Former Wellington Lions coach Bill Freeman passes away

Above: Wellington flanker Graham Williams, who captained Wellington in Freeman's last year as coach of the Lions in 1970, is unable to haul in Hawke's Bay wing Mick Duncan neat the corner flag in a famous Ranfurly Shield challenge in Napier in 1967. Hawke's Bay drew the match 12-12 and retained the Shield. Photo reproduced from Shield Fever by Lindsay Knight, Rugby Press 1980.?

“On the rise above the eyes” was one of legendary coach Bill freeman’s famous cries teaching hundreds of school players in the 1980s and 1990s the basics of catching and passing.

Freeman, legendary Wellington rugby coach who guided the Wellington Lions to famous victories over the touring South Africans in 1965 and the British Lions in 1966, passed away last week, aged 90.

The July 1965 23-6 win over a powerful South African touring team at Athletic Park in front of 38,000 fans remains Wellington rugby’s greatest triumph. Captained by All Blacks prop Ken Gray, Wellington took the match to the South Africans and blew them away in the first half to lead 17-3 by halftime and held them off in the second half.

The following June, it was the British Lions’ turn to meet a comprehensive defeat to Freeman’s Lions, the Wellington Lions winning 20-6 in front of a heaving 45,000 people.?

1966 was also one of Wellington’s best ever seasons in terms of results. They lost just one match all season, to Canterbury, whom they dispatched on their return fixture in Christchurch. They won all four matches on the southern tour for the first time since 1930 and beat (mid-1960s) powerhouses Auckland and Taranaki twice each. They were understrength in a 0-0 draw with Waikato, while the climax of the season is a 20-6 win over new Ranfurly Shield holders Hawke’s Bay. Individually, All Blacks Gray and Mick Williment passed 100 games for Wellington and Williment set a New Zealand record 213 points in a first-class season.

Freeman, who took over the coaching reins in 1964 from Clarrie Gibbons, also coached Wellington to several heartbreaking Ranfurly defeats.

There were two to Taranaki in 1964 and 1965. Taranaki held on to win 3-0 in 1964 after Wellington halfback Brian Coulter had seemingly scored the match winning try, only for it to be knocked out of his hands by his opposite and former Wellington player, Neil Wolfe.

In 1967 on McLean Park in Napier, holders Hawke’s Bay snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat when it seemed the Lions were going to take the Shield home. Lions forwards Gray and Nev MacEwan and first five-eighth Mattie Blackburn led Wellington to a 12-6 lead. But the Bay came back to trail 9-12 and then their first five-eighth Blair Furlong kicked a last-gasp dropped goal to seal the draw.

In Freeman’s last season in 1970 it seemed the Lions were destined to win the Shield off Canterbury. With livewire openside flanker Graham Wiliams now captain, the Lions played attractive rugby in beating an All Black-laden Auckland four tries to none, 19-12? in front of 30,000 people at Eden Park.

They then challenged for the Shield in Christchurch and went to an early 3-0 lead, wing Robert Gray scoring in the corner (three point tries). The Lions were all over Canterbury for the rest of the match and should have increased their lead further if not for a dropped goal attempt by John Dougan that hit the uprights and five missed penalties by fullback Joe Karam.

Somehow Canterbury held on though, and the score remained 3-0 well into the second half when Williams fielded an up and under kick and crossed the line for a disallowed try.

Canterbury clawed their way into the game and gained more territory but opportunities were sparse. Now it was Wellington’s turn to hang on, which they did right to the very end until Fergie McCormack kicked a winning dropped goal reminiscent of Furlong’s for the Bay three years earlier.

The funeral service for Bill Freeman will be held at Old St Paul's at 10.00 am on Friday morning.