My Account
There aren’t many rugby fans who would describe the Webb Ellis Cup as “just another trophy”. But as former All Black prop Steve McDowall explains, winning the first Rugby World Cup tournament in 1987 came on the back of a vintage year for NZ rugby and, even then, there was a feeling amongst the team that only in hindsight would they realise what they had achieved. Steve’s career included 46 caps for the All Blacks between 1985 and 1992, as well as more than 100 games for Auckland. Representing your country in one sport is achievement enough, but as Jannette Thompson discovered, Steve qualified for the Olympics years before he wore the silver fern.
Judo was my first love. I started in Rotorua when I was five, and trained most mornings and evenings. When I was about 12, the coach left the club so Clint Rickards and I took over, and we made it into one of the best in NZ. I started to take the competition a bit more seriously and won the North Island open grade (under 78kgs) at 15, then went on to win national, Oceania, Pan Pacific and junior world titles. I was selected for the Moscow Olympics team, but that was the year of the US-boycott, so unfortunately I didn’t get to compete. The gym was a great place to hang out but the down side was that training made me tired, which affected my schoolwork. It’s something I’m quite conscious about with my own kids.
We moved to Stanmore Bay last year, after returning from four years in Romania. The idea was that we’d do the house up and flick it on, but now the kids don’t want to move. They love it here so it looks like we’re staying for a while. I was working as a high performance trainer for Romanian rugby and eventually became the international squad’s assistant coach. The kids went to an international school, run by Lebanese. It’s been interesting to compare their education system with ours. Over there, kids start school at seven and learn in 11 years what basically takes us 13. The emphasis was on academic achievement – classes were tested every week and only a 75 percent pass rate was acceptable. But sport wasn’t a priority and there wasn’t a lot of competition so the kids did really well – our daughter Morgan became the under nine fencing champion. At the moment, they attend four different schools – Whangaparaoa College, Westlake Boys, Northcross and Whangaparaoa Primary. Although it can be bedlam in the mornings, Michelle and I feel it’s important to match them to the school that best suits their individual needs.
My Dad was from Gore, but bolted from the place when he was 14, changing the ‘a’ in our surname to an ‘e’, causing confusion ever since. He met Mum in Christchurch and my brother and I were adopted after they’d settled in Western Heights, Rotorua. I came across my birth family be accident when playing rugby; a member of an opposing side introduced himself as my nephew. My birth father had passed away by then, but I did meet my birth mother and some step-brothers and sisters. But it never changed the way I felt about my adopted parents – they were always Mum and Dad. My first job after leaving school was patching roads for Tasman Pulp & Paper, at Kawerau. I’ve done a variety of jobs over the years including selling Western Building Society shares. If I signed someone up for a month, at $10 a week, then I got a $70 commission regardless of whether or not they continued the policy. I worked out that if I paid everyone’s $40 subscription for the first month I could be very successful! I had a few mates who bought a plan and, because it was like compulsory savings, they actually bought houses as a result. I’m please to say that they felt joining the scheme was the best thing they ever did.
Although I played First XV at Ngongotaha – the same team as Hika Reid, and where Buck Shelford and John Brake got started – it wasn’t until the coach Dick (Flash) Gordon took an interest in me that I started to take rugby seriously. He was an ex-naval PT officer and his style was a mix of discipline and flexibility. I was a bit of rascal at school, but he treated us all with respect, which made a huge impression on me. I don’t think I would have played rugby at all if it hadn’t been for him. After school rugby, I played for Western Heights and a couple of other clubs, and then Ivan Vodanovich (former All Black coach) called to say his friend needed a prop for a second division team in Toulouse, France, for six months. I had 24 hours to make a decision and I was on the plane three days later. It was a bit of a culture shock but I loved it and went back again in 1987.
That experience was pretty much the start of my fast-tracking towards becoming an All Black. Although I was one of the smallest props on the field – most were at least six foot two and weighed 112kg to 120kgs, while I was five foot 11 inches and around 105kgs – I benefited from the weight training and core work I’d learned through judo. I remember watching a guy doing dead lifts in a gym in Rotorua, huffing and puffing to lift 80kgs. Three months later, the same guy had doubled the weight and was stronger and fitter. It was a bit of Eureka moment – when I made the connection between weight training to fitness. Today we call it anaerobic training. During the six-month rugby off-season I’d work on bulk and strength (size and power), then about six to seven weeks out from the start of the season, I’d do the same amount of exercise but shorten the rest time between sets. It was a matter of cause and effect, because there was no real sports science at that time. But the result was that I hit the field at the start of the season as fit, if not fitter, than most of the guys were at the end of the season and my injury rate dropped considerably.
An opportunity to play for Pakuranga in 1985 lead to a place in the Auckland side and later that same year I was picked to tour with the All Blacks to South Africa. But, in a bit of a re-run of the Olympics, it was the year of apartheid boycotts and the tour was canned. I went on the Cavaliers tour the following year so by the time the first World Cup rolled around in 1987, I had some experience under my belt. I believe a key component in our success was Brian Lahore’s role as mediator between coaches John Hart and Grizz Wiley. I respected both, but they were quite different individuals and Lahore’s input meant their differences were constructive. Hart’s vision was to create a more mobile game of rugby by keeping the ball alive through phases to score tries. That vision set a standard that has carried through to this day. The success of the ‘87 Rugby World Cup carried through to the early 90s.
Moving to Auckland in 1985, I started working for Moyes and Groves Engineering Supplies and then as a sales rep for Steel & Tube prior to becoming an All Black. However, later on I was to learn that being an All Black can open doors – I guess it is a bit like our university degree – but at the end of the day, you still have to come up with the goods. It was a matter of finding a balance between work and training, but it did keep you very much in touch with the rugby-following public. Conversations with my first customers on Monday mornings were inevitably a critique of the weekend game – thankfully, we won more than we lost!
Everyone has their own journey, which is determined by their passion and the opportunities that cross their path. Parents and coaches can only really give kids their support and the benefit of their experience. There’s a lot of advice out there, but you have to learn to be selective. I remember my Dad getting me to eat six raw eggs a day because “that’s what Muhammed Ali does”, but then we had to stop because he decided it was “costing a bloody fortune in eggs”. What you do has to be fun, but there’s got to be hard work as well because nothing worthwhile comes easy.
