From the time he made his international debut as a 21-year-old in the Baby Blacks of 1986 - who scored such a memorable win over France - most judges and commentators were unanimous that Mike Brewer was destined for greatness.

And having been made captain of Otago by Laurie Mains in 1985, and leading the New Zealand Colts side coached by Colin Meads in the same year, it seemed only a matter of time before Brewer became an All Black captain.

As it happened, Brewer never captained the All Blacks in a test match and it might be argued, too, that he never quite achieved the superstar status as a player that, because of his athleticism and versatility, seemed to be his inevitable destiny.

Bad luck with injuries played a huge role in much of this. He was a certainty for the All Black squad for the 1987 World Cup, having been involved during a turbulent 1986 in all six tests played that year. But early in 1987 he was injured and ruled out of calculations for the tournament.

He suffered the same ill fortune in 1991 when again he was a certainty for World Cup selection. He was actually named in the squad, but just before departure for Britain was controversially ruled out when singled out for a rigorous medical test, which he failed. Within a short time Brewer was back playing for Otago and ironically at the same time as the World Cup was being staged he led his union to the season's national championship title.

Brewer's path to the All Black captaincy suffered similarly from his tendency to be injured at the wrong time. It was clear he would have succeeded Gary Whetton when, in 1992, his great mentor, Mains, took over the coaching of the All Blacks. But in the final trial Brewer was injured and ruled out of the centenary series.

With no other obvious contender Mains turned to Sean Fitzpatrick and by the time of Brewer's return Fitzpatrick was so strongly established he continued in the role for an incredible six years.

Brewer's injuries were not the only reason why he had such a sporadic period in the All Blacks. He was for much of his career a victim of his allround ability and was used extensively in all three back row positions. As well as No 8, where he made his test debut, Brewer played at top level on either side of the scrum.

Brewer was accomplished in all three roles, but at the time there were a number of other fine players availble to New Zealand in the backrow and, of course, some of these were specialists. Contemporaries of Brewer included the champion No 8s, Wayne Shelford and Zinzan Brooke, Michael Jones, who was seen as the ultimate openside flanker, and Alan Whetton, who was a superb blindside flanker, especially during the 1987 World Cup and for a year or two after that. A measure of the All Blacks' riches at the time was that on the 1988 tour of Australia Brewer, Andy Earl and Brooke were the second string back row to Jones, Whetton and Shelford.

Yet despite this strong competition, and when he was free from injury, Brewer still managed to appear for the All Blacks in 32 tests. He was a regular selection in the 1994 season and finally got to a World Cup, in 1995, in South Africa, appearing in the final against the Springboks as a blindside flanker.

Another frustration in Brewer's career had been the many Ranfurly Shield challenges in which he had been involved with Otago. That changed, though, when he transferred for the latter stages of his career to Canterbury. Brewer was soon Canterbury's captain and his leadership, plus the try he scored, were crucial factors in the 1994 shield win over Waikato.

His final seasons in New Zealand rugby did contain a touch of controversy. Not available for the 1993 tour of Scotland and England as a player, he did travel to Britain at the same time on business. When he was called in as a late replacement and took the field as a substitute in the match against the Barbarians, ahead of other squad members, there was savage criticism, especially in New Zealand. Brewer was also identified as one of the most influential voices among leading players when most came close to joining the rebel World Rugby Corporation as rugby moved to official professionalism in 1995.

Soon after, Brewer moved to Ireland and in both Britain and Europe in recent years has been a prominent coach.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Michael Robert Brewer

BORN

Friday, 6 November 1964 in Pukekohe

AGE

45

PHYSICAL

1.95m, 95kg

POSITION

Loose Forward

LAST SCHOOL

Pukekohe High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Otago University

PROVINCES

Otago, Canterbury

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 28 June 1986
v France at Christchurch
aged 21 years, 234 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 28 June 1986
v France at Christchurch
aged 21 years, 234 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 29 July 1995
v Australia at Sydney
aged 30 years, 265 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

