No All Black has been more controversial, more enigmatic and more tragic than the giant prop Keith Murdoch whose erratic career at both provincial and international levels ended sensationally late in 1972.

On tour with the All Blacks in Britain, following a number of behavioural problems and then an incident at the Angel Hotel in Cardiff a few hours after the international against Wales Murdoch was expelled from the tour. This is something which has haunted New Zealand rugby ever since and there is not much argument now that team manager, Ernie Todd, took this drastic step under severe pressure from the British unions.

But Murdoch was a man to whom trouble was a constant companion. An immensely powerful man, Murdoch, in an era where there was little gym training with weights, was about 17st or 110kg. His physique made him an effective scrummager and he was also surprisingly mobile in the open.

As a 20-year old Murdoch came into the Otago side in 1964 and made an instant impact, being named one of the season's five most promising players by the Rugby Almanack. He received the first of his six All Black trials in 1965 but for the next three or four seasons was seen in New Zealand only sporadically.

Even in those years he was something of an itinerant. He had six matches with Hawke's Bay in 1965 and two for Auckland in 1966, but appeared but once when back with Otago in 1967 and was missing from all rugby in 1968.

He resumed with Otago in 1969 and an excellent game for the South in an upset interisland win so impressed coach Ivan Vodanovich that he was put on the short list for the All Blacks' 1970 tour of South Africa.

Murdoch duly made the tour but was affected by injury and illness including having his appendix removed. He played in only eight matches in South Africa but had not long recovered from his operation when he was included in the fourth test side and acquitted himself well.

In 1971 Murdoch played 11 times for Otago, was in the trials and in the South Island team. But because of injuries he missed playing for his union against the Lions and, despite being chosen for at least two of them, all of the four tests.

Murdoch was again often injured in the 1972 season, but played on the All Blacks internal tour and in the third test against the touring Wallabies before winning selection for what proved for him to be an ill fated tour of Britain. Despite wearing a tag of mystery man from the British media he performed well in the first half of the tour and distinguished himself with a try in his only international appearance against Wales.

But his hour of glory soon turned to disaster and within a few hours he was involved in the hotel incident with a security guard which resulted in his departure from the team and a dramatic change in his life.

Many including his team-mates have remained convinced that Murdoch, despite being overly boisterous at times, was harshly treated and he is still spoken of with admiration and respect for what was a considerable natural ability.

For all the legend which has surrounded Murdoch, though, he had a fairly sparse first class career: just 86 games in all, of which 43 were for Otago and 27, including only three tests, for the All Blacks.

Murdoch has spent the rest of his life in the outback of Australia. Buteven while trying to live in obscurity he frequently found himself an unwilling participant in major news stories. The latest episode was in a homicide case involving a young Aborigine. Murdoch attended hearings as a witness but no charges were ever brought.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Keith Murdoch

BORN

Thursday, 9 September 1943 in Dunedin

AGE

66

PHYSICAL

1.83m, 110kg

POSITION

Prop

LAST SCHOOL

King Edward Technical College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Zingarei-Richmond

PROVINCE

Otago

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Sunday, 14 June 1970
v Western Australia at Perth
aged 26 years, 278 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 12 September 1970
v South Africa at Johannesburg
aged 27 years, 3 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 2 December 1972
v Wales at Cardiff
aged 29 years, 84 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

3 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

24 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

27 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

4pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

16pts (5t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

20pts (6t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

686

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1970

 14 Jun vs Western Australia at Perth 50-3  

 20 Jun vs Border at East London 28-3  

 1 Jul vs North-West Cape at Uppington 26-3  

 12 Aug vs South-Western Districts at George 36-6  

 15 Aug vs Western Province at Cape Town 29-6  

 19 Aug vs South African Country at East London 45-8  

 2 Sep vs North-East Cape at Burghersdorp 85-0  

 5 Sep vs Northern Transvaal at Pretoria 19-15  

 12 Sep vs South Africa at Johannesburg 17-20  

1972

 13 May vs New Zealand Juniors at Wellington 25-9  

 16 May vs Marlborough at Blenheim 59-10  

 18 May vs Mid-Canterbury at Ashburton 52-7  

 20 May vs Southland at Invercargill 30-9  

 25 May vs Counties at Pukekohe 42-8  

 27 May vs North Auckland at Whangarei 33-15  

 31 May vs Wairarapa-Bush at Masterton 38-0  

 3 Jun vs Manawatu at Palmerston North 37-9  

 16 Sep vs Australia at Auckland 38-3  

 21 Oct vs New York Metropolitan at New York 41-9  

 28 Oct vs Western Counties at Gloucester 39-12  

 31 Oct vs Llanelli at Llanelli 3-9  

 4 Nov vs Cardiff at Cardiff 20-4  

 11 Nov vs London Counties at London 24-3  

 18 Nov vs Ulster at Belfast 19-6  

 25 Nov vs Scottish Districts at Hawick 26-6  

 28 Nov vs Gwent at Ebbw Vale 16-7  

 2 Dec vs Wales at Cardiff 19-16  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Western Australia, 14 Jun 1970

1

-

-

-

3

vs Western Province, 15 Aug 1970

1

-

-

-

3

vs North-East Cape, 2 Sep 1970

2

-

-

-

6

vs Wairarapa-Bush, 31 May 1972

1

-

-

-

4

vs Wales, 2 Dec 1972

1

-

-

-

4

Totals

6

0

0

0

20

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Australia

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Wales

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

4

Totals

3

2

0

1

1

0

0

0

4