his local club Opunake RFC. Because of his good performance, he was soon nominated for the provincial team Taranaki RFU . He later led them as team captain.

He was called up in 1976 for the first time in the squad of the New Zealand national team , the All Blacks , and immediately made captain of the de facto reserve team of New Zealand. The All Blacks toured Argentina and South Africa at the same time , so a weaker team with Mourie as captain was sent to Argentina. In 1977 he was selected again for the national team to play for them against the British and Irish Lions during their tour in New Zealand. The New Zealanders won this tour with four wins from four games. Mourie was used in two friendly matches against the Lions. In the same year he was appointed the new regular captain of the All Blacks against France , replacing Tane Norton . He later became one of the greatest captains in All Black history. A year later he led the New Zealand national team to a so-called Grand Slam for the first time . The All Blacks managed to beat all four so-called Home Nations of Rugby Union, England , Ireland , Scotland and Wales , during a tour through Europe in 1978 . New Zealand was only able to repeat this success 25 years later. However, he was also part of the team that surprisingly lost 0:12 to the Irish provincial team Munster Rugby in Limerick during the same tour . In 1981 Mourie voluntarily renounced the national team during the controversial tour of South Africa to New Zealand because he rejected the South African apartheid regime of whites. The tour was overshadowed by massive protests and rioting as many New Zealanders felt it was inappropriate for New Zealand to host games against such a country. Later that year, Mourie returned to the All Blacks for the European tour of France and Romania .

In 1982 Mourie resigned from active rugby and began a career as a coach. He was 1997 national coach of the provincial team Wellington RFU in the National Provincial Championship (NPC) and 2000 Trainer of the New Zealand Super 12 - Franchise Hurricanes . However, he could not win any titles with either team.

Web links

• Profile on allblacks.com