As the younger brother of the mighty Colin, Stan Meads undoubtedly suffered from being overshadowed and his own considerable ability may not have received the plaudits that it deserved.

But in his own right Stan was an accomplished footballer and purely as a lock who gave full commitment to tight forward play, and the less glamourous aspects of scrummaging and lineouts, many judges have rated him the equal at least of his brother.

Colin himself was always lavish in his praise of his sibling. In his biography, "Colin Meads All Black," he observed: "Without being parochial, biased and unduly moved by brotherly love I would say Stan was the best partner of the many great ones I had."

Two years younger than Colin and slightly smaller at about 1.90m tall and under 100kg in weight, Stan was not a big man for an international lock even in the 1960s. But he always played above his size and had surprising strength and mobility. Like Colin, of course, he was a product of the land and the hard, physical work that involved.

Stan first came into representative rugby with King Country in 1957 and immediately won praise from the Rugby Almanack of that season for the promise he had shown. In 1958, having just turned 20, he had the first of the dozen All Black trials he would have in the next seven or eight seasons.

But it was not until 1960 that he gained more of a national profile. After playing in the trials to help that year's tourists to South Africa he was in the North Island side and then in The Rest which played the All Blacks, including big brother Colin, on their return home.

Another appearance for the North in the 1961 interisland match saw him make a surprise debut for the All Blacks when, for the first test against France, he was called in to replace an injured Kel Tremain on the side of the scrum.

Tremain returned for the last two tests, but Stan went on the tour of Australia the following year, playing in seven matches, all of which were at lock partnering either Colin or Nev MacEwan. He did not make either test selection but in a return series later in the year in New Zealand he was introduced at lock for the second and third tests against the Wallabies.

Ironically, he replaced Colin, who was judged to be out of form, for the second test test in Dunedin and for the third test at Eden Park the brothers were paired together at lock for the first time in a test.

Stan suffered a frustrating 1963, firstly being sidelined for a lengthy period when a farm mishap led to a badly injured knee. He recovered to make the tour of Britain and France in 1963-64 but again endured bad luck and an attack of appendicitis meant he was limited to just nine appearances.

However, he did make the test lineup appearing as a No 8 in the international against Ireland when with Waka Nathan out injured he was preferred to Brian Lochore to partner Tremain and John Graham in the back row.

In 1964-66 Stan was free from injury and illness and in those three seasons he and Colin were unchallenged as the All Blacks' premier locking combination. Stan played in all three of the 1964 tests against the Wallabies and in each of the four tests against the Springboks in 1965 and the Lions in 1966. In all but the third test of the 1964 Wallabies series, when Colin was switched to No 8 with mixed success, the Meads brothers were the locks. They also were first choices for the North Island in these years and in all Stan played in six interisland fixtures.

As well as participating in the clean sweep in the series against the Lions in 1966 Stan and Colin were huge contributors to the upset victory over the tourists by the combined Wanganui-King Country selection.

But after the 1966 season Stan Meads, having played 126 first class games, of which 73 were for King Country and 30 including 15 tests were for the All Blacks, retired as a player. He was only 28 and seemed to be still in his prime with many good seasons left in him.

Colin, indeed, at two years older, remained a force for another four or five seasons. But Stan had decided to make his family and farming a priority plus, by his own admission, he lost some incentive when the scheduled 1967 tour of South Africa, a country he had wanted to tour since childhood, was scrapped.

In subsequent years Stan was never quite in the rugby limelight as much as Colin. But he remained passionate about the game and in 1994, following a coaching crisis within the union, he became the King Country selector-coach. He continued in that role until 1996.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Stanley Thomas Meads

BORN

Tuesday, 12 July 1938 in Arapuni

AGE

72

PHYSICAL

1.91m, 99kg

POSITION

Lock and loose forward

LAST SCHOOL

Te Kuiti High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Waitete

PROVINCE

King Country

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 22 July 1961
v France at Auckland
aged 23 years, 10 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 22 July 1961
v France at Auckland
aged 23 years, 10 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 10 September 1966
v British & Irish Lions at Auckland
aged 28 years, 60 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

15 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

15 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

30 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

0pts

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

12pts (4t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

12pts (4t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

619

The All Black Games that Meads played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1961

 22 Jul vs France at Auckland 13-6  

1962

 16 May vs Central-Western Districts at Bathurst 41-6  

 22 May vs Queensland at Brisbane 15-5  

 30 May vs Northern N.S.W. at Quirindi 103-0  

 2 Jun vs Newcastle at Newcastle 29-6  

 9 Jun vs Southern N.S.W. at Canberra 58-6  

 13 Jun vs South Australia at Adelaide 77-0  

 16 Jun vs Victoria at Melbourne 58-3  

 8 Sep vs Australia at Dunedin 3-0  

 22 Sep vs Australia at Auckland 16-8  

1963

 2 Nov vs Neath and Aberavon at Port Talbort 11-6  

 20 Nov vs Glasgow and Edinburgh at Glasgow 33-3  

 27 Nov vs Pontypool and Cross Keys at Pontypool 11-0  

 30 Nov vs South-Western Counties at Exeter 38-6  

 3 Dec vs Midland Counties at Coventry 37-9  

 7 Dec vs Ireland at Dublin 6-5  

1964

 5 Feb vs South-West France at Bordeaux 23-0  

 12 Feb vs South-East France at Lyon 8-5  

 22 Feb vs British Columbia Under-25 XV at Vancouver 6-3  

 15 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 14-9  

 22 Aug vs Australia at Christchurch 18-3  

 29 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 5-20  

1965

 31 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 6-3  

 21 Aug vs South Africa at Dunedin 13-0  

 4 Sep vs South Africa at Christchurch 16-19  

 18 Sep vs South Africa at Auckland 20-3  

1966

 16 Jul vs British & Irish Lions at Dunedin 20-3  

 6 Aug vs British & Irish Lions at Wellington 16-12  

 27 Aug vs British & Irish Lions at Christchurch 19-6  

 10 Sep vs British & Irish Lions at Auckland 24-11  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Newcastle, 2 Jun 1962

2

-

-

-

6

vs South-Western Counties, 30 Nov 1963

2

-

-

-

6

Totals

4

0

0

0

12

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Australia

5

4

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

British & Irish Lions

4

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Ireland

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

4

3

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

15

13

0

2

0

0

0

0

0