Born: March 2, 1948 – Reefton Died: January 26, 2009 – Reefton Test record: 8 Tests (1969-70) – 28 goals, 10 field goals (76 points) Tours: 1970 World Cup
Goalkicking West Coast fullback Don Ladner, one of the country’s foremost exponents of the field goal during the two-point era, racked up 76 points in playing eight consecutive Tests for New Zealand.
The 21-year-old Waro-rakau custodian literally kicked his way to a national call-up with a superb performance for Southern Zone against Northern Zone in the final Kiwis trial in 1969, booting a 45-metre field goal and a last-minute penalty in a 13-12 win.
A safe and steady No.1, Ladner scored all of New Zealand’s points on debut in a 20-10 loss to Australia in the first Test, from four penalties and a field goal. He then slotted six goals in the Kiwis’ 18-14 upset win in the second Test.
Ladner was retained for the series against the 1970s Lions – and his prowess with the boot was one of the hosts’ highlights of a 3-0 whitewash defeat. He kicked four goals and two field goals in the first Test (lost 19-15), a goal and two field goals in the second (lost 23-9) and four goals and a field goal in the third (lost 33-19).
His deadly field goal accuracy (the scoring play would be reduced to one point in 1971) came to the fore again during the 1970 World Cup, landing three in a 47-11 loss to Australia at Wigan. Four goals and a field goal from Ladner were crucial to a 16-15 eclipse of France at Hull, while he booted four goals in a 27-17 loss to Great Britain at Manchester.
Ladner’s last appearance for the Kiwis was in a non-Test clash with France in Carcassonne after the World Cup.
He kicked four goals in a New Zealand XIII’s 35-14 loss to Australia in the opening match of its short 1971 tour, but Aucklander Mike McClennan’s stronger attacking game was preferred by the Kiwi selectors for the one-off Test.
Ladner made himself unavailable for the tour of Britain and France later that year for personal reasons, but he continued to represent West Coast until 1978. He was named at fullback in an all-time West Coast team for the province’s 75th jubilee in 1989.