Dave Loveridge: Halfback Star

It takes a few seconds to recognise star halfback Dave Loveridge. The famous moustache is missing, turning the former All Black's face slightly cherubic. Unlike ex-teammates Murray Mexted and Graham Mourie, who have been smooth-shaven for a number of years, Loveridge's whiskery appendage made it through to the new millennium. He lost it to a good cause in 2001. "I was actually away with the New Zealand rugby youth team in Wales. I said 'If you win the last three games I will shave my moustache'. So of course they won, so off it went." Dave was happy to whip out his razor at the end of the tour to Canada, England and Wales – it was a grand-slam effort. "That meant they went through the series unbeaten." Wife Janine, who had only known Dave with his moustache, remembers his bare-faced arrival. "He got off the plane and my son (Andrew) and I just cracked up laughing." The Loveridges have been married since 1974 – before Dave was chosen for the All Blacks. Their children, Matthew, Jonelle and Andrew, are now adults, but they grew up watching their father pass an oval ball from the back of a scrum.

The sporting code is even the name of their road. People have often wondered if Rugby Rd is named because of Dave. It isn't. The address just fits with the other English place-name roads in the area, like Durham, Norfolk and Suffolk. Dave has lived most of his life on Rugby Rd. The Loveridge family shifted there in 1960, when he was eight years old. "We moved 300 metres in a straight line, but we have always farmed this area." And played rugby and cricket out there in the paddocks, until dark. "My most vivid recollections were playing out with the family, before I went to school," he says. Let's go back even further.

David Steven Loveridge was born at the Avon Maternity Hospital, Stratford, on 22 April 1952. He was the eighth child of Horace (‘Horry’) and Margaret (‘Doll’) Loveridge. They had Anne after him, and another boy, Barry, who died as an infant. In those days, the Ranfurly Shield competition was in its heyday, and when Dave was just five, Taranaki won the Holy Grail of rugby from Otago at the end of the 1957 winter. He grew up cheering on the likes of Peter Burke, Ross Brown, Roger Urbahn, Neil Wolfe and Kevin Briscoe. "We would go down on the cycle track (at Rugby Park) and watch the game. I remember the day that Neil Patterson drop-kicked a field goal from damn near half way – and by the sideline – and Taranaki won 3-0 to keep the shield." Dave is talking about the 1964 match against Wellington. The Amber and Blacks went on to win 11 more challenges in that Ranfurly Shield era.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, the little Loveridge played backyard ‘footie’ with his siblings and cousins. Like most kids, Dave dreamed of being an All Black when he grew up. He remembers thinking "Yeah, it would be great, but it probably won't be me". He knew the odds were long. "Like buying a lottery ticket, but 'I won't win it'." For Dave it was a dream that never quite faded away. He made his first Taranaki representative team in 1964. The team was announced following a schoolboy tournament at Rugby Park and he can still recall the excitement of hearing his name called out – and the kit. "You used to get a little hat in those days … I've still got it somewhere."

Rugby has always been a huge focus in his life. When he was sitting School Certificate, his study was interrupted by live radio broadcasts of All Black tests against England, Wales, Scotland and France. "They weren't televised in those days. I remember listening to the All Blacks games at two in the morning. I listened to every game, then tried to do my study." Did he pass School C? "I did get it in the end," he says. Later in the 1960s, the Loveridges were the first in the area to get a television, and so were able to watch rugby tests in black and white. "Not the overseas ones, which were 2o'clock in the morning. So it was the old radio then." In 1966, his dad took him to his first All Black test match. It was against the British Lions at Eden Park. "There were 60,000 people there. I was standing down the end and I was very short … but it was great. Hell, here I was going to a test match – and New Zealand won of course." A little more than a decade ahead, the crowd would be cheering for an All Black side containing the pig farmer from Tariki.

Before that, he had to earn his place. In 1972, Dave was working in a bank and got transferred to Auckland. "I'd just made the senior team down here at Inglewood," he says. Instead, he played social football for the Varsity Rovers. "We used to train at a place called the Globe (Tavern)." Surprisingly, this low-key kick-off to his rugby career turned out to be a good move. The following year, Dave made the Auckland University team and from there got picked for the Auckland team.

"I played two games and my second and last game was against North Auckland and I marked All Black halfback Sid Going," Dave says. "He was a hero for a lot of New Zealanders at that time. There were three Goings in the team and they cut us to pieces. We got beaten 36-6." Even though Dave was playing with some of the best in the world, he was oblivious to the fact he was rising through the ranks. "I was at the stage in my life that it didn't really dawn on me; the level I was playing at." After the North Auckland game the Taranaki lad was replaced by John Hart, who later became All Black coach.

The big-city stint was all a great adventure for Dave. "Auckland was like my O.E. (overseas experience), being away for two years and coming home and being more settled." In 1974, Dave headed back to life beneath the mountain. That season, he played for the Inglewood seniors and was chosen for the Amber and Blacks. "Obviously, it was a big deal playing for Taranaki, especially after watching all the games when I was younger – it meant a lot. I thought 'This is as good as it gets'." He was wrong. The following year he made the Junior All Blacks, and in 1977 was in the All Black trials at Whanganui.

Later that season, he side-lined himself while playing for Taranaki. "That's when I done my knee in against the Lions," Dave says. "I got the ball from a line-out and they came through and caught me and I couldn't move my feet and they formed a ruck and twisted me around. I was trying to be tough by not letting go of the ball. I dislocated my kneecap." Dave was taken from the field by ambulance, with wife Janine running to catch up. At the time she was about seven months pregnant with Matthew. "It was a race to see if the baby came first or the crutches went first," Janine says. "I think the crutches won." In 1978, Dave was back on his feet and back in form. That season he was named as an All Black reserve for a three-match test series against the Wallabies in New Zealand. He didn't get to play.

At the end of that season, Dave heard his name read over the radio for the tour to Great Britain. He knew he'd earn his silver fern, because there were 18 games on tour. On October 21, 1978, the slick halfback made his All Black debut against the Cardiff club. The venue was, of course, Cardiff Arms Park (now called Millennium Stadium). That park still has spine-tingling significance for Dave. "That's where I played my first test match." With a sigh, he talks about the incredible sound of the Welsh united in song. "Until you get out in the middle there and hear it – nothing can prepare you for it. "I don't think there's any other stadium as far as the singing goes that can match it."

Being part of that three-month grand-slam tour was one of the highlights of his rugby career. Like teammate Graham Mourie, Dave doesn't think another All Black team will ever manage to beat the four home unions in one sweep. Mainly because tours of that length are no longer organised. "It was momentous … and it was an adventure, really. I'd never been overseas before. "One of the highlights was the Munster game," Dave laughs about the game against the Irish club. "We got beaten 12-0. They even made a play about it. As they say in Wales – I was there." Being on the road for so long brought the team close together. "You really get to rely on other guys in the team. You hear about teams creating team cultures and I think it's just something we had on that tour.

"We were one great big family – that was one of the major reasons for the success." And of course personalities flourished. Dave was one of the comedians, along with the classic duo of Bernie Fraser and Stu Wilson, nicknamed Ebony and Ivory. Dave's nickname was ‘Trapper’, bestowed on him by former Taranaki prop Ash Gardiner during a rainy training session in New Plymouth. "It was in the days when I had that big droopy moustache and long hair," he says. Ash looked at him and said: "You look like a drowned rat. No, you're a rat trapper – that's what we'll call you." Of course, the name got shortened. Back to Britain, with Trapper acting up with the wacky wingers. "You had to have some people in the team who created some sort of hilarity to break the boredom," he says, explaining how they sometimes travelled for 12 hours a day, fitting in training stops and food breaks on the way. "You have to create your own fun on trips like that, especially when you have a lot of people together." They were also pranksters. At each hotel they stayed at, they would do a bouncing bun trick to tease waitresses about stale bread.

