Sam Whitelock
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Perfect name for a tall skinny pakeha lad to play in the 2nd row.
Best AB 5 since I started watching in 87. Probably only Ian Jones and Ali Williams occasionally come close and they are still far off at that.
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@mariner4life said in Sam Whitelock:
Only became the player he turned in to after watching and getting an absolute lesson in rugby from an undersized lock playing for Cairns v Townsville as the curtain raiser for the Crusaders playing the reds in 2011
The notes he took that day set him up for the ATG career he developed from that point
Well I take it you showed him all the correct ways Mariner? No doubt thought if he can do it at that size,I will be good?
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@mariner4life said in Sam Whitelock:
Only became the player he turned in to after watching and getting an absolute lesson in rugby from an undersized lock playing for Cairns v Townsville as the curtain raiser for the Crusaders playing the reds in 2011
The notes he took that day set him up for the ATG career he developed from that point
Your coach must’ve had some nuts playing two undersized locks in a prime fixture like that.
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@Dodge said in Sam Whitelock:
I saw a stat that suggest he’s played in 24% of all the AB tests in history. That’s insane.
Yeah it's 153 out of 637 Tests
He was on the winning side 125 times. If my numbers are correct the AB's have won 489 times. So he's played in 25.56% of the All Blacks wins.. getting over that one quarter mark
Just behind McCaws wins - 131 and 26.79% of all AB wins. When he retired that was at 32%
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NERD ALERT
Because of Whitelock's longevity you can draw a line through almost the entirety of AB history going x played with y in his debut game y played with z in his debut game etc and only 22 names takes you back to AB#28 from 1893 - Mac McKenzie McKenzie played in the second game the AB's ever contested.
I cheated twice. McKenzie played with a Humphries who wasn't in the team when Dave Gallagher debuted but was back in it two games later.
Similarly the Baby Blacks screws things but if you go with any number who debuted against France in 86 then in the third game they played with Whetton who played with Haden on debut.
There is a break in the chain due to WWII but one guy James Tilyard did play either side of WWI.
You can actually make the chain much shorter by just going played with rather than on debut but the point is as above Whitelock has played in a phenomenally high % of our tests.
We didn't play our 153rd match until 1921 and our 153rd test was against Australia at Eden Park on the 16th September 1972 !!!
We won 38-3 six tries to none. An absolute hiding for those days. I was there.
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Whitelock scores with his final touch in Rugby before retiring -
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@Daffy-Jaffy what an abomination of a video
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That blew my mind about McCaw at that time. Played in a 3rd of AB test matches by the time he retired is insane.
I’m not sure what Whitelock’s plans are moving forward but I suspect he could have a very good coaching career in rugby as a lineout specialist to start with
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Yep but the the ting that skews everything is what Dodmeat talks of is the number of tests they play now. Hell Meads played from 1957-1971 and was usually first named , and still only played 55 tests. He actually played test rugby a year longer than Sam for just over a 3rd as many tests. Hell to play 60 tests these days you are a bloody good AB, but nowhere near a great. Kind of makes comparisons hard, even if I do rate Sam as an all time great.
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@pakman said in Sam Whitelock:
Years of being an All Black a better comparison. Pinetree’s 15 years very hard to beat. Fitzy something similar.
Still, not playing as many tests a year would have to be easier on the body, helping with longevity.
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@Crazy-Horse yep but balanced out by not having it as jobs etc. And was nothing to play 2-3 games a week while on tour, or even home playing provincial stuff. And then going to earn a living on top.
So all did bloody well. -
@Dan54 said in Sam Whitelock:
@Crazy-Horse yep but balanced out by not having it as jobs etc. And was nothing to play 2-3 games a week while on tour, or even home playing provincial stuff. And then going to earn a living on top.
So all did bloody well.Yeah agree, plenty of factors involved.
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Sam Whitelocks final speech after the Baabaas game.
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A better version of Sam's final post match speech -