32 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

29 (5 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

61 (5 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

4pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

45pts (11t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

49pts (12t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

867

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

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1986

 28 Jun vs France at Christchurch 18-9  

 9 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 12-13  

 23 Aug vs Australia at Dunedin 13-12  

 6 Sep vs Australia at Auckland 9-22  

 26 Oct vs Selection du Centre at Clermont-Ferrand 23-19  

 1 Nov vs Rousillon-Languedoc Selection at Perpignan 59-6  

 4 Nov vs Cote Basque Selection at Bayonne 21-9  

 8 Nov vs France at Toulouse 19-7  

 15 Nov vs France at Nantes 3-16  

1987

 21 Oct vs Japan 'B' at Tokyo 94-0  

 25 Oct vs Japan at Osaka 74-0  

 28 Oct vs Asian Barbarians at Kyoto 96-3  

 1 Nov vs Japan at Tokyo 106-4  

 4 Nov vs J.R.U. Presidents XV at Tokyo 38-9  

1988

 19 Jun vs Western Australia at Perth 60-3  

 26 Jun vs Australia 'B' at Brisbane 28-4  

 29 Jun vs N.S.W. Country at Singleton 29-4  

 3 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 32-7  

 10 Jul vs Queensland at Brisbane 27-12  

 13 Jul vs Queensland B at Townsville 39-3  

 20 Jul vs N.S.W. B at Gosford 45-9  

 23 Jul vs N.S.W. at Sydney 42-6  

1989

 5 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 24-12  

 14 Oct vs Cardiff at Cardiff 25-15  

 21 Oct vs Swansea at Swansea 37-22  

 25 Oct vs Neath at Neath 26-15 (+) 

 28 Oct vs Llanelli at Llanelli 11-0  

 4 Nov vs Wales at Cardiff 34-9  

 11 Nov vs Munster at Cork 31-9  

 18 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 23-6  

 25 Nov vs Barbarians at London 21-10  

1990

 16 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 31-16  

 23 Jun vs Scotland at Auckland 21-18  

 21 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 21-6  

 4 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 27-17  

 18 Aug vs Australia at Wellington 9-21  

 20 Oct vs Languedoc Selection at Narbonne 22-6  (Captain)

 27 Oct vs French Barbarians at Agen 23-13  

 30 Oct vs Cote Basque-Landes at Bayonne 12-18  (Captain)

 3 Nov vs France at Nantes 24-3 (-) 

 10 Nov vs France at Paris 30-12  

1991

 19 Jun vs Cordoba at Cordoba 38-9 (-) (Captain)

 25 Jun vs Tucuman at Tucuman 21-9 (-) 

1992

 6 Jun vs Ireland at Wellington 59-6  

 24 Jun vs South Australian Invitation XV at Adelaide 48-18  (Captain)

 1 Jul vs A.C.T. at Canberra 45-13  (Captain)

 4 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 15-16 (-) 

1993

 4 Dec vs Barbarians at Cardiff 25-12 (+) 

1994

 26 Jun vs France at Christchurch 8-22  

 3 Jul vs France at Auckland 20-23  

 9 Jul vs South Africa at Dunedin 22-14  

 23 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 13-9  

 6 Aug vs South Africa at Auckland 18-18  

 17 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 16-20  

1995

 22 Apr vs Canada at Auckland 73-7  

 27 May vs Ireland at Johannesburg 43-19 (-) 

 31 May vs Wales at Johannesburg 34-9  

 18 Jun vs England at Cape Town 45-29  

 24 Jun vs South Africa at Johannesburg 12-15 (-) 

 22 Jul vs Australia at Auckland 28-16  

 29 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 34-23  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs France, 28 Jun 1986

1

-

-

-

4

vs Rousillon-Languedoc Selection, 1 Nov 1986

1

-

-

-

4

vs Japan 'B', 21 Oct 1987

1

-

-

-

4

vs Japan, 25 Oct 1987

1

-

-

-

4

vs Japan, 1 Nov 1987

2

-

-

-

8

vs Western Australia, 19 Jun 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs N.S.W., 23 Jul 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs Cardiff, 14 Oct 1989

1

-

-

-

4

vs Swansea, 21 Oct 1989

2

-

-

-

8

vs South Australian Invitation XV, 24 Jun 1992

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

12

0

0

0

49

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Australia

12

7

-

5

-

-

-

-

-

Canada

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

England

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

7

4

-

3

1

-

-

-

4

Ireland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

4

2

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

Wales

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

32

22

1

9

1

0

0

0

4