Murdoch - The All Black Who Never Returned

Published by Upstart Press Ltd, Auckland, 2018, 198 pages.

The story of Keith Murdoch is the great unsolved mystery of world rugby. The All Black who was sent home from the tour of the British Isles in 1972 and who exiled himself to the vastness of the Australian outback remains a banner headline in rugby memories. It does so despite the passing of the years. The basics of the story are well known: the strength of the man who scored the All Blacks' only try against Wales, then the celebrations that night that went so horribly wrong. Murdoch has appeared publicly a few times since but not said much and nothing at all of the events of that night, or how he felt then and later. But now, the story can be told more fully than before through anecdotes and memories of teammates and colleagues and through the damning words of those who condemned him to his life on the run.