At Athletic Park, such was Bernie Fraser's ability to score tries with regularity in a particular part of the ground, the south east corner was dubbed, "Bernie's Corner." His ability as a player and his sense of humour made him a crowd favourite.

Team Bernie up with his old mate Stu Wilson or Phil Kingsley-Jones and you have one of the funniest after dinner rugby shows around. And Bernie knows quite a bit about the game.

Born on July 21, 1951 at Lautoka Bernie spent his early years in Auckland before moving to Wellington in 1973, making the Wellington representative team in the 1975-76 seasons.

In 1977 he played 12 games including the 13-6 loss to the Lions. In 1978 he had a starring role in Wellington's national championship win that season and in one NPC match scored four tries against Canterbury.

He was part of a fine Wellington quartet, with fellow three quarter Stu Wilson, fullback Allan Hewson and No 8 Murray Mexted, which had a fabulous 1981, including the series win over the Springboks and for the province the NPC-Ranfurly Shield double.

By now Fraser had become something of a cult figure in Wellington forming a lethal partnership with his close friend Wilson. Where one (Wilson) was fair and light featured, Fraser, of Fijian ancestry, was dark and dusky and the physical contrast provided a lovely title for their joint 1984 biography, "Ebony and Ivory".

At Athletic Park, such was Fraser's ability to score tries with regularity in a particular part of the ground, the south east corner was dubbed, "Bernie's Corner." When he retired from top rugby in 1986 he had scored 105 tries in 124 Wellington appearances and his 171 tries from his 201 first class matches was the New Zealand record at the time.

Bernie's All Black career included 55 matches - 23 tests. He scored six test tries.

Bernie's All Black career ended in 1984. In 1986 he made the Cavaliers' rebel tour of South Africa, though only as a replacement for the unavailable Kirwan. Fraser, halfback Andrew Donald and replacement hooker John Mills were the three Cavaliers who had not been chosen in 1985 for the aborted All Black tour of the republic.

Profile by Bob Luxford
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.


BORN
AGE 52
PHYSICAL 1.78m, 83kg
POSITION Wing three-quarter
LAST SCHOOL St Paul's College (Auckland)
RUGBY CLUB Hutt Valley Marist
PROVINCE Wellington
ALL BLACK DEBUT 08-Sep-1979 v Argentina at Dunedin
ALL BLACK TESTS 23
ALL BLACK GAMES 55
ALL BLACK TEST POINTS 24pts (6t, 0c, 0p, 0dg)
ALL BLACK TOTAL POINTS 184pts (46t, 0c, 0p, 0dg)
ALL BLACK NUMBER 797