Sam Whitelock
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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 -
