Mike Brewer

From the time he made his international debut as a 21-year-old in the Baby Blacks of 1986 – who scored such a memorable win over France – most judges and commentators were unanimous that Mike Brewer was destined for greatness.

And having been made captain of Otago by Laurie Mains in 1985, and leading the New Zealand Colts side coached by Colin Meads in the same year, it seemed only a matter of time before Brewer became an All Black captain.

As it happened, Brewer never captained the All Blacks in a test match and it might be argued, too, that he never quite achieved the superstar status as a player that, because of his athleticism and versatility, seemed to be his inevitable destiny.

Bad luck with injuries played a huge role in much of this. He was a certainty for the All Black squad for the 1987 World Cup, having been involved during a turbulent 1986 in all six tests played that year. But early in 1987 he was injured and ruled out of calculations for the tournament.

He suffered the same ill fortune in 1991 when again he was a certainty for World Cup selection. He was actually named in the squad, but just before departure for Britain was controversially ruled out when singled out for a rigorous medical test, which he failed. Within a short time Brewer was back playing for Otago and ironically at the same time as the World Cup was being staged he led his union to the season’s national championship title.

Brewer’s path to the All Black captaincy suffered similarly from his tendency to be injured at the wrong time. It was clear he would have succeeded Gary Whetton when, in 1992, his great mentor, Mains, took over the coaching of the All Blacks. But in the final trial Brewer was injured and ruled out of the centenary series.

With no other obvious contender Mains turned to Sean Fitzpatrick and by the time of Brewer’s return Fitzpatrick was so strongly established he continued in the role for an incredible six years.

Brewer’s injuries were not the only reason why he had such a sporadic period in the All Blacks. He was for much of his career a victim of his allround ability and was used extensively in all three back row positions. As well as No 8, where he made his test debut, Brewer played at top level on either side of the scrum.

Brewer was accomplished in all three roles, but at the time there were a number of other fine players availble to New Zealand in the backrow and, of course, some of these were specialists. Contemporaries of Brewer included the champion No 8s, Wayne Shelford and Zinzan Brooke, Michael Jones, who was seen as the ultimate openside flanker, and Alan Whetton, who was a superb blindside flanker, especially during the 1987 World Cup and for a year or two after that. A measure of the All Blacks’ riches at the time was that on the 1988 tour of Australia Brewer, Andy Earl and Brooke were the second string back row to Jones, Whetton and Shelford.

Yet despite this strong competition, and when he was free from injury, Brewer still managed to appear for the All Blacks in 32 tests. He was a regular selection in the 1994 season and finally got to a World Cup, in 1995, in South Africa, appearing in the final against the Springboks as a blindside flanker.

Another frustration in Brewer’s career had been the many Ranfurly Shield challenges in which he had been involved with Otago. That changed, though, when he transferred for the latter stages of his career to Canterbury. Brewer was soon Canterbury’s captain and his leadership, plus the try he scored, were crucial factors in the 1994 shield win over Waikato.

His final seasons in New Zealand rugby did contain a touch of controversy. Not available for the 1993 tour of Scotland and England as a player, he did travel to Britain at the same time on business. When he was called in as a late replacement and took the field as a substitute in the match against the Barbarians, ahead of other squad members, there was savage criticism, especially in New Zealand. Brewer was also identified as one of the most influential voices among leading players when most came close to joining the rebel World Rugby Corporation as rugby moved to official professionalism in 1995.

Soon after, Brewer moved to Ireland and in both Britain and Europe in recent years has been a prominent coach.