David Steven Loveridge (born 22 April 1952) is an

All Black 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 ...

of the late 1970s and early 1980s, known in his time as the greatest halfback in the world.

Life and career

Loveridge was born in 1952, in

Stratford, New Zealand Stratford ( mi, Whakaahurangi) is the only town in Stratford District, and the seat of the Taranaki region, in New Zealand's North Island. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki, approximately halfway between New Plymouth and H� ...

, to Horace and Margaret Loveridge. He grew up during the golden age of

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dis ...

rugby, with the provincial side holding the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

for two tenures in 1957–1959, and 1963–1965. He played age-grade representative rugby for Taranaki at the age of 12. The Loveridge family owned a

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus ''Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

farm in Tariki south of

Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria * Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewo ...

, and Loveridge attended Inglewood High School for his secondary education. He worked for a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

after leaving school, and in 1972 the bank transferred him to

Auckland 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 ...

. While there he was selected for the

Auckland University , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

club team, and soon caught the eye of the provincial selectors. He played two games for Auckland, but after a 34-3 loss to

North Auckland The Northland Peninsula, called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus, a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā ...

, in which he was marking All Black veteran

Sid Going Sidney Milton Going (born 19 August 1943) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. Dubbed Super Sid by his fans, he played 86 matches, including 29 Tests, for the All Blacks between 1967 and 1977. He represented North Auckland domestical ...

, Loveridge was discarded from the team. In 1974 Loveridge married his wife Janine, returned to Tariki to run the family farm, played for Inglewood seniors and secured the halfback position in the Taranaki team. The following year he was selected for the

Junior All Blacks The All Blacks XV is the second national rugby union team of New Zealand, after the All Blacks. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks ...

, and in 1977 was given his first All Black trial. In 1978 he was reserve All Black halfback for the three-match series against the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

in New Zealand, but didn’t get on the field. He finally got the chance to don the black jersey in the tour to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the end of the year, and on 21 October 1978 made his debut against

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

. He played his first test match when first-choice halfback Mark Donaldson was stung with an

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular ...

injury and ruled out of the match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. While New Zealand almost lost that match, only winning because of

Andy Haden Andrew Maxwell Haden (26 September 195029 July 2020) was a New Zealand rugby union player and All Black captain. He played at lock for Auckland and New Zealand from 1972 until 1985. He also played club rugby in the United Kingdom and Italy. Li ...

's famed lineout dive, Loveridge played a competent game. Donaldson remained first choice for the home season of 1979, but Loveridge finally gained the edge and secured the test matches against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

at the end of the year. Loveridge went on to play 54 matches for the All Blacks, 24 of which were tests. In 1980

Graham Mourie Graham Neil Kenneth Mourie (born 8 September 1952) is a former New Zealand All Black flanker and coach of the Hurricanes. He was one of the great All Black captains in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was first selected for the All Blacks i ...

and

Andy Dalton Andrew Gregory Dalton (born October 29, 1987) is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Red Rifle", Dalton previously played for the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, and ...

were unavailable for the tour of Australia, and Loveridge was selected as captain. Loveridge was most renowned for his performance in the second test against the touring British Lions on 18 June 1983, at Athletic Park in

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 m ...

. According to Lindsay Knight, for the New Zealand Rugby Museum,

"In difficult conditions Loveridge was the perfect complement to an All Black pack which battling into a gale took charge of the ultra confident Lions in the second spell. Loveridge displayed every aspect of the halfback's art, passing accurately, kicking effectively and running with judgement. In a match where he took every correct option he then scampered over for the match's only try in the All Blacks' 9–0 win. Even the most exacting judges declared Loveridge had produced one of the greatest displays of all time and agreed with the assessment of All Black coach
Bryce Rope Douglas Bryce Rope (11 February 1923 – 2 March 2013) was the coach of the New Zealand rugby union team from 1983 to 1984. Biography Rope was born in 1923 and attended Auckland Grammar School. During World War II, Rope trained in Canada and the ...
that this had been "Trapper's Test.""

In 1984 Loveridge suffered a serious

knee injury In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the ...

, which hampered his game for the rest of his career. He joined the

New Zealand Cavaliers The Cavaliers was an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986. Because of the Apartheid policies of the South African government, the official New Zealand Rugby Union tour scheduled for 1985 was cancelled, and th ...

for the rebel tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

in 1986, which proved to be his final appearance in the black jersey. He retired from New Zealand first class rugby at the end of that year, at age 34, after 54 matches for the All Blacks and 136 games for Taranaki. Loveridge remains on the family pig farm in Taranaki with his wife Janine to this day, and is father to three adult children. He is employed as a staff coach by the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

, has coached the Taranaki under-23 development team, been on three tours with the New Zealand youth team, spent two years coaching the

Wellington Hurricanes The Hurricanes ( ; formerly the Wellington Hurricanes) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in Super Rugby. The Hurricanes were formed to represent the lower North Island, including the East Coast, H ...

under-20 development side and been a selector for the New Zealand under-19s.

Gordon Bray Gordon Timothy Bray AM (born 23 June 1949) is an Australian sports commentator and sports journalist. He is colloquially known as "The Voice of Rugby". Early life Brought up in the Sydney suburb of Canada Bay and educated at Homebush Boys H ...

often referred to him as "the pig farmer from Taranaki" during his commentary broadcasts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loveridge, Dave 1952 births Living people Rugby union players from Stratford, New Zealand Rugby union players from Taranaki People educated at Inglewood High School, New Zealand New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves