Allan Roy Hewson (born 6 June 1954) represented the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

in 19

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

internationals between 1981 and 1984. Hewson played at fullback. Since his retirement from international rugby Hewson has continued to be involved with Wellington rugby.

All Black career

Hewson was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He played five tour matches in England, Scotland and Italy in 1979, but was not selected for the tests, as coach Eric Watson did not regard him highly. His test debut came about as a result of injuries to other players, and was on 13 June 1981 v Scotland (at

Carisbrook Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, r ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

), which the All Blacks won 11-4. His final appearance was on 21 July 1984 v Australia (in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

), which the All Blacks lost 16-9. At 1.8m (5' 10") and just 73 kg in weight Hewson was extremely slight by international Rugby Union standards, and endured scepticism from the New Zealand public throughout his rugby career. Despite his stature, Hewson's international record speaks for itself: 201 points (at the time, just 6 short of the prevailing New Zealand test record), a then world record haul for points scored in a single test and a starring role in the notorious 1981 Springbok tour. With the series tied at one all, in the last few seconds of the third and final test, New Zealand were awarded a long range penalty. In rugby journalist Jon Collins' words "the hopes of a nation rested on Allan's narrow shoulders". Hewson successfully converted the penalty and sealed a famous New Zealand victory in the series. He was dropped in favour of

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans h ...

when he was only 6 points short of

Don Clarke Donald Barry Clarke (10 November 1933 – 29 December 2002) was a New Zealand rugby union player who played 89 times (31 of these were test matches) as a New Zealand international from 1956 until 1964. He was best known for his phenomena ...

's point scoring record. He also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, and was selected as a Wicketkeeper/batsman for Wellington for one first-class season.

Current career

In November 2007 Hewson was reported to have has commenced a role as Manager of the Ken Gray Rugby Academy within the

Petone Rugby Club The Petone Rugby Football Club was founded in 1885 and has been the Wellington Premier Champion 39 times between 1895 and 2005. In addition, the club has won the Club Championship on 42 occasions between 1922 and 2005. Petone is a constituent cl ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewson, Allan 1954 births Living people New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers Cricketers from Lower Hutt People educated at Hutt Valley High School Rugby union players from Lower Hutt Rugby union fullbacks

All Black career

Current career

See also

References