Name George Menzies | ||
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George Menzies (30 September 1930 – 16 March 2016) was a New Zealand rugby league player and coach who represented his country at three World Cups and coached New Zealand at another World Cup. In 2007 he was named the greatest stand-off half back New Zealand had ever produced.
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Playing career
Menzies was a New Zealand schoolboys representative in 1946.
A Runanga club player, Menzies was a West Coast and South Island representative. Menzies played in 69 games, including twenty-nine test matches for the New Zealand Kiwis, participating in three World Cups.
Menzies was selected to go on the 1955–56 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain and France.
He captained the Kiwis in a test during the 1956 tour to Australia before retiring from international football in 1961 after withdrawing from a northern hemisphere tour.
Coaching career
At the end of his test career Menzies became a player-coach for a New South Wales country team. Before returning to New Zealand to coach the West Coast.
In 1974 and 1975 he was the coach of the Kiwis, taking the team to the 1975 World Cup.
Legacy
His son, Chris, played for the Junior Kiwis and also represented the West Coast.
In 1989 Menzies was named as the West Coast Rugby League's best ever stand-off half.
Menzies was named one of New Zealand Rugby League's "Legends of League" in 1995.
In 2009 Menzies was named in the NZRL's team of the century.
Menzies died in Greymouth on 16 March 2016, aged 85.