Graham Dowd

Who is Graham Dowd?

Graham William Dowd is a former rugby union player for the national team of New Zealand, the All Blacks. He was born in Takapuna.

It was Dowd's lot to spend most of his All Black career as one of the understudies to Sean Fitzpatrick while he was at the peak of what seemed to be an indestructible hold on the hooking position. This was for some obviously a frustrating experience. But if ever the cheerful Dowd was upset he kept it very much to himself and perhaps he regarded the mere fact he was part of so many All Black squads as a bonus. For there must have been a time in Dowd's career where he never seriously contemplated gaining an All Black jersey.

Dowd actually started in representative rugby, firstly for Auckland Colts and then for North Harbour when that union started in 1985, as a prop.

A reserve in his first representative season, Dowd gradually became a regular propping choice for Harbour until the 1988 season when then Harbour coach Peter Thorburn looking for more bulk in his scrum to cope with the NPC first division switched him to hooker.

He made such a success of his new position, including throwing the ball to line-outs, that by 1991 he was strongly challenging Warren Gatland, who went on four All Black tours between 1988 and 1991, to be Fitzpatrick's understudy.