But a forgotten All Black of the 1970s has a piece of the state highway network named after him — although it is slipping away.
Work has started to find a long-term solution to the issue.
The Aspiring Highways team, on behalf of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), has been working on the historic slip site on part of State Highway 8, which the transport agency called Ash McGregor’s.
It is situated on the eastern side of Shingle Creek, near Waikaia Bush Rd.
Mr McGregor was a farmer in the immediate area for many years and the slip occurred on his land and has impacted the state highway, which was then named Ash McGregor’s many years ago.
He was a surprise selection for the Grand Slam All Blacks in 1978.
He was a No 8 for Southland and had been playing for the provincial side in the late 1970s, bagging wins over touring Australian and French teams.
He played in only three games on the tour. These were the days when rotation was unheard of and it was a game midweek and then on Saturday afternoon.
McGregor was unlucky enough to be picked for the fifth match of the tour, against Irish side Munster which the All Blacks lost.
The win is long remembered in Ireland. Plays were made of the famous Irish victory along with books and songs.
He only played one game in black after that on tour. Coach Jack Gleeson was not believed to have been a big fan of his.
But still McGregor was an All Black and managed to keep playing, moving to Otago in the early ’80s and playing three games in blue and gold.
NZTA said the slip site, which ran under the highway, started to show signs of significant movement through cracks appearing in the road surface in July this year after heavy rain and snow melt.
Stabilising work has started on the highway and speed is reduced to 30kmh with temporary traffic signals restricting traffic to a single lane at this part of the route.
NZTA Central Otago maintenance contract manager Peter Standring said the slip passed directly underneath the highway and has had small-scale remediation repairs over many years, but a more permanent solution was now being investigated.
As part of the recently announced transport resilience fund, the section of highway has had funding confirmed, as part of the low cost low risk category — generally for projects costing up to $2million.
"We know it is inconvenient short-term, but we are hopeful that a long-lasting engineering design solution is now in the wings," he said.
