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Brian McKechnie is one of a rare band of New Zealanders who are talented enough to have represented their country at both rugby and cricket. As if that wasn't unusual enough, McKechnie will also forever be associated with two of the most controversial incidents in the history of each sport. His debut for New Zealand came in the 1977 tour to France during which he played in both tests. He was nervous in the first match, but discovered his composure in the second and his kicking helped New Zealand to an excellent win.
In 1978 he was understudy to Doug Bruce in the Bledisloe Cup series against Australia, but came on as a replacement in the second test and played all of the third. Later that year Brian toured Britain as part of the "Grand Slam" team and it was against the Welsh that he would truly make his name. Initially Brian had not even been named in the reserves, let alone the team to face Wales, but was drafted in as a late replacement for the injured Mark Donaldson. With the score at 6-0 to Wales, Brian then came as a replacement when Clive Currie was injured in a collision with Steve Fenwick.
In the dying moments of the match the referee awarded a penalty to New Zealand following a controversial lineout. Andy Haden and Frank Oliver had appeared to "dive" from the line after making no attempt to contest the ball. The Welsh were incensed at what they saw as blatant gamesmanship and the incident rankled for many years, even though the referee claimed the penalty was awarded for a completely different reason. However, McKechnie was at the time oblivious to all of this and stroked home the penalty with ease to make the final score 13-12.
Brian's other controversial moment came in the 1981 World Series cricket final against Australia, for it was he who faced Trevor Chappell's infamous underarm delivery from the final ball of the match which denied the Kiwis the chance to hit a winning six. McKechnie's final Rugby appearance for New Zealand came in a 13-9 victory against France in Toulouse that same year, the very venue where he had made his debut four years earlier. He made a total of 10 appearances for the All Blacks, scoring 46 points. (Jon Collins)
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