Andy Dalton

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Andy Dalton

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Full name	Andrew Grant Dalton
Date of birth	November 16, 1951 (age 55)
Height	1.78 m
Weight	93 kg
Rugby union career
Position	Hooker
Provincial/State sides		Caps	(points)
1982-1987 1976-1982 1975-1985	Unknown North Island XV Counties Manukau	(?) (?) (?)	(?) (?) (?)
correct as of 1 November 2006.
National team(s)
1977-1985	New Zealand	35	(12)
correct as of 1 November 2006.
Teams coached
1989-1991	Counties Manukau
correct as of 1 November 2006.
Other Information
Occupation	Company manager and director CEO Auckland Rugby
School attended	Selwyn College, Auckland
Notable relatives	Ray Dalton

Andrew Grant Dalton (born 16 November 1951 in Dunedin, New Zealand) is an ex-All Blacks rugby player who captained the side 17 times in tests. He is a second-generation All Black; his father Ray played in two All Blacks tests in the late 1940s.

1 Early years
2 All Blacks
3 After rugby
4 Notes and references

[edit] Early years

Although born in Dunedin, he was schooled at Selwyn College in Auckland (not to be confused with Selwyn College at the University of Otago), playing for the school's first team in 1968 and 1969 as a prop. He then returned to the South Island, enrolling at Lincoln College (then a part of the University of Canterbury) to study for a Bachelor of Agricultural Science. While there, he converted to hooker, and represented Canterbury at under-20 and senior reserve level.

After graduating, he returned to Auckland, playing for the senior B side at the Eastern club. In 1975, he moved to Pukekohe to start a career as a farm adviser, and won representative selection for the first time at Counties Manukau. The following year, which was the first of the National Provincial Championship (the predecessor to today's Air New Zealand Cup), he was named captain at Counties.

[edit] All Blacks

Dalton earned his first All Blacks cap during their 1977 tour of France. He also played all four tests on their successful Grand Slam tour of Great Britain and Ireland in 1978, scoring the only try in their encounter with Ireland.

By 1981, he had become the regular All Blacks hooker, and captained the side for the first time when Graham Mourie was unavailable for the series against South Africa. Dalton became the full-time captain upon Mourie's 1982 retirement, most notably leading the All Blacks against the Lions during their 1983 tour. He was chosen as captain for their aborted 1985 tour of South Africa, and went on to captain the unofficial Cavaliers tour of South Africa in 1986. He was one of the most successful All Blacks captains in history, victorious in 15 of his 17 tests as captain.

He was named captain of the side that would go on to win the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, but suffered an injury in a practice session that ruled him out of the tournament, leaving the honour of lifting the Webb Ellis Cup to David Kirk.^[1]

[edit] After rugby

After his retirement from rugby immediately after the 1987 World Cup, he continued his career in agriculture for a time, but later became a corporate manager. He coached Counties from 1989 to 1991, and was president of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union from 1999 to 2000. He is now the CEO of the Auckland Rugby Football Union, and operates a farm in the Bombay Hills south of Auckland.