MURRAY GRAHAM MEXTED

REPRESENTED NEW ZEALAND: 1979-85, (72 matches, 34 Tests)
Points for New Zealand: 76, 19 tries
Position: NUMBER EIGHT
Born: Wellington 5 September, 1953
Provincial Record: Wellington 1975 (Tawa)
1976-85 (Wellington)
North Island 1978-80, 84
NZ Trials 1977, 79-80, 83-84
IRB Centenary 1986
Educated Tawa Primary, Wellington Primary representative 1966, and Tawa College, 1St XV 1971 Wellington Secondary school representative. Mexted was chose for the second-string New Zealand side against Argentina in 1979 and toured at the end of the year with the full team on the tour of England and Scotland, making his test debut against Scotland (scoring a try) and beginning a remarkable sequence of 34 successive internationals. Mexted made the All Black number eight position his own and during his 1979-85 tenure had few serious challengers. Wherever the All Blacks went in the first half of the 80s, Mexted was sure to go. In an era when many All Blacks were complaining of too much rugby, Mexted seemed to thrive on it and in between New Zealand and Welling ton commitments, he played club rugby in France and in South Africa. As a member of the All Blacks named for the aborted 1985 tour of South Africa, Mexted toured in 1986 with the unofficial Cavaliers and made himself unavailable for the rest of the season. Standing 1.93 m and weighing 97kg. Mexted was regarded as having the ideal number eight’s build (although both his successors in the All Blacks were shorter). He was particularly effective running off the back of the line-out and was an unobtrusive but extremely effective defender. In 1986 his autobiography, Pieces of Eight was published. That year he also married a former Miss Universe, Lorraine Downes. Mexted’s father, Graham, played for New Zealand in 1950 and 1951. Murray was a manager for the family motor firm, Mexted Motors of Tawa.

<back>