Scott McLeod

Scott McLeod was a tall, strong running midfield back equally capable at centre or second five eighths who in the mid to late 1990s loomed as the likely solution to any All Black problems arising from the impending departures of Frank Bunce and Walter Little.

But when those two fine midfield exponents did disappear respectively during the 1997 and 1998 seasons McLeod by then had not done enough to become an automatic successor and he, too, was never sighted in an All Black side after the 1998 season.

McLeod was overlooked in all national age group selections and his talents were only discovered in Hamilton club rugby and in Waikato colts sides coached by John Boe. In Boe’s first year in charge of the Waikato representative side in 1995 McLeod was an especially impressive newcomer and he played in 19 matches, winning recognition as one of the Rugby Almanack’s five most promising players of the years. The others, incidentally, were Scott Robertson, Tony Brown, Roger Randle and Norman Maxwell, who also became All Blacks. McLeod had made such an impression that he was named as a standby player for the All Blacks’ tour of Italy and France.

McLeod further impressed with the Chiefs in the inaugural Super 12 in 1996 and was played in the All Black sides in the opening two tests of that season, against Manu Samoa at Napier and against Scotland at Carisbrook.

But Little, having recovered from injury, returned to resume his midfield partnership with Bunce for the rest of the year and McLeod was reduced to a backup role. He made the tour of South Africa in 1996 but his three appearances were only in the minor games.

He had a similar role in 1997, coming on as substitute in domestic tests that year against Fiji and Argentina and being used for the midweek games on the end of season tour to Ireland, Wales and England.

However, he did appear in all of the four internationals coming on as a replacement from the bench.

In 1998 McLeod was a replacement in one of the tri-nations tests against the Springboks and he started in the Melbourne match against the Wallabies. But injuries, competition in the midfield from players like Mark Mayerhofler, Alama Ieremia and Eroni Clarke plus the team’s indifferent performances all began to tell against McLeod.

He never played for the All Blacks after the 1998 season and though of the 17 games he played for the All Blacks 10 were official test caps he actually only started in three.

McLeod stayed on the brink of the national side with two appearances (as a replacement) for New Zealand A in 1999 and another four on the tour of Europe in 2000. But by now he was not always assured of his starting position in either Waikato sides in the NPC and in Ranfurly Shield defences or in the Chiefs for the Super 12.

Until his departure from New Zealand for an overseas contract at the end of the 2001 season McLeod faced stiff midfield competition in both sides from Mark Ranby and Keith Lowen, both of whom also became All Blacks, albeit briefly.

McLeod finished his New Zealand career with 69 matches for Waikato and 44 Super 12 games for the Chiefs. His highlights for Waikato were playing in the successful shield challenges against Taranaki in 1996 and Auckland in 1997.

In 2017 McLeod, coached the Highlanders in their 23 – 22win over the touring British and Irish Lions and in June 2017 was appointed as the new Assistant Coach of the All Blacks, taking over from Wayne Smith who will leave the team at the end of the 2017 Investec Rugby Championship.