Former All Blacks hooker Norm Hewitt, who had been identified with motor neurone illness, has died aged 55, New Zealand Rugby mentioned Tuesday.
Hewitt performed 23 occasions for the All Blacks, together with 9 Exams, after he was first chosen as an understudy to Sean Fitzpatrick for the 1993 collection towards the British and Irish Lions.
In 1997, Hewitt had an intense face-to-face showdown with England’s Richard Cockerill through the haka earlier than a match at Previous Trafford.
Hewitt later described the incident, which ended with pushing and shoving between the pair, as an ingrained a part of “rugby folklore”.
“I performed towards Norm as a younger participant, and he was uncompromising on the sector however at all times gracious together with his break day it,” New Zealand Rugby chief government Mark Robinson mentioned.
Off the sector, Hewitt made headlines in 1999 when he drunkenly broke into the fallacious lodge room.
It proved to be a life-changing incident because it made Hewitt realise he needed to take care of his ingesting drawback and lead him to turning into a youth mentor.
His title was immortalised within the tv comedy collection “Flight of the Conchords” starring Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie.
Clement mentioned the character Murray Hewitt — performed by Rhys Darby — got here from a mix of the names “of two well-known New Zealand rugby gamers: Murray Mexted and Norm Hewitt.”
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Picture: Ross Land/Getty Photographs
