Warrick Lee "Mac" McCallion (26 July 1950 – 14 March 2018) was a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player and coach. McCallion served in the

Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the parent administrative regiment and corps of regular and reserve infantry battalions in the New Zealand Army. It was originally formed in 1947 with a singular Regular regiment and multiple reserve r ...

of the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Aged 17, and having lied about his age to enlist, he was a member of the secret Faceless 26 Ghost Unit of the

New Zealand Special Air Service The 1st New Zealand Special Air Service Regiment, abbreviated as 1 NZSAS Regt, was formed on 7 July 1955 and is the Special forces unit of the New Zealand Army, closely modelled on the British Special Air Service (SAS). It traces its origins to ...

. After the war, he played for

Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

from 1976 to 1980, and made eight appearances for New Zealand Māori in the late 1970s. McCallion was named New Zealand coach of the year for his work with the NPC Division One team

in both 1996 and 1997. He enhanced his reputation further as

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

's assistant at the

Auckland Blues The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...

during a four-year spell that saw them reach three consecutive

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

finals, lifting the trophy on two occasions in 1997 and 1998. McCallion was appointed Fiji's national coaching director in March 2002. He took the

Fiji national team Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji cons ...

to the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

, but quit later that year, citing frustration at Fiji being overlooked for tournaments by the stronger rugby nations. McCallion died in

Manurewa Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The suburb is bise ...

on 14 March 2018 after a battle with cancer. He was survived by his wife Suzie, two children Dion and Zeb, one step-child Bowen and daughter in law Robyn. He has 5 grandchildren.

Notes

References

1950 births 2018 deaths New Zealand rugby union players Māori All Blacks players New Zealand Army personnel New Zealand military personnel of the Vietnam War Fiji national rugby union team coaches New Zealand expatriates in Fiji Deaths from cancer in New Zealand Counties Manukau rugby union players Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers New Zealand rugby union coaches {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub