I touched down in Auckland at 5.15am on the morning of Saturday August 9. Rushed home, showered and caught the 10.25am flight to Dunedin for the battle with the Boks. And what a battle it was. South Africa came with a plan to contain, to constrict and to control the damage. 

If their goal-kicking had been on target this could have turned into a pretty tough day. As it was we showed enough skill, speed and flair to put another good result on the scorecard. I thought the All Blacks showed increasing maturity, better decision making and great strength of will and character. A good Test to watch and I'm sure it was good to play in.

Like the other 38,000 people there I wish we'd have played the test at 2.30 in the afternoon. This night rugby is not good for the game, the players or the spectators. It's definitely not good for the kind of exciting, 15-man expansive game the All Blacks play. At 2.30pm on August 9 the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the pitch was firm and it was 15º. I believe we would have run riot and stretched the Springboks to breaking point.

The All Blacks' strength and power lie in a combination of their tradition, heritage and mystique linked to forward thinking and winning performances. The long term value is all around winning. 

To do this we need to refocus the media deal so that big games in New Zealand against England, Australia and South Africa are played when it suits us the most, i.e. at 2.30pm. England and South Africa both do this and so should we. I was involved in the original News deal and there is nothing in the original contract stipulating evening kick-offs. 

This is discussed annually with the broadcaster and I believe we now need to put our foot down and insist that it is in the long term interests of rugby, the All Blacks and New Zealand for us to play the game when the conditions are best. Everybody wants this including players, spectators and administrators.
    

Culturally the long term appeal of rugby for the family will suffer from this night rugby. In the past the ritual was lunch with your mates, wander down to the game in the afternoon with mates and/or kids, watch the All Blacks run riot, a few beers then back home to a barbie with the family. 

This has been replaced by wandering aimlessly around on a Saturday afternoon, probably having a Speights too many (if there is such a thing), watching the game cold and half sloshed, and then trailing home with no family involvement in the game. We're losing a generation! This all needs to change and we need to go back to afternoon rugby.

Despite this we of course had a great time in Dunedin. We caught up with our youngest son Dan, who's studying Film at Otago and watched the game from the Speights box with lots of old friends from New Zealand Breweries and from the trusts, pubs and hotels in Otago / Southland.
    

I have watched Test rugby all over the world and I don't believe there's a better atmosphere anywhere than in Dunedin. The locals really get behind the occasion and one gets a great feeling of family and inspiration combined.

Ten years ago I was down there for a Wallabies test which culminated in a ceremonial dinner with the teams at Larnach Castle. Grant Fox, David Campese (with whom I was flatting at the time in Sydney) and Daniel Herbert's elder brother (Anthony will hate that).

Anthony Herbert, Rowena and I all left the Castle at midnight in search of more action. Herbie, Foxy and I had moved on from Speights to Guinness and Campo (a winger of course) was still sipping Chardonnay. The celebrations went on culminating in Herbie dancing Rowena off her feet in some local bar before all of us trekking back to the Wallabies' hotel to close the evening.

Herbie had been physically needling me all night in a good humored, but Aussie way. Finally at 4.00 in the morning I turned around and let off a friendly right hook which amazingly connected just on the point of his chin and decked him. He was out like a light.

A couple of Aussie players found this pretty funny and we all carted off this 15 stone comatose centre to his bed. Not a particularly good look being dropped by a corporate sponsor CEO (at that time XXXX were the Wallabies' primary sponsor and Lion had just bought them). We expected Herbie to take some ribbing in the morning from his mates, particularly since he was in a state of disarray.
    

Before putting him to bed Campo and I did the decent thing and took his number ones off. Unfortunately it proved too cumbersome to unfasten all the buttons on his shirt so we just ripped it off his back. We felt this might cause some problems with Bob Dwyer who was somewhat of a stickler for discipline next morning. To our amazement this didn't occur.

Herbie, a great survivor and now the Wallabies Manager, had woken up and seen his shirt in tatters. He was rooming with Hooker David Nucifora who was first into the shower. Herbie then promptly nicked his team-mate's dress shirt and scurried downstairs leaving Nucifora to explain it all to Bob Dwyer. This story has only previously been hinted at and it's the first time we have outed Herbie to both Dwyer and Nucifora. I leave it to Nucifora to exact the right kind of revenge.

A year or so later back in Dunedin with John Kirwan, Frank Bunce, and Walter Little again 'til the early hours of the morning. Buncey and Walter both worked for Lion at the time and were terrific ambassadors for the Company's products. We had all given the Speights a good sampling during the evening (apart from 'JK' - another winger - who had moved on to rum and coke) and I remember sitting on the steps of the Shoreline Hotel at 5.00am with JK talking rugby (I think).

Coming downstairs immaculate was the current All Black Coach, mighty Mitch himself. Bag in hand, very well turned out, we asked him where he was going. He told us he was off to catch the coach which the All Blacks were taking back to the airport. JK hurriedly rushed upstairs and was next seen seven minutes later clutching two large bottles of water, one major headache and an All Black kit-bag. That's maybe why he's coaching Italy and Mitch is coaching the AB's!

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