Colin (Pine Tree) Meads has been called "the most famous rugby player in the world". In 1999 he was voted as our greatest rugby player of the century. His test career spanned the period from 1957 to 1971.

Colin Meads was born on a farm near Cambridge in 1936. Earl Colin Meads, better known as "Pine Tree" on account of his size and strength, was an All Black for 15 years. Regarded by many as the epitome of the hard, rugged New Zealand rugby forward, Colin's international career lasted from 1957 until 1971 and he continued playing first-class rugby for another two years after that. He played 133 times for New Zealand, including a record 55 tests. He made his test debut in Australia in 1957 as a flanker but 47 of his 55 tests were at lock, a position he dominated in world rugby through the 1960s.

Colin's style was one of utter commitment and pride in the All Black jersey and he was feared and respected by opponents. He became, in 1967 in Edinburgh, the second player to be sent off in an international. Meads’s test career ended with the All Black captaincy against the British Isles in 1971 and his first-class career with matches staged in his honour by the NZRFU in Wellington and Auckland in 1973.

He later coached King Country with success, was a New Zealand selector but was voted off the national panel in 1986 after coaching the unofficial Cavaliers in South Africa. In 1990 he was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame He was elected to the NZRFU’s council in 1992 and managed the All Blacks in 1994 and 1995. He was voted rugby player of the century by Rugby World magazine in 2000. The ranking was; Colin Meads, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Jones, Jeff Wilson, George Nepia, Zinzan Brooke, Wilson Whineray, Brian Lochore, Josh Kronfeld and Don Clarke.

He is regarded by many as New Zealand's greatest ever rugby player, and was named Player of the Century by the NZRFU in 1999. He is a member of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. In 2001 he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, the second-highest honour in the New Zealand honours system. In May 2009 he decided to accept the offer to exchange his DCNZM to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit[7].

The trophy contested in New Zealand's domestic competition, the Heartland Championship, is named the Meads Cup in his honour. The All Blacks website states "As a sporting legend Meads is New Zealand's equivalent of Australia's Sir Donald Bradman or the United States of America's Babe Ruth"