Gordon Rowland Robert Hunter (1949 – 9 March 2002) was a New Zealand

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 ...

player, coach and selector.

Early life and education

Hunter was raised in rural

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

, and educated at

Southland Boys' High School Southland Boys' High School (SBHS) is an all-boys school in Invercargill, New Zealand, and has been the only one in the city since Marist Brothers was merged with St Catherines to form Verdon College in 1982. History SBHS was founded in 1881 and ...

from 1963 to 1967.

Rugby career

Hunter was a member of the

rugby 1st XV in 1967. He played wing and the school magazine noted that "on his day his tackles were bone- and morale-shattering." After leaving school, Hunter moved to Dunedin and joined the Zingari-Richmond club where he came under the influence of renowned coach Eric Watson. He made a couple of appearances for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

before a workplace accident left him without his left eye. He subsequently made a career as a coach and selector, coaching

from 1992 to 1995, the

Otago Highlanders The Highlanders (formerly the Otago Highlanders) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 compet ...

in the 1996 Super 12 competition, and retired from coaching the

Auckland Blues The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...

in 2001. Hunter was named as assistant All Blacks coach in 1996 and 1997 and an All Blacks selector from 1996 to 1999. He died in

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 ...

of cancer in 2002 at the age of 52.

Legacy

Since 2002 the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy has been contested annually between The Auckland

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and The Highlanders. In 2020, the Highlander's coach

Aaron Mauger Aaron Joseph Douglas Mauger (last name pronounced "Major"; born 29 November 1980) is a New Zealand professional rugby union coach and former player. He played at centre for Leicester Tigers. Playing career Born in Christchurch, Mauger played fi ...

noted the positive qualities that Hunter had demonstrated and co-captain Aaron Smith said that he "cared for his players...'' nd'...trusted you play your game but also was a bit of a character off the field." Writing in the Spinoff in 2017, Scotty Stevenson recounted several humorous stories about Hunter outside of rugby, concluding, "in essence, he was a coach who loved the game and even more so the boys who played it for him. He was the Detective who left his own fingerprints on New Zealand’s national sport." Tony Brown said untershaped the way he coached and his impact was because he was respected nd"a team first man and someone that was super loyal to all his players and all his players loved him for it and performed for him."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Gordon 1949 births 2002 deaths New Zealand rugby union coaches Otago rugby union players People educated at Southland Boys' High School Deaths from cancer in New Zealand Rugby union players from Southland, New Zealand