Grant Fox
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| Full name | Grant James Fox | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 6 June 1962 | ||
| Place of birth | New Plymouth, New Zealand | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Weight | 72 kg (11 st 5 lb)[1] | ||
| School | Auckland Grammar School | ||
| University | University of Auckland | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | First five-eighth (retired) | ||
| New Zealand No. | 857 | ||
| Provincial/State sides | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1982–93 | Auckland | 189 | (2746) |
| correct as of 16 September 2006. | |||
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1984–93 |  New Zealand |
46 | (645) |
| correct as of 19 Sept 2006. | |||
| Coaching career | |||
| Years | Club / team | ||
| 1999–2003 | Auckland Blues |
||
Grant James Fox, MBE (born 6 June 1962), is a former rugby union player from New Zealand. He was a member of the All Blacks team that won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.
Biography
Fox was born in New Plymouth. He attended Auckland Grammar school.
During his time with the All Blacks from 1985 to 1993, he wore the number 10 jersey (first five-eighth or fly-half), and was the main goalkicker for the All Blacks. He amassed 645 points from 46 All Black Test Matches (1 try, 118 conversions, 128 penalties, 7 drop goals). He is considered a true pioneer of the modern art of goal kicking,[2] in particular the technicalities of leaning the ball forward, which has been adopted by world class kickers since. Many believe he is one of the greatest first five-eighths in All Black history,[1] even though he was not a great runner with the ball in hand.[2]
Despite his relatively short height, he made up for this with fantastic distribution skills reinforced by his long-term colleague John Kirwan's then-world-record career statistics playing outside him for Auckland and the All Blacks. His inability to score tries was often a joking point in the team – his cause not helped by an overruled attempt against Ireland in 1989 (due to a prior technical infringement by a teammate).[1]
The highlight of Fox's career was winning the inaugural Rugby World Cup with New Zealand in 1987, a victory based in part on his accurate kicking.
In the 1995 New Year Honours, Fox was awarded an MBE, for services to rugby.[3]
Fox remained an integral part of his Auckland club, involved at a coaching level and sharing in their success in the 1999 and 2002–2003 NPC seasons. Fox is now a commentator on Sky Sports, NBC Sports and in the EA Sports rugby union series.
Fox did colour commentary on the Rugby World Cup on ABC in 1995, with Al Michaels in 1999 and 2003 and Mike Tirico in 2007. He is also the Managing Director of Carnegie Sports Marketing Ltd http://carnegie.co.nz/ to market the advertising signage around the Stadium Field and Grandstand
References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Grant Fox at AllBlacks.com
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.espnscrum.com/timeline/rugby/player/9902.html
- ↑ London Gazette (supplement), No. 53894, 30 December 1994. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
- Pages with reference errors
- Use British English from August 2011
- Pages using Template:Post-nominals with customized linking
- Use dmy dates from August 2011
- 1962 births
- New Zealand international rugby union players
- International Rugby Hall of Fame inductees
- Living people
- New Zealand rugby union players
- New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame inductees
- Auckland rugby union players
- New Zealand rugby union coaches
- Rugby union fly-halves
- People from New Plymouth
- People educated at Auckland Grammar School
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
