Bruce Robertson goooone!

Sat May 13, 2023 1:10 am

The Prince of Centres has died aged 71.

A brilliant player, and one of my all-time favourites.

RIP

Sat May 13, 2023 2:09 am

When your childhood heroes are falling

Sat May 13, 2023 2:47 am

Rest in peace.

Sat May 13, 2023 2:51 am

First saw him play in an invitational match in Waverley when I was about 13 or 14. The club was raising money for a new grandstand, and there were a number of ABs and provincial stars playing, but my abiding memory of the day was early in the game... Robertson made a break with such an astonishing burst of speed that he was 50 metres down field before any of the defenders had a chance to react. By Christ he was rapid - he made them look like they were standing still. Couldn't take my eyes off him after that.

And what a great test combo he and Bill Osborne made!

Sat May 13, 2023 4:30 am

Oh shit. He is my all-time favourite Centre. Speed, grace, ability to read a game, superb eye foe the gap, great passer.

BG Williams raved about him.

RIP

Sat May 13, 2023 5:08 am

He was in the centres with Bill Osborne for the first international I ever saw - Twickenham 1978. Top quality player

RIP

Sat May 13, 2023 7:06 am

BRUCE WHO?? ... that front-page headline in the weekly Rugby News, announcing the teenaged Robertson's 'from out of nowhere' selection for a major team (possibly North Island), was the very first time most of us heard of him.

Sat May 13, 2023 7:44 am

duke wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 5:08 am He was in the centres with Bill Osborne for the first international I ever saw - Twickenham 1978. Top quality player

RIP

Same here, my first international match was the ABs at Murrayfield December 1978. Looking up the teamsheets Bruce Robertson was head to head with our best ever centre, Jim Renwick. Mourie was their captain, McGeechan was ours.

I don’t recall much about the match apart from the overall experience, the excitement. I was a wide-eyed 13 year old and these guys were like gods to me

RIP Bruce Robertson

edit, I found the highlights, Scotland were pressing on the AB’s line on 80 minutes, trailing 9-12.
One thing leads to another and Bruce Robertson scores up the other end, it finishes 9 - 18 (four point tries)

Sat May 13, 2023 1:19 pm

I was privileged to be asked to interpret for him at a dinner in Yokohama in the early-90s when he was in Japan conducting coaching clinics. I instantly reverted to the star-struck school kid idolising him as a player, struggling to form coherent sentences, and he had to tell me to relax as he was just a regular bloke.

Sat May 13, 2023 2:31 pm

Kiwias wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 1:19 pm I was privileged to be asked to interpret for him at a dinner in Yokohama in the early-90s when he was in Japan conducting coaching clinics. I instantly reverted to the star-struck school kid idolising him as a player, struggling to form coherent sentences, and he had to tell me to relax as he was just a regular bloke.

That's nice when heroes don't disappoint. I met Buck Shelford in the early 90s in the bar after a game at Northampton Saints. Got chatting to him and spent half an hour talking to him. Just seemed a genuine bloke... I think he was just glad to be talking to a Kiwi who knew who he was... before Northampton..

Back to Bruce... even my dad who is English and hardly said a nice thing about All Black players... said he was so good he could have played for the British Lions...

Sat May 13, 2023 9:12 pm

Grandpa wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 2:31 pm
Kiwias wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 1:19 pm I was privileged to be asked to interpret for him at a dinner in Yokohama in the early-90s when he was in Japan conducting coaching clinics. I instantly reverted to the star-struck school kid idolising him as a player, struggling to form coherent sentences, and he had to tell me to relax as he was just a regular bloke.
That's nice when heroes don't disappoint. I met Buck Shelford in the early 90s in the bar after a game at Northampton Saints. Got chatting to him and spent half an hour talking to him. Just seemed a genuine bloke... I think he was just glad to be talking to a Kiwi who knew who he was... before Northampton..

Back to Bruce... even my dad who is English and hardly said a nice thing about All Black players... said he was so good he could have played for the British Lions...

Lol. Similarly, my dad was a born-and-bred coaster who rarely had anything good to say about any North Island player, so I've always remembered him remarking the first time he saw Bruce Robertson play that "that lad could be quite good".

Sun May 14, 2023 2:26 pm

Tichtheid wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 7:44 am
duke wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 5:08 am He was in the centres with Bill Osborne for the first international I ever saw - Twickenham 1978. Top quality player

RIP
Same here, my first international match was the ABs at Murrayfield December 1978. Looking up the teamsheets Bruce Robertson was head to head with our best ever centre, Jim Renwick. Mourie was their captain, McGeechan was ours.

I don’t recall much about the match apart from the overall experience, the excitement. I was a wide-eyed 13 year old and these guys were like gods to me

RIP Bruce Robertson

edit, I found the highlights, Scotland were pressing on the AB’s line on 80 minutes, trailing 9-12.
One thing leads to another and Bruce Robertson scores up the other end, it finishes 9 - 18 (four point tries)

That was the first time I saw the All Blacks and it was also the first time that we had seats in the old stand, and I remember thinking how luxurious it was. Up until that time my old man had been lifting me over the turnstiles and I spent the games sitting on a barrier in front of him as he gave me a running commentary.

It was an overnighter from the Highlands back then as the journey took about 6 hours.