Douglas Leslie Rollerson (14 May 1953 – 3 May 2017) was a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player, and rugby union executive.

Rugby union

Primarily a fullback and

first five-eighth In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

, Rollerson represented Manawatu at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

, in 1976, 1980 and 1981. He played 24 matches for the All Blacks including eight full internationals. Rollerson played for Manawatu in their 16–22 loss to the Irish team of 1976. He did not score as the Freyberg Old Boys winger Sheridan Murphy did the goal kicking that day. Against the 1977 British Lions Doug scored 3 penalties for Manawatu-Horowhenua in their 12–18 loss and 1 conversion and 3 penalties for the New Zealand Universities team in their 21–9 victory. He did not play for the All Blacks in that series. Rollerson was called in to replace an injured Eddie Dunn at first five-eighth for the second test against the 1981 Scottish team which the All Blacks won comprehensively by 40–15. He then played for Manawatu in their 19–31 loss against the 1981 Springboks, scoring 1 conversion and 3 penalties. Manawatu led for the first hour of the match and according to Chester and McMillan “Manawatu’s hero was Rollerson, who pressured Botha all day. His quick thinking led to Manawatu’s first try.”. Rollerson was selected as first five-eighth in all three tests against the Springboks and over the series scored a try (in the first test), 2 conversions, 1 penalty and a dropped goal. He shared the goal kicking with

Allan Hewson Allan Roy Hewson (born 6 June 1954) represented the New Zealand All Blacks in 19 Rugby Union internationals between 1981 and 1984. Hewson played at fullback. Since his retirement from international rugby Hewson has continued to be involved with ...

in the third test, Rollerson took the goal kicks from the left hand side and Hewson those on the right. He later served as the chief executive of the

North Harbour Rugby Union The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly known as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is the governing body of rugby union that encompasses a wide geographical area north of Auckland that includes North Shore City, Rodney District, the Hi ...

from December 1997 to March 2004.

Rugby league

From 1982, Rollerson spent two seasons with the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

, playing , mostly in reserve grade.

Death

He died on 3 May 2017 from cancer.Former All Black Doug Rollerson dies after long battle with cancer
/ref>

References

1953 births 2017 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Deaths from cancer in New Zealand Manawatu rugby union players Massey University alumni New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand referees and umpires New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players North Sydney Bears players People educated at Wesley College, Auckland People from Papakura Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Auckland {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub