Norm Hewitt

In a long career between 1988 and 2001 Norman Hewitt seemed to be more in the headlines for his exploits off the field rather than on. Whether through his own fault or others Hewitt was constantly involved in controversy. He lost the captaincy of his Hawke’s Bay side because of a hotel incident, he was rebuked by the All Black coach John Hart for showing displeasure when in 1997 he was subbed in an international against Wales. There was a street scuffle with an England player in 1998 and in 1999 he was forced to publicly apologise for a drinking problem which led to another incident in Queenstown.

Even as he neared retirement Hewitt was a contentious figure, a book being published on his career in which he made attacks on those he believed had wronged him through his various ups and downs.

But Hewitt was a significant player and it would be a shame if the big contribution he made to New Zealand rugby was overshadowed by other issues. Short for a top forward but powerfully built, Hewitt was at his best a dynamic player effective both in the tight and in the loose.

A Hawke’s Bay product, Hewitt made that union’s representative side as a 20-year hooker in 1988 and until 1994 he played in 92 matches, including the wins over the 1993 Lions and the 1994 French. Between 1995 and 1997 he played 22 matches for Southland, moving there after the Bay were relegated to the NPC second division. Hewitt’s third provincial side was Wellington, for whom he played 31 matches between 1999 and 2001, the highlight being leading the side despite a broken arm in the NPC first division final of 2000 against Canterbury.

Hewitt was also a stalwart of the Hurricanes and New Zealand Maori sides, often as the captain. He played in 66 Super 12 matches and was in the Maori side for more than a decade.

With his provincial, Super 12 and Maori matches plus appearances in various trials and national sides such as the Colts, the Divisional XV and New Zealand A selections Hewitt amassed a staggering 296 first class matches.

Yet he had only a limited role with the All Blacks and it was his extreme misfortune to be a playing contemporary of the great Sean Fitzpatrick. To his obvious frustration Hewitt spent more time on the reserves bench than he would have liked as Fitzpatrick appeared so indestructible over such a long period.

Even when Fitzpatrick was injured on the 1997 tour of Wales, England and France there seemed a reluctance to bestow the starting hooking starting position to Hewitt. Hence, some of his undisguised annoyance when despite playing well he was subbed off in the international against Wales.

Hewitt came into the All Black side as understudy to Fitzpatrick in the 1993 series against the Lions and made the tour later that year to Scotland and England. Reserve through all the 1994 season, Hewitt in 1995 was in the World Cup squad finally getting some test time as a bloodbin sub and then when Fitizpatrick was spelled in the romp over Japan.

In 1995 to France and Italy, in 1996 to South Africa and in 1997 Hewitt was again on All Black tours. But over six seasons he only had 23 All Black matches including nine tests.

Even when Fitzpatrick had retired Hewitt’s All Black misfortunes continued. He took the field for the second test against England in 1998 as a replacement for Anton Oliver, only to be forced from the field with a serious injury which put him out of rugby for the rest of the year.

He was in the initial squad for the 1999 World Cup and attended the first training camp. But soon after he was injured in his off-field Queenstown escapade and even though he recovered to play for both New Zealand A and New Zealand Maori he had been superseded in the All Blacks by then by both Oliver and Mark Hammett.