All Blacks mourn loss of ‘saviour’ Hobbs

A head injury prematurely terminated his playing career and a serious illness ended Jock Hobbs’ weighty off-field contributions to rugby before ultimately claiming his life.

A former All Blacks captain and New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) board chairman, Hobbs died yesterday at the age of 52.

The NZRU confirmed the news on behalf of his family, saying it was “with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jock Hobbs this afternoon. Our family would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support we have received over the last week and in particular, express our gratitude to all the staff at Wellington Hospital that were involved in Jock’s care.”

His passing came six years after he was first diagnosed with leukaemia in 2006. Unexpected complications arose soon after he completed his chemotherapy treatment in May 2010, and eight months later Hobbs was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which required a moreaggressive treatment regime.

That prompted him to resign as NZRU chairman, a position he had held since 2002, as well as chairman of Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd, the organisation entrusted with organising the World Cup tournament.

Hobbs played a considerable role in New Zealand winning the right to host the 2011 World Cup and he attended a number of games at the tournament despite his ailing health. He even presented both Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina with their silver caps for playing 100 Tests in simple but emotional ceremonies and also spoke to the team on the eve of the World Cupfinal against France.

A lawyer by profession, Hobbs played 21 Tests for the All Blacks as an openside flanker between 1983 and 1986, four of them as captain, before the Canterbury loose forward’s career ended prematurely at the age of 26after he had suffered repeated cases of concussion.

Hobbs then devoted his energies to a growing family and his legal career before emerging as arguably the most important rugby administrator of his generation. Hobbs was lauded as “the man who saved rugby” after persuading All Blacks poised to join a breakaway professional circus to return to the NZRU fold.

The defection of New Zealand’s top players to the Kerry Packer-backed World Rugby Corporation was considered a done deal until Hobbs, still a fledgling administrator, worked around the clock for six weeks to secure the players’ signatures for the NZRU.

For all of this Hobbs was unceremoniously dumped from the NZRU council the following year when a revamp saw the number of seats trimmed to nine, and he did not figure at the head table again until his services were sought out following the debacle surrounding New Zealand’s loss of the sub-hosting rights for the 2003 World Cup tournament.

He was installed as board chairman in 2002 to pick up the pieces and rebuild the organisation’s reputation, something he achieved to such a degree that he was able to plot New Zealand’s successful bid to host the 2011 World Cup.