Laurie Mains: Former All Blacks head coach on the death of Norm Hewitt

Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains is touting the late Norm Hewitt as one of New Zealand rugby's greats.

The nine-test hooker has died aged 55 after a battle with motor neurone disease, having played 23 games for New Zealand between 1993 and 1998.

After issues with alcohol abuse, Hewitt became an anti-violence ambassador and public speaker.

Mains says when he first selected Hewitt he was a bit of a 'larrikin'.

"I'd have to speak to him quite sternly - and he took that on board and into the team. Immediately, he showed not only good performance on the rugby field, but also he took a real turn in his personal behaviour."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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one dot nd Jack team. Really really sad news today,

(01:05):
all Black violence Prevention advocate Dancing with the Stars champion
Norm Hewitt has died. He was aged just fifty five
and had been diagnosed with motor neuron disease. Laurie Mains
was the first to pick Norm Hewitt as an All
Black and is with us this evening. Hi Laurie, Hi Jack. Yeah,
I'm really sorry on behalf of all of our listeners

(01:26):
for your loss. How will Norm be remembered by you?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh, he's one of the special successes that rugby has
brought to individual players. When I first took Norman, he
was a bit of American and I had to speak
to him quite sternly before I selected him into the

(01:53):
All Blacks, and he took that on board, came into
the team and immediately showed not only good performance on
the rugby field, and I selected him because of how
well he had played for Hawks day, but also he
took a real turn in his personal behavior. And I

(02:19):
attribute a lot of that to the All Black environment
and to the players around him.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, it's a remarkable. When I think about him as
a rugby player, he was fearsome and he was tough.
You know, I can remember that occasion. I think he
played a game with the broken arm, But it was
actually that character stuff outside of rugby, when he took
some troubles in his past and actually used as an
opportunity to promote some really important messages when not many
people in his position might have chosen to do so.

(02:51):
Don't you think that sort of spoke a lot about
his character?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, it did, and he had he did have a
lot of character, and I as a I think the
All Black environment enabled him to bring that out and
gave him the platform to be able to explore those
activities that he did after rugby, and he is one

(03:20):
of the real successes of what All Black rugby or
any rugby team can actually do to individuals that have
been off the track a bit. And that was a
turning point in his life. And you know, El Kurtin
and I, the selectors and coaches at the time, got
a great deal of pleasure out of seeing Norm fit

(03:45):
into the environment become a really solid person. And he
was an outstanding rugby plant mate, no bones about that.
He was just unlucky that Sean Fitzpatrick, the All Black
captain and you know, one of the best in the world,
just happened to be keeping him out of the plane
in fifteen. Yeah. But yeah, I remember Norm in the

(04:05):
early days when we got him. As I said, he
was a bit of American And before I made a
rule with him that before he goes out anywhere at
night after matches and that sort of thing, he had
to come and tell me who was going to be
his minder. Yeah. Yeah, and it either had to be

(04:26):
Olo Brown or Frank Bunce. And they they were players
that Norm respected, and they had they had the strength
to keep him in Lyne. And I mean he never
put a foot wrong. Yeah, and you know he was
a great individual. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Oh, that's some really lovely comments. Thank you so much, Laurie.
We really appreciate your time, Laurie Mayde. Yeah. Probably a
good thing actually that they you know, they chose Frank
Bunce or Olo Brown to accompany Norm, not me, not
Andrew Mertens in his semi professional era, weighing in at
six two kilograms with a wet shirt.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
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