Grizz Wyllie Broke The Tough Guy Mould, Ask The Veterans Of Transvaal And Eastern Province

Old-timers like to say they dont make em like they used to, but it is difficult to disagree with when you hear tales about quite possibly the hardest rugby player of them all, Alex Grizz Wyllie, who died this week at the age of 80 on his Canterbury farm.

The All Blacks have had many a toughie, including the legendary Colin Pinetree Meads and Wayne Shelford, who played on with a ruptured scrotum in a game against France, with his testicles dangling out.

Father Time appears to be the only opponent Wyllie could not lick over a lifetime littered with anecdotes of his uncompromising approach to life and rugby.

When I heard that Grizz had gone, my mind shot back to the stories that shocked me when Wyllie coached Eastern Province and Transvaal.

It is not stretching things too far to suggest that Wyllie remotely influenced the 1995 Springbok World Cup triumph because he coached most of the Springboks at the Transvaal.