Fred Allen

Sir Frederick Richard Allen (9 February 1920 – 28 April 2012) was a captain and coach of the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby union team. The All Blacks won all 14 of the test matches they played under his coaching.

Personal life Allen was born in Oamaru, New Zealand. He was educated in Christchurch. Though he did not attend secondary school, he did attend the Christchurch School of Art for one year. During his education, he played for the Linwood club.

During his army service, Allen played for service teams including the 1945-46 2nd NZEF "Kiwis" Army team that toured Britain and played in the 1945–46 Victory Internationals following the war. before winning it back later in 1960. They then held it for 25 successful defences until losing to Wellington in 1963 - a record number of defences at the time. After losing the shield, Allen finally retired as Auckland coach. He had wanted to do some for some time but had stayed on to fulfil his 1959 promise to remain coach until Auckland lost the shield. Allen’s approach to the game was to run an all-attack, 15-man game. At first this caused some controversy, but his critics were unable to argue with the results.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union awarded Allen the Steinlager Salver in 2002. Allen is the only person to have been separately inducted into the New Zealand Sporting Hall of fame as both a player and a coach, and in 2005 was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.

In the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (KNZM), also for services to rugby.

Following the death of Morrie McHugh on 25 September 2010, Allen had been the oldest living All Black.

Death Allen developed leukaemia and died on 28 April 2012. He had moved into full-time care in Orewa on the Hibiscus Coast, north of Auckland.

All Blacks statistics Tests: 6 (6 as Captain) Games: 15 (15 as Captain) Total Matches: 21 (21 as Captain) Test Points: 0pts Game Points: 21pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m) Total Points: 21pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

Notes and references Fred the Needle: the untold story of Sir Fred Allen the authorised biography by Alan Sayers and Les Watkins (2011. Auckland, Hodder Moa)