Warrick Lee "Mac" McCallion (26 July 1950 – 14 March 2018) 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 it ...

player and coach. McCallion served in the

Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the parent administrative regiment and corps of regular and reserve infantry battalions in the New Zealand Army. It was originally formed in 1947 with a singular Regular regiment and multiple reserve r ...

of the New Zealand Army during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. Aged 17, and having lied about his age to enlist, he was a member of the secret Faceless 26 Ghost Unit of the

New Zealand Special Air Service The 1st New Zealand Special Air Service Regiment, abbreviated as 1 NZSAS Regt, was formed on 7 July 1955 and is the Special forces unit of the New Zealand Army, closely modelled on the British Special Air Service (SAS). It traces its origins ...

. After the war, he played for

Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

from 1976 to 1980, and made eight appearances for New Zealand Māori in the late 1970s. McCallion was named New Zealand coach of the year for his work with the NPC Division One team

in both 1996 and 1997. He enhanced his reputation further as

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

's assistant at the Auckland Blues during a four-year spell that saw them reach three consecutive Super 12 finals, lifting the trophy on two occasions in 1997 and 1998. McCallion was appointed Fiji's national coaching director in March 2002. He took the Fiji national team to the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

, but quit later that year, citing frustration at Fiji being overlooked for tournaments by the stronger rugby nations. McCallion died in

Manurewa Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The suburb is b ...

on 14 March 2018 after a battle with cancer. He was survived by his wife Suzie, two children Dion and Zeb, one step-child Bowen and daughter in law Robyn. He has 5 grandchildren.

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References

1950 births 2018 deaths New Zealand rugby union players Māori All Blacks players New Zealand Army personnel New Zealand military personnel of the Vietnam War Fiji national rugby union team coaches New Zealand expatriates in Fiji Deaths from cancer in New Zealand Counties Manukau rugby union players Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers New Zealand rugby union coaches {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub