Zinzan Brooke illuminated dinners at Milford Haven and Neyland Rugby Clubs
New Zealand as a rugby nation has produced many players whose names still reverberate around the world and one such stellar player has been Zinzan Brooke, who played flanker or No 8 in a fantastic All Black team – and ended up with 58 full caps, plus 42 appearances in the distinctive black jersey emblazoned with the famous white fern, which didn’t warrant caps at that time.He was also renowned as the only No 8 to have dropped three goals in international games, the most famous in a world cup semi-final against England where he launched his spectacular effort from 48 metres! Not content with that little effort, he also showed Wales’ fans his prowess when he played against us at Twickenham, when our new stadium was being built, and landed a 45-metre attempt in a 42-7 win!
So Milford Haven and Neyland are seemingly unusual places to find this giant of a man but I was lucky to meet him both times, firstly when he was guest speaker at Milford Haven Rugby Club’s annual dinner, and a few years later at Neyland Athletic Club, when Jason Morgan and Johnny Sutton put on a charity dinner and he was a guest who spoke superbly to the Pembrokeshire All Blacks about life as a New Zealand All Black, in a smashing question and answer session – and I was able to interview him for local radio.
Mariners had great value for money . . .
For his trip to The Obs, Zinzan arrived in the clubhouse clearly jet-lagged after a plane trip from The Land of the Long White Cloud which ended at Heathrow that very morning, followed by the long trip by train to Milford Haven – but he soon perked up with a bit of good grub inside him and he had the all-male audience in fits when he told them about his life, on and off the pitch.
He then faced questions from some of the characters at the club, all dealt with in his calm, assured manner, and some arm-wrestling with club captain Gareth ‘Nuts’ Phillips, and everyone agreed it had been great to see him – although when I left at 11pm he looked ‘knackered’ and told me he wouldn’t be far behind me because he would be glad to get to his bed at The Nelson Hotel.
Got his second wind – and was still going strong at 2pm
But things didn’t quite work out like that because as he was going, he noticed a large number of players leaving and after a moment’s hesitation agreed to join them at Emma’s Night Club, where they stayed until about 1am.
By then he had clearly caught his second wind because he returned with them to The Obs for a few more drinks, murdered big Dean Hadley at arm wrestling, slammed Alan McClelland in a sumo wrestling match where both had to strip to their underpants – and when the floodlights were turned on about 2am he played quite well in an impromptu seven a side semi-nude game of touch rugby! (They couldn’t dirty their suits could they?)
His visit to Neyland RFC will never be forgotten by the Pembrokeshire All Blacks
At Neyland Athletic Club he had the dubious distinction of joining Welsh rugby player Rupert Moon in a mock-up of local rugby referee Charlie Watts’ living room and sprawled out on a leather settee as he answered questions without shirking a single topic.
There were lovely moments when Rupert was first to arrive (on stage) with Charlie enjoying a quiet night at home but heard the front door bell and invited Rupert in because he said he couldn’t find The Athletic Club.
After a few words the bell was supposed to ring again so that Zinzan could come in the same way and for the same reason – but there was no bell because of a technical hitch so we all had to make a bell noise as Charlie handled the situation with great aplomb!
A great night with a strong man
Then Charlie exited stage right and left the rugby international duo to get on with it – and again Zinzan dealt with every question, no matter how controversial, and left a favourable impression on every member of a delighted audience before everyone tucked into a smashing buffet organised by Scott Gregory, from ‘The Green Shed’ in Haverfordwest.
It was another memorable evening and I was so lucky to be allowed to interview him for local radio – and discovered at close hand what an amenable man he was, which isn’t always so evident in sports people who make it to the very top, as he has done!
And you can be sure if Zinzan Brooke ever came back to Pembrokeshire I’d be first in the queue for tickets, especially if I had the chance to interview him again!
