IN last week’s My Life in Rugby column, Jamie Salmon writes how, in the early 1980s, he went from being rejected by Kent at an U19 trial to playing for the All Blacks three years later.
Among other factors such as the representative system by which players from any club could progress, he described the ‘totally different mindset’ towards fitness in NZ. Salmon’s story has recurred too many times for comfort.
In the late 60s, back rower Peter Bell, having played no higher than Kent junior rugby, played a spell in NZ provincial rugby, frequently with and against All Bla...