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JUST occasionally, despite all the pressures and tensions of modern sport, rugby can show the sensitivity for which it was once renowned. On Sunday the All Blacks will set all thoughts of their forthcoming Test series against France aside and head for the war graves and battlefields of Flanders to pay their respects to compatriots who fell in the First World War.

For a short while the crazy merry-go-round of training, travelling, touring and Tests will appear irrelevant and trivial - as indeed it is, in the greater scheme of things - as they contemplate what many of their predecessors in an All Black shirt endured in the name of freedom. Another era, another world, but part of their own history. You only have to talk briefly with great recent All Blacks such as Sean Fitzpatrick to realise how closely they identify with those that went before them.

Perhaps the most poignant moment of all will come at the Nine Elms Cemetery at Poperinghe, just over the border in Belgium, at the grave of Dave Gallaher, captain of the 1905-6 All Blacks who lost just one of their 35 games during a six-month tour of Britain.

The squad will place 'Lest we Forget' red roses, specially developed by the NZ Returned Services Association, on Gallaher's grave. Next Saturday's first Test against France will be for the Gallaher Cup, while the All Blacks will wear special jerseys, embroidered with a poppy at the Stade de France and their warm-up game against France Barbarians at Lens.

Gallaher, also a veteran of the Boer War, was killed at Passchendaele on Oct 4, 1917, aged 43. No longer a young man, he had, initially, been unable to join the fray but following the death of a brother on the western front he was allowed to travel with the 22nd Reinforcements as a sergeant.

As well as being one of the first national heroes of a young emerging country, Gallaher can also be credited with helping to create the ethos of dedication, loyalty and commitment that has always underpinned All Black sides.

A fierce disciplinarian, Gallaher was taciturn in the extreme in social situations. One journalist who accompanied the 1905 side for much of their marathon tour recalled that the captain "did not utter more than 20 words" away from press conferences, which he loathed.

Nor did he change character on the pitch, preferring to lead by example. At 6ft and 13st, he was a pioneer of the new position of wing-forward and contemporaries talked of him never being injured or showing any sign of pain or discomfort during the toughest matches.

A native of Ramelton, Co Donegal, Gallaher had moved to New Zealand with his family as one of the Vessey Stewart immigrants. After retiring from rugby following the 1905 tour, he wrote, along with vice-captain Billy Stead, a best-selling book The Complete Rugby Footballer.

His team-mate and full-back from the 1905 tour, Ernest Booth, wrote shortly after news of Gallaher's death: "Dave was a man of sterling worth, slow to promise but always sure to fulfil. Girded by great determination and self control, he was a valuable friend and could be, I think, a remorseless foe. He would reason everything out his own way, even if it took him two pipe fills of tobacco.

"As an opponent in play he was merciless, wanted everything and all, but I honestly think he never meant to be anything but legitimate and fair." As a credo for All Black sides down the ages, Booth's tribute bears re-reading.

Booth continued: "In the huge list of fallen international rugbyites, in this gigantic match of Right v Might, the name of Dave Gallaher stands out pre-eminently clear for all time."