John Alan Drake (22 January 1959 – 13 December 2008) 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 ...

footballer who represented the

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 ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

as a tighthead prop. He played twelve times for New Zealand including eight test matches. He debuted for the All Blacks on the 1985 tour of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

playing in the 56–6 thumping of

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

. Drake was a key member of the 1987 All Black team which won the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

, playing in five of the six matches including scoring a try in the semi-final victory against Wales and playing in the final against France. He retired at the end of the 1987 season while only 28 and later became a newspaper columnist and television commentator. Drake was educated at

Auckland Grammar School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

. He died suddenly at his home, aged 49, on 13 December 2008.

References

1959 births 2008 deaths Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Auckland Grammar School New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Rugby union props {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub