112 past or present ABs running around the world
Steve Hansen’s bulked-up 51-man squad means there will soon be 112 active All Blacks playing rugby around the world.
Beyond the large party named this week for the end-of-season northern tour, 61 former All Blacks are still plying their trade here or overseas.
Together, they boast 1239 caps – led by Dan Carter’s 112 and Ma’a Nonu’s 103.
Forty-seven ex-All Blacks – with a collective total of 1025 caps – are playing overseas (including 66-cap Israel Dagg, currently playing in Japan but set to return to the Crusaders). That’s a lot of rugby nous lost offshore.
The foreign legion features recent All Blacks Jerome Kaino (Toulouse), Aaron Cruden (Montpellier), Liam Messam (Toulon), Lima Sopoaga (Wasps) and Steven Luatua (Bristol).
France is now home to 23 ex-All Blacks – enough to field a match day squad (despite the dearth of hookers).
Collectively, they boast 584 All Black caps – headed by Kaino’s 83.
Ten – including World Cup winners Carter, Richard Kahui, Stephen Donald, Andy Ellis and Israel Dagg – have said ‘sayonara’ as they left New Zealand for Japan and nine are now with English clubs.
Fourteen former All Blacks are still turning out for Kiwi teams. Some, such as Blues signing Nonu, 2007 Rugby World Cup halfback Brendon Leonard and lock-loose forward Jarrad Hoeata have returned from stints overseas.
Others – notably 71-test Tasman Mako prop Wyatt Crockett and North Harbour hooker and captain James Parsons have never left.
Many of the ex-All Blacks are in the twilight of their careers but are still wringing every last cent from their frames.
The longevity list is headed by 38-year-old Regan King – who won his sole cap in 2002 and still plays for Welsh premier league club Neath and Carter (Japan) and Joe Rokocoko (France), who made their All Blacks’ debuts in 2003.
King – older brother of New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games women’s squash champion Joelle King – has been playing professional rugby for 18 seasons.
Carter, 37, has been earning good coin from the game for 17 years while Rokocoko, 35, has been going around since his Blues debut as a teenager in 2003 – the same year Yamaha (Japan) backrower Mose Tuiali’i made Northland bow.
King, a centre whose only cap came against Wales in Cardiff, first moved to Europe in 2004 with Stade Francais before finding his niche in Wales with Scarlets.
Nine-cap midfielder Sam Tuitupou – now with tier-two Coventry – has been playing in Europe since 2007 while Tuali’i has had a decade in Japan.
The Pau club in south-west France boast five former All Blacks – Colin Slade, Tom Taylor, Jamie Mackintosh, Benson Stanley and Frank Halai – not surprising given three ex-All Blacks – Simon Mannix, Conrad Smith and Carl Hayman on the coaching staff.
Lock Jeremy Thrush (now with the Western Force) is the only ex-All Black playing in Australia while Alby Mathewson (Ireland) and Lelia Masaga (Scotland) are also lone rangers in their adopted lands.
It’s clear, glancing down this lengthy list, that the Ex-All Blacks could field a handy starting XV.
The selectors would be spoiled for choice in some positions.
Six quality five-eighths are playing overseas – Carter, and Stephen Donald (Japan), Cruden, Slade and Taylor (France) and Sopoaga (England).
The list could have been longer, but for decisions by French-based Conrad Smith (Pau), Jason Eaton (La Rochelle) and Chris Masoe and Casey Laulala (both Racing 92) to retire at the end of last season and join their former clubs’ coaching staffs. Luke McAlister also hung up his boots at Clermont.
Anthony Tuitavake, 36, also left Racing 92 and Stuff has been unable to ascertain if he is still playing rugby elsewhere – so the tally could be as high as 61 active ex-All Blacks, outside Hansen’s half-century squad.
The list also doesn’t include sporadic club rugby appearances by veteran ex-All Blacks, such as hooker Andrew Hore, 40, who has been known to help out the Maniototo club he coaches in the Central Otago competition.
OVERSEAS-BASED EX-ALL BLACKS
FORMER ALL BLACKS (14) STILL BASED IN NEW ZEALAND (not including the current 2018 squad)
Tonga coach Kristian Woolf is adamant his players will not be overawed by the occasion when they finally get the chance to test themselves against Australia.
Auckland’s Tongan community has been buzzing all week, while many have flown in from overseas, for the Pacific Island nation’s first test match against the world champion Kangaroos on Saturday.
A crowd of about 28,000 is expected to pack out Mt Smart Stadium and the enormity of the day was only enhanced for the squad on Thursday night when they were addressed by Tonga’s King Tupou VI.
It’s a continuation from last year’s memorable World Cup run and Woolf is confident the lessons learned from that experience will serve them well.
"You learn to deal with that the more you’re exposed to it and we’ve been exposed to it a lot over the last 12 months,’’ Woolf said.
‘‘My advice to these players is enjoy what we’ve got here. This is our first time to play Australia. The [crowd] is somewhere between 26,000 and 30,000 – I don’t think too many are going to be Aussies.
‘‘So it’s going to be a terrific occasion and we just need to get out and enjoy it. If we’re enjoying it I think we’ll play our best footy.’’
The Kiwis’ shock defeat of the Kangaroos last week did Tonga no favours with Mal Meninga’s side under immense pressure to bounce back.
But Woolf said there was no shortage of belief amongst his players.
Unlike Australia, who are going through a transitional period, Tonga have a largely settled squad with back-rower Manu Ma’u the only player missing from their last visit to Mt Smart, the heartbreaking World Cup semifinal to England 12 months ago.
While the finish to that game was marred by the controversial no-try call against Andrew Fifita, Tonga’s execution let them down in the first half.
They blew several opportunities, which they can’t afford to repeat if they want to compete with Australia.
‘‘We made it really difficult for ourselves through our own discipline and just not icing our opportunities early in the game,’’ Woolf added.
‘‘Quite often they ended in errors and England having the ball again. The beauty of this team is that the majority of these players were there... so you learn from those experiences. I’ve got no doubt we’ve learned from that.’’
With the test only confirmed last month, Tonga did not have enough time to organise a warm-up game leaving a question mark over their conditioning.
The other chief concern is the inexperience in the halves, with the World Cup combination of Ata Hingano and Tuimoala Lolohea only playing 15 NRL games between them this year.
But their job is made a whole lot easier working behind Tonga’s explosive forward pack.
Fifita and former Kiwis star Jason Taumalolo dominate the headlines, but Tonga’s pack boasts size and strength across the board.
They hold the key to their chances while there has also been a big emphasis on shutting down the likes of Latrell Mitchell and Valentine Holmes on the edges.
‘‘It will be through the middle,’’ captain Sika Manu said when asked how they can win.
‘‘I think our forwards are a lot bigger but at the same time Australia are an awesome team.
‘‘They’ve got a lot of strike on the edges, a lot of good forwards as well and a lot of experience. ‘‘They’re dangerous on the edges and if we can look after that then we’ll be alright.’’
The team has also been given the perfect pep talk from King Tupou VI, a rare experience for anyone in Tonga which was not lost on the players.
‘‘He told us a bit about the history of Tonga and the warriors back in the day. I’m sure the boys will take a little bit of that into the game,’’ Manu said.
AT A GLANCE
EX-ALL BLACKS XV (comprising current active players)
Tonga v Australia
Australia: