All Black coach Alex Wyllie during the teams Tour of Argentina, 1997. wyllie Photo: Photosport
Alex "Grizz" Wyllie, former All Black loose forward and coach, has died at the age of 80, at Karaka Heights in Picton, around midnight Saturday.
Wyllie played 40 games, including 11 tests, for the All Blacks between 1970 and 1973. Sports journalist and commentator John McBeth called him one of the hard men of New Zealand rugby.
"He was a standout player for the All Blacks, particularly though for Canterbury.
"He then went on to coach Canterbury to successfully win the Ranfurly Shield. His All Black career went on to a stage where he became an All Black coach because of his success."
He was an assistant coach to Sir Brian Lochore for the All Blacks' World Cup victory in 1987.
However, he is most remembered as the joint head coach with John Hart at the 1991 World Cup, which ended in a semi-final loss to the eventual champions the Wallabies.
It was the culmination of a turbulent period for the All Blacks, who had embarked on a 50-match unbeaten streak between the World Cup win and the 1990 season.
Wyllie infamously dropped captain Wayne 'Buck' Shelford that year, a move referenced in New Zealand popular culture ever since.
Hart said that he and Wyllie had shared similar views on selection but their management styles had been vastly different.
He said that while he was unsure whether Wyllie's style of coaching would have been successful today, "He was down to earth, he told it as it was. People understood where they stood. And none of those attributes change."
Wyllie made a fantastic contribution to New Zealand rugby as a player and a coach, Hart said.
Alex Wylie, Waka Nathan and Ian Kirkpatrick (L to R). Photo: Fairfax archive
Wyllie was known as a physical player during his provincial career which saw him play 210 games for Canterbury.
He went on to coach the team in the 1980s, including when they held the Ranfurly Shield from 1982-85, which eventually was ended by Hart's Auckland side in what's widely regarded as the greatest provincial game ever played.
It wasn't Wyllie's only brush with Shield lore, he also captained Canterbury when they famously lost the Log Of Wood to massive underdogs Marlborough in 1973.
In 1986, Wyllie was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to rugby.
He later had professional stints in England, Ireland, South Africa and Argentina and from 1996-99 was in charge of the Argentina national side, taking the Pumas to a quarter-final at the 1999 World Cup.
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