In the modern, professional era, with an increasing emphasis on a crash-bash, robotic type of game, there may not have been a place for Terry Wright, the lithely built wing who gave Auckland and the All Blacks such superb service in the seasons between 1984 and 1993.

Which would have been a shame. For at his best there were few more skilful and clever attacking backs in New Zealand rugby and both for his province and country he provided an excellent balance in partnership with the bigger, but slightly less skilful, John Kirwan.

Though they were to play together for much of their careers, Wright actually owed his accession to top class rugby to Kirwan's misfortune with injury in 1984. When he was ruled out for all of the season after badly injuring a shoulder with the All Blacks in Australia Kirwan's replacement was Wright, who at the time was ranked about only seventh among Auckland wings.

But having marked his debut in first class rugby with a record 27 points against King Country in an early season match, Wright made the most of his chances. With pace and a sharp swerve Wright finished the season with 19 tries in only 11 matches. He also showed himself to be a useful goalkicker though that talent would be used only occasionally by Auckland in later years because of the presnece of Grant Fox.

Wright's sensational first season left him with a dilemma for it coincided with the formation of the North Harbour union and Wright's club had always been Northcote, for which his father, Harvey, had been a leading member.

But the temptation to stay with Auckland and not drop back to the lower divisions of the NPC with the new Harbour union was too much. And in 1985 Wright switched club allegiances across the bridge, joining Kirwan at the Marist club.

In taking Kirwan's place in 1984 Wright, of course, had played on the right wing. But he showed his talent and versatility with Kirwan now available by switching to the left wing where he was even more at home.

Wright's progress continued in 1985 and he scored three tries playing for the North Island. But he was overlooked for national honours that year probably because of reservations about his size. Though inaccurately described in some quarters as being only 1.72m Wright was near 1.83m but had a lean, wiry build and no amount of weight lifting was going to ever get him anywhere near 80kgs.

Wright got his chance in the All Blacks because of the Cavaliers' tour of South Africa and the subsequent suspension of most of those players.

He was one of the Baby Blacks in the tests against France and the Wallabies but was dropped when the Cavaliers returned.

He made the end of year tour of France but Kirwan and Craig Green were the test wings, as they were the following year in the World Cup triumph. Wright was in the 26-man squad but played only the pool match against Argentina.

He then made the short tour of Japan and with Green moving to Italy took his chance to establish himself as the All Blacks' first choice left wing for the next three or four seasons. By the time he ended his All Black career in 1992 he had appeared in 30 tests and scored 19 tries.

Wright was an even more prolific try scorer for Auckland. In 135 matches between 1984 and 1993 he scored 112 tries and in Ranfurly Shield rugby he finished with a staggering, record 53 tries in 52 matches.

His skill was such that with Matthew Ridge suddenly moving to league he was used at fullback by Auckland for much of 1990 and the All Blacks switched him there because of problems at fullback for a good part of the 1991 season including the World Cup.

Wright was also a regular member of national sevens sides between 1986 and 1992, appearing in 11 major tournaments.

Considering his many feats Wright was given a farewell by both the All Blacks and Auckland that he didn't really deserve. Taken on the 1992 tour of Australia and South Africa, he was given few chances and was not considered for any of the tests. And after just three matches early in the season for Auckland in 1993 he was summarily axed from the squad.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Terence John Wright

BORN

Thursday, 21 March 1963 in Auckland

AGE

47

PHYSICAL

1.83m, 75kg

POSITION

Wing and Fullback

LAST SCHOOL

Northcote College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Auckland Marist

PROVINCE

Auckland

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 28 June 1986
v France at Christchurch
aged 23 years, 99 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 28 June 1986
v France at Christchurch
aged 23 years, 99 days

LAST TEST

Wednesday, 30 October 1991
v Scotland at Cardiff
aged 28 years, 223 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

30 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

34 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

64 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

72pts (18t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

136pts (30t, 2c, 2p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

208pts (48t, 2c, 2p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

875

The All Black Games that Wright 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  

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

 28 Oct vs French Selection at Toulon 25-6  

 4 Nov vs Cote Basque Selection at Bayonne 21-9  

 11 Nov vs French Barbarians at La Rochelle 26-12  

1987

 1 Jun vs Argentina at Wellington 46-15  

 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

 28 May vs Wales at Christchurch 52-3  

 11 Jun vs Wales at Auckland 54-9  

 22 Jun vs Randwick RFC at Sydney 25-9  

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

 3 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 32-7  

 13 Jul vs Queensland B at Townsville 39-3  

 16 Jul vs Australia at Brisbane 19-19  

 20 Jul vs N.S.W. B at Gosford 45-9  

 23 Jul vs N.S.W. at Sydney 42-6  

 26 Jul vs Victorian Invitation XV at Melbourne 84-8  

 30 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 30-9  

1989

 17 Jun vs France at Christchurch 25-17  

 1 Jul vs France at Auckland 34-20  

 15 Jul vs Argentina at Dunedin 60-9  

 29 Jul vs Argentina at Wellington 49-12  

 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  

 31 Oct vs Newport at Newport 54-9  

 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  

 17 Oct vs Provence/Cote D'Azur Invitation XV at Toulon 15-19  

 24 Oct vs A French XV at Brive 27-24  

 30 Oct vs Cote Basque-Landes at Bayonne 12-18  

 3 Nov vs France at Nantes 24-3  

 10 Nov vs France at Paris 30-12  

1991

 15 Jun vs Rosario at Rosario 81-9  

 22 Jun vs Buenos Aires at Buenos Aires 37-9  

 29 Jun vs Argentina 'B' at Buenos Aires 22-6  

 6 Jul vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 28-14  

 13 Jul vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 36-6  

 10 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 12-21  

 24 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 6-3  

 3 Oct vs England at London 18-12  

 8 Oct vs USA at Gloucester 46-6  

 13 Oct vs Italy at Leicester 31-21 (-) 

 30 Oct vs Scotland at Cardiff 13-6  

1992

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

 1 Jul vs A.C.T. at Canberra 45-13  

 8 Jul vs Victorian Invitation XV at Melbourne 53-3  

 15 Jul vs Queensland B at Cairns 32-13  

 22 Jul vs Sydney at Sydney 17-40  

 10 Aug vs Central Unions at Witbank 39-6  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs French Barbarians, 11 Nov 1986

1

-

-

-

4

vs Japan, 25 Oct 1987

1

-

-

-

4

vs Asian Barbarians, 28 Oct 1987

2

-

-

-

8

vs J.R.U. Presidents XV, 4 Nov 1987

1

-

-

-

4

vs Wales, 28 May 1988

2

-

-

-

8

vs Wales, 11 Jun 1988

2

-

-

-

8

vs N.S.W. Country, 29 Jun 1988

2

-

-

-

8

vs Australia, 16 Jul 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs N.S.W., 23 Jul 1988

2

-

-

-

8

vs Victorian Invitation XV, 26 Jul 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs France, 17 Jun 1989

2

-

-

-

8

vs Argentina, 15 Jul 1989

2

-

-

-

8

vs Argentina, 29 Jul 1989

2

-

-

-

8

vs Newport, 31 Oct 1989

3

-

-

-

12

vs Wales, 4 Nov 1989

1

-

-

-

4

vs Ireland, 18 Nov 1989

1

-

-

-

4

vs A French XV, 24 Oct 1990

2

-

-

-

8

vs Cote Basque-Landes, 30 Oct 1990

2

-

-

-

8

vs Rosario, 15 Jun 1991

5

-

-

-

20

vs Buenos Aires, 22 Jun 1991

2

-

-

-

8

vs Argentina, 6 Jul 1991

1

-

-

-

4

vs Argentina, 13 Jul 1991

1

-

-

-

4

vs USA, 8 Oct 1991

3

-

-

-

12

vs South Australian Invitation XV, 24 Jun 1992

2

-

-

-

10

vs A.C.T., 1 Jul 1992

1

2

2

-

15

vs Victorian Invitation XV, 8 Jul 1992

1

-

-

-

5

vs Central Unions, 10 Aug 1992

2

-

-

-

10

Totals

48

2

2

0

208

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

5

5

-

-

6

-

-

-

24

Australia

10

6

1

3

1

-

-

-

4

England

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

5

5

-

-

2

-

-

-

8

Ireland

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

4

Italy

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

USA

1

1

-

-

3

-

-

-

12

Wales

3

3

-

-

5

-

-

-

20

Totals

30

26

1

3

18

0

0

0

72