‘One of the great entertainers of New Zealand rugby’

This bloke is No 29 in the Otago Daily Times’ 30 Greatest Highlanders series but he would be No 1 if we ranked the team’s greatest nicknames.

"Chainsaw" is arguably the club’s biggest cult hero of them all.

A modern eye might look at a scoring rate of just five tries in 44 games and think this was an outside back with more sizzle than steak — and that would be a great shame.

Laney was an excitement machine, labelled "one of the great entertainers of New Zealand rugby" by late ODT sports editor Brent Edwards, and beloved by a Carisbrook crowd that thrilled to his quick-stepping, innovative style.

He perhaps played his best rugby for Otago, scoring a record 16 tries in the immortal 1998 season, but he had plenty of highlights for the Highlanders.

At home at fullback or on the wing, Laney’s greatest game for the Highlanders was in a 32-10 win over the Bulls at Carisbrook in 2002. He scored 22 points, including two tries.

That would be his last season. At just 27, Laney left New Zealand to join the Edinburgh club, and was famously admitted to the "Kilted Kiwi" club when he played for Scotland against the All Blacks just 10 days after arriving in Britain.

Laney told the ODT before his departure he would treasure his time in Dunedin.

"I've made some terrific friends through rugby. I've been a lucky guy to be able to run around in front of 30,000 people at Carisbrook on Saturdays.

"I get a real buzz out of that. Not everything goes my way but I don't go out there to muck things up, that's for sure.

"I just enjoy the game. If you don't, it's time to give it away."

Laney, who had played 41 games for his native South Canterbury and 82 for Otago and was a proud Kaikorai man, played 20 tests for Scotland before ending his career in Japan.

He now lives in Christchurch, where he runs a sportswear business and pops up on television commentaries.