Black Boots – New Zealand's Rugby Legends, words by Phil Gifford, photographs by Barry Durrant and Morrie Hill, published by Bateman Books.
New Zealand's rugby history has traditionally been well served both in written and visual form and the latest offering Black Boots continues that legacy not only through the photographs of Barry Durrant but also the late Morrie Hill.
Writer Phil Gifford provides the mortar to their brickwork with his knowledgeable and authoritative captions, many of them classic vignettes in their own write (pardon the deliberate pun).
If rugby has changed since that day in 1995 when southern hemisphere rugby administrators bit the bullet and decided their future lay in a professional enterprise, then so too has the coverage.
Demands of commercialism and brands have seen photographic rights tied up and restricted and the sort of pictures included in this selection may never be seen when illustrating the modern era of the game.
The book is also representative of a more evocative, amateur age.
The choice of Bryan 'Beegee' Williams on the cover stepping his way past a London Counties defender en route to the goalline, was a telling reminder of the frustration that attended Williams and many other backs during their careers.
Inhibited by the damages caused the game by what was known as 10-man rugby played by New Zealand during the 1950s and for the first half of the 1960s, and as a default mechanism when things got tough in the 1970s, players of the quality of Williams had to wait their time to get a chance to do what they did best, run with the ball.
Williams had suggested a potential change in the All Blacks game on his brilliant tour of South Africa in 1970, a tour on which he set the rugby world alight with his speed, power and sidestep when barely out of his teens.
Yet New Zealand's rugby strategies of the day rarely allowed him the opportunity to show that quality again. That he scored only nine tries in 38 Tests was an indictment of the rugby played and the squandering of talent was all too common in that era.
At the same time, New Zealand produced some winning rugby and photos from both Durrant and Hill provide memories of some significant occasions.
Colin Meads, naturally, appears in many but was there ever a more representative photo of the skills he brought to the game than that from the outstanding 19-0 win over Wales at Lancaster Park in Christchurch? Ball tucked in his left hand, resting on his hip, he is looking to cut inside a defender while right on hand in support is prop Ken Gray with hooker Bruce McLeod behind.
Shots of crowds streaming out of the old Athletic Park after the second Test of the 1956 series with South Africa, are not only representative of the rugby of the era, but they are a snapshot of New Zealand society.
Another shot of a distressed loose forward John Graham being held by local medical men as they try to prevent him going back onto the field in the days when replacements for injuries were not allowed, is a reminder of the arcane practice of that era.
Nowadays Graham would have been taken away for a head injury assessment and judging by the photograph would not have made it back onto the field. And he would have been replaced.
The concentration of photos are on the respective 1963-64 and 1972-73 tours of Britain, Ireland and France, because the two photographers covered one each of the tours, but there are many others from other years which round out a book which is another telling reminder of the legacy of rugby in New Zealand, but also of an enduring era in the game.
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