Part of being on tour was attending flash functions at places like the Savoy and the Hilton. "We would file in and you would have to give your name to the doorman," Dave says. "We used to give them false names." The result would be the same as in the TV cartoon, The Simpsons, when Bart would ring up Moe's Tavern and ask to speak to someone called Mr R. Soul. In the case of the comic All Blacks, some were announced as Mr Jock Strap and Mr Fred Dagg. "Someone would always come up with a new one you hadn't heard before. There were some other ones that were definitely quite crude, but I can't remember them," says Dave, conveniently.

On the field, the team was nothing but serious. Especially Dave, who had to feed the scrum, swipe the ball from the back of the black spider, and dive-pass it out to the waiting back line. Dave only played one test on that tour, as Mark Donaldson was still the No 1 halfback. It wasn't until the tour at the end of 1979, that Dave shed his second-string status. He then played 22 consecutive tests for the All Blacks, including a stint as captain. In 1980, he led the All Blacks in Mourie's absence. However, it wasn't a successful Transtasman tour for the New Zealanders, who lost test series 1-2 to Australia. In 1983, he played the best rugby of his life.

On a blustery day in Wellington, Dave took the Lions by storm. He controlled the entire game, and even scored the All Blacks' only try. After the 9-0 victory, coach Bryce Rope said that this had been ‘Trapper's test’. Rugby bible Men In Black says: "The second spell proved a triumph for the home pack and for Dave, who gave a superb display, which ranked him among the great halfbacks of all time." The press thought so too. At the end of 1983, he was voted the New Zealand player of the year by a panel of journalists. He was also chosen as Taranaki Sportsman of the Year.

At the beginning of 1984, Dave was named the best rugby player in the world by sports writers from all over the globe. He and Janine were flown to England, so he could receive the Jack Marshall Award. While the year began with triumph, it slumped in May. During a game for Taranaki against Queensland, Dave tore a medial ligament in his knee. He was stitched up by Taranaki orthopaedic surgeon David Ludbrook. The day before Dave was due to get his plaster off, he went to watch a Taranaki representative match at Rugby Park. He arrived to find the team having a minute's silence. He was gutted to find out why. The night before, Dr Ludbrook had died in a car crash on the Auckland motorway. Afterwards, the gutsy halfback became even more determined to finish his career as a player – not retired forever through injury.

"Dave, he operated and fixed me, got me right." In 1985, Dave Loveridge came back from injury. "I thought I was well enough to give it another go. I didn't want to finish on a note like that. "It was a challenge to see if my leg was going to be good enough and if I was going to be good enough." He was - just. "It took a whole year to get that confidence back and get everything working properly. I know myself that I never regained the full capabilities."

Still, Dave was named in the reserves for two tests against England and was chosen for the side to go to South Africa. However, the latter tour was aborted and the All Blacks went to Argentina, where Dave played in the second test. It was his last game for the All Blacks and the teams drew 21-21. But it wasn't quite the end of his international career. He went with the controversial Cavaliers to South Africa in 1986 and had a season with London team Harlequins in 1987. "I was 35 when I played my last competitive game of rugby," he says. Looking back, he reckons the best thing about his career is the people he's met. "Rugby has opened doors to friendships around the world – and what more can you ask for?"

Another stint at the top, maybe? Coach gathers momentum

These days Dave is rising through the coaching ranks. He coached his own boys up through the grades, then kept going. He's a staff coach for the New Zealand Rugby Union, has coached the Taranaki under-23 development team for about four years, has been on three tours with the New Zealand youth team, spent two years coaching the Hurricanes under-20 development side and is also a selector for the New Zealand under-19s.

Despite clocking up a huge number of hours working on strategies, fitness and morale, Dave appears laid-back about his coaching future. "Again, I just take it as it comes. It would be nice to coach at a higher level. It's a bit like before I got picked for the All Blacks …" And ended up the best halfback in the world.

Chester, R.H. (2000). Men in Black. Auckland: Hodder Moa Beckett.

Shears, R. (1981). Storm out of Africa: the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand. Auckland: Macmillan.

Taranaki Rugby Union (1985). One Hundred Years of Taranaki Rugby, 1885-1985. New Plymouth: TNL Limited.