Glenn Taylor

Glenn Taylor was a stouthearted, no nonsense tight forward who was a loyal and stalwart servant of his provincial union for 14 seasons. There were many chances for Taylor to have left Northland and gone to one of the metropolitan unions, as did two other lanky lock forwards also produced in the north, Ian Jones and Norman Maxwell, or to have taken a lucrative overseas contract.

But even when Northland were relegated and spent a lengthy period in the 1990s in the NPC second division Taylor stuck by his union, content to round out any income from rugby with his building contracting business. He captained Northland for many seasons and by the time of his retirement in 2003 he had played 143 first class games for the province having started in 1990.

Almost 2m tall, Taylor had an ideal physique for the grafting type of lock he became but he spent a considerable part of his early career playing as a blindside flanker. He was in the New Zealand Colts side coached by John Hart in 1991 and by the following season was in the All Black trials for the first time and on the brink of an All Black position.

He duly appeared for the All Blacks in 1992 but it was only in a cameo role. Because of injuries he joined the All Black side touring to Australia just for a midweek match against Sydney in Penrith. In what proved to be a decisive loss Taylor took the field during the second spell.

Also in 1992 Taylor appeared for the New Zealand XV against a touring England B side and though he was not to be an All Black again until 1996 he stayed high in the national pecking order over the next three seasons.

In 1993 he was in the Divisional XV which toured the South Pacific and in 1994 was in the Development XV which toured Argentina but was ruled out after the first match with an injury. However, he recovered to play in that year’s All Black trials and, as a replacement, for a New Zealand XV against France.

In 1995 he was again in the Divisional XV, on a tour of Canada and Fiji, and played for a North Island XV against the touring Canadians.

In 1996, after playing in another All Black trial, he was recalled for the All Blacks in the 36-man touring party which toured South Africa. Taylor played in four of the midweek matches and got his one and only test cap when for the last 30 minutes of the final international against the Springboks he replaced his old Northland team-mate, Jones.

Apart from another trial in 1997 that was the end of Taylor’s All Black involvement. But he continued to be an inspiring leader of Northland and to have a regular Super 12 spot, often as captain, though he was chopped and changed among the various franchises. He was with the Chiefs (1996-97, 2000 and 2003), the Hurricanes (1998) and the Blues(1999 and 2001-02), making 63 Super 12 appearances in all.

After appearing to be in the international wilderness after 1996 Taylor captained a NZ Vikings XV to a 42-16 win over the touring Scots in 2000 and at the end of the year captained the New Zealand A selection in three matches on a short, unbeaten tour of Wales, France and Romania.

With around 250 first class games to his credit Taylor stepped down at the end of the 2003 season. It was a difficult year with Northland failing to win a match in the NPC first division. But Taylor at least had the satisfaction of leading his side to a comfortable win over Hawke’s Bay in the promotion-relegation match.