Hometown statue for All Blacks great Meads
Rugby icon Sir Colin Meads will be immortalised by a statue in his home town of Te Kuiti.
Meads' rugged frame will reproduced in bronze by Auckland artist Natalie Stamilla, who was responsible for the statue of All Blacks great Michael Jones outside Eden Park.
Standing 2.9m high, the Meads sculpture will depict the former forward at the pinnacle of his career, which spanned 133 games from 1957-71.
The statue's unveiling is planned to coincide with the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand beginning in June.
NZ Rugby chairman Brent Impey expects it will be an attraction for thousands of touring Lions supporters.
An exhibition of memorabilia from the career of Meads and his All Blacks brother Stan will be opened at the same time.
"One might suspect that he'll be none pleased about this fuss," Impey said.
"What we love about Sir Colin is that despite the international recognition and praise heaped on him, he just considers himself to be a guy from Te Kuiti."
Waitomo mayor Brian Hanna has driven the project, believing a tribute to the man known as Pinetree in the small rural King Country town is long overdue.